“Keep the Internet Open” 30sec. PSA

Watch the video

With the pending legislation in mind, and votes coming up in Congress really fast, Cambridge Community Television's Board of Directors produced this public service announcement. It is available for download at CCTV's website as an MP4 formatted for playback on your web sites and portable video players (iPod, PSP, etc). Please help us circulate this PSA! Learn more about Cambridge Community Television and the legislation at: http://www.cctvcambridge.org.

You can either view the MPEG4 or download the MPEG2 version. Some browsers require you to right click and select Save to Disk.

Boston Press Conference Highlights on Media Minutes

Listen to this week's Media Minutes to hear highlights from last Wednesday's National Day of Out(R)age – BOSTON press conference and from rallies in cities across the country.

"New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco: concerned citizens take part in a "National Day of Out(R)age" directed at the phone and cable companies' campaign to become gatekeepers of the Internet and strangle community television." – Media Minutes: May 26, 2006

Joe Dalton, District Director, Rep. Markey’s Office Speech

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On Wednesday, May 24th, thousands of people in cities across the country protested the proposed federal legislation House Bill 5252 and Senate Bill 2686. The proposed legislation could curb local control over video franchises, negatively impact thousands of local Public, Educational and Governmental Access channels, allow red-lining in low-income and rural communities and jeopardize the openness of the internet by removing ‘net neutrality’ provisions designed to promote competition.

Watch Joe Dalton, District Director of Rep. Markey's Office, give his speech in Boston. TRT: 4:54

Steve Early Speech in Boston on National Day of Out(R)age

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On Wednesday, May 24th, thousands of people in cities across the country protested the proposed federal legislation House Bill 5252 and Senate Bill 2686. The proposed legislation could curb local control over video franchises, negatively impact thousands of local Public, Educational and Governmental Access channels, allow red-lining in low-income and rural communities and jeopardize the openness of the internet by removing ‘net neutrality’ provisions designed to promote competition.Watch Steve Early, Communications Workers of America, give his speech in Boston. TRT: 2:55

Hiram Scott Speech in Boston on National Day of Out(R)age

Watch the video

On Wednesday, May 24th, thousands of people in cities across the country protested the proposed federal legislation House Bill 5252 and Senate Bill 2686. The proposed legislation could curb local control over video franchises, negatively impact thousands of local Public, Educational and Governmental Access channels, allow red-lining in low-income and rural communities and jeopardize the openness of the internet by removing ‘net neutrality’ provisions designed to promote competition.

Watch Hiram Scott, President of Boston Public Access Producer's Group, give his speech in Boston on May 24, 2006. TRT:

David Isenberg Speech in Boston on National Day of Out(r)age

Watch the video

On Wednesday, May 24th, thousands of people in cities across the country protested the proposed federal legislation House Bill 5252 and Senate Bill 2686. The proposed legislation could curb local control over video franchises, negatively impact thousands of local Public, Educational and Governmental Access channels, allow red-lining in low-income and rural communities and jeopardize the openness of the internet by removing ‘net neutrality’ provisions designed to promote competition.The video is from Boston's protest. Watch David Isenberg, Fellow, Harvard Law's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. TRT: 4:03.

Andy Carvin Covers Boston’s Day of Out(R)age for Rocketboom!

watch the videoAndy Carvin, local videoblogger and Boston correspondent for Rocketboom, shot this video from today's National Day of Out(R)age rally and press conference in Boston. Thanks, Andy!

May 24 National Day of Out(R)age – BOSTON

Download a PSA – May 24 Event in Boston!

National Day of Out(R)age – BOSTON

DATE: Wednesday, May 24, 2006

RALLY: 1:30 – 2:00 PM In front of the MA State House, Beacon Street, Boston

PRESS CONFERENCE: 2:00 – 3:30 PM The Grand Staircase at the MA State House, Boston

CONTACT: Colin Rhinesmith, 617-633-0501

URL: www.acmeboston.org (Action Coalition for Media Education, Boston Chapter)

On May 24, a statewide coalition in Massachusetts will join thousands across the country for a National Day of Out(r)age to protest the telephone companies’ lobbying efforts in Congress to rewrite the nation’s telecommunications laws, in the wake of recent press reports that reveal that these same companies provided information on tens of millions of American citizens to the U.S. government!

Two bills (House Bill 5252 and Senate Bill 2686) are being considered in Congress RIGHT NOW that would:

* Reduce local control of video franchising and our public rights of way!

* Open the doors for the telecommunications giants to discriminate against low-income communities!

* Undermine the ability for PEG access centers to receive adequate funding, channels, and facilities—negatively impacting thousands of access centers across the U.S.!

* Create a two-tiered Internet: (1) A fast lane for those who can afford to ride on it, and (2) a dirt road for everybody else. This action would threaten the openness of the web, bringing the Internet as we know to an end!

Join the May 24 National Day of Out(R)age – BOSTON Coalition!Members and Supporters include:

Joe Dalton (District Director for Congressman Ed Markey's Office), State Representative Gloria Fox, Boston City Councilors Jerry McDermott, Sam Yoon, and Chuck Turner, Mel King, David Isenberg (Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School), Communications Workers of America – District 1, MASSPIRG, Alliance for Community Media, Community Change Inc., Boston Neighborhood Producers Group (BNPG), Project: Think Different, Action Coalition for Media Education, Boston Chapter (ACMEBoston), Public Access Centers in Worcester, Fall River, Lowell, Boston, and Cambridge, teachers and students from UMass Boston, Boston College, and Emerson College and local bloggers, podcasters, and videobloggers.

DOWNLOAD A FLYER!

This event is part of a nationwide day of protests coordinated by SaveAccess.org, a national coalition of community media
organizations and individuals.

Learn More and Take Action Today!
www.saveaccess.org & www.savetheinternet.com

ACMEBoston
create * educate * mobilize
www.acmeboston.org

Union set to fight if Verizon sells units

Union set to fight if Verizon sells units
By Jay Fitzgerald, Boston Herald General Economics Reporter
Boston Herald
Thursday, May 11, 2006

A union representing thousands of Verizon workers is vowing a major fight if the giant telecom company tries to sell off its phone-line businesses in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Calling such a sale a “form of rural redlining,” a spokesman for the Communications Workers of America said Verizon is trying to unload operations in sparsely populated states rather than invest in new fiber-optic lines in those areas.

“This is going to trigger quite a controversy,” said CWA spokesman Steve Early, noting that selling phone lines to smaller companies would hurt both consumers and union members.

Read the article here.

Ensure Access To Video Services For All!

(From Consumer's Union)

"Giant telephone companies want to offer new for-pay video services over high-speed Internet wires to compete with cable companies, potentially offering some consumers relief from skyrocketing cable bills. But rather than just take on the cable giants in the marketplace, the phone companies are asking Congress for special exemptions from existing policies that help communities protect their consumers.

Currently, local communities have the right to ensure that video service providers offer their video packages to all consumers in a community, rather than just the wealthiest. That helps ensure that middle- and low-income consumers get more choices and aren’t left on the wrong side of the digital divide. These protections are more important than ever given that cable TV prices are soaring and high-speed Internet has become critical to education, business opportunities and other fundamental daily needs.

But the big phone companies don’t want existing consumer protection policies to apply to them. And, at the same time phone companies claim they want to compete with cable, they’ve also opposed laws that would prohibit them from interfering with your access to web sites and services offered on the Internet that might compete with the phone company’s own video offerings."

Tell Congress
To bring cable price relief and competition to all consumers,
including those who need it most!