said by JTRockville :

... Jane said that even with all the talk of a Federal video franchise bill, negotiations with Verizon were progressing. There is a 5 hour meeting scheduled for Friday to go over all the points of agreement and disagreement.

said by JTRockville :

... Much more time was spent discussing (speculating) about legislation at the federal level and the impact it (and competition) would have on county revenue.

said by JTRockville :

Sad to say, the consumer perspective didn't much enter into that part of the conversation.

During the "brochure" discussion, the members did explore ways to reach out to the community so they could hear what the issues were, but someone noted that if they mentioned "Comcast" at the next cocktail party, they'd get an earful. Everyone laughed, then moved on to the next topic. It wasn't the only pot-shot taken at Comcast during the meeting, so the group must be aware that people are eager for competition (unless they just think people like to complain).

Since the TAC seems to be very willing to write letters, I was disappointed that no one suggested writing to the County Executive urging that the franchise negotiations be given a heightened priority. Maybe they see Verizon's entry as a conflict of interest since everyone seemed to agree it would reduce revenue, so perhaps no one is interested in speeding up the process.