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Just got the press release from Saveaccess.org, describing the "National Day of Out(R)age" happening tomorrow, May 24, in cities around the United States, to protest the efforts of telephone companies to win national franchising licenses to provide television content:
On Wednesday, May 24th, thousands of people in cities across the country will protest the Telephone Companies
AT&T, Bell South and Verizon. We are outraged by the tactics of the
major telephone companies (AT&T, Bell South, Verizon and Qwest) to
pass National Video Franchising legislation in Congress. The Telcos are
spending one million dollars a week to buy the votes of Congress people for their legislation (House Bill 5252 and Senate Bill 2686), and on advertising to influence public opinion, using ‘astroturf’ groups
to distort the issues. The proposed legislation will 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.
There are protests planned in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.