Kansas Senators Quickly Advance Bill to Save Satellite, Streaming From Local Fees

A Kansas bill to exempt satellite TV and streaming video services from the state’s video franchise law cleared the Senate Utilities Committee in a voice vote Thursday. SB-144 would clarify that municipalities can’t apply a 5% franchise fee to the services that lack facilities in the right of way. “This is a clarification bill” that's meant to “maintain the status quo,” said DirecTV and Dish Network counsel Damon Stewart of Orrick Herrington. It responds to a number of cities that are "creatively interpreting” the 20-year-old Kansas statute in lawsuits against Hulu and Netflix in an attempt to get them to pay ROW fees, he said. Similar bills passed by overwhelming margins in Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio and Arizona, Stewart added. Ranking minority member Marci Francisco (D) raised concerns the committee didn’t give a “fair hearing” to written opposition she received only when the meeting started. We couldn’t find the testimony online and the committee didn’t respond to our request for copies by our deadline. A Missouri Senate panel cleared a similar bill Tuesday (see 2302150049).