Local & State Headlines

Meeting to focus on cable

• Cable television will be topic for an Albany commissioners monthly town hall meeting.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — An Albany city commissioner is hoping to help the public understand changes to Georgia law that may help or hinder efforts to bring more cable television competition into the area during a town hall meeting Saturday in East Albany.

Mayor Pro Tem Jon Howard, city commissioner for Ward 1, has scheduled the meeting for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the East Albany Community Center at 1721 E. Oglethorpe Blvd. The public is encouraged to attend.

According to Howard, a recently passed state law has stripped cities from around the state from negotiating cable TV franchises, leaving that process in the hands of the state government.

“The state of Georgia has made it clear that it intends there be one set of standards that govern cable service,” Howard wrote in a news release.

Howard said that communications giant Mediacom has notified city officials that they plan to take advantage of the new law. Mediacom’s relationship with the city, Howard says, will now be governed by this new law and by state rules set by the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs.

The discussion is slated to be led by officials with the city attorney’s office and will encompass the law itself and how the city will best apply the law, Howard wrote.