Governor James McGreevey this week signed into law legislation that should give New Jersey residents more power when dealing with cable companies. The legislation would, according to this press release from the state itself, allow municipalities to increase their negotiating power by joining together to negotiate terms of service from a cable provider. The release suggests the legislation will better facilitate the delivery of broadband services to homes, schools, libraries and local government, though it fails to specify exactly how. Democratic Senate President Richard J. Codey, failing to be clever, suggests the legislation will tell cable providers to "'tune-in' to New Jersey residents."

Among the customer service improvements being pushed by the state the past several months, McGreevey has been urging cable companies to answer customer calls within 30 seconds, schedule service appointments within four-hour windows and offer credits to customers automatically when their service is disrupted for three hours or more.