Legislation to exempt video streaming services from local franchise fees moves to House

A measure to exempt certain companies from paying local franchise fees for video streaming services was approved by a House committee. Opposed by MTA, House Bill 5123 would specifically exempt streaming and satellite services (i.e., Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube TV and others) from sharing the cost of maintaining local rights-of-way (ROW), the very location of the infrastructure that these services use to distribute video content. Local governments maintain the ROW and all utilities that operate in the ROW are responsible for sharing that cost. By exempting some ROW users, HB 5123 will create an unlevel playing field, leaving traditional cable providers to pay the franchise fee to cover the costs of public access TV stations. The bill moves to the full House for a vote.