Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for Episode 67 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Jim Baller on the third part of the history of municipal networks. Listen to this episode here.
00:05:
Jim Baller: The legislature, with severe pressure from Verizon, did enact that legislation. And so there we were -- a new piece of legislation that was really an ugly bill.
00:21:
Lisa Gonzalez: Hi there. This is Lisa Gonzalez from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Welcome to the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.
We often share info about state telecom legislation, either via our blog or through interviews with guests on the Broadband Bits Podcast. This week, Chris visits with Jim Baller, once again, to learn about modern historical events in telecommunications. Jim is President and Senior Principal of the Baller Herbst Law Group. He's been involved in many of the state fights at the legislative level, and shares some of those stories with us. Jim's intimate legislative experience can help us contend with future legislative battles at the state level. Here are Chris and Jim.
01:00:
Chris Mitchell: Welcome to another episode of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. And we're continuing our multipart series on the history of municipal networks -- cable networks, fiber networks, and eventually wireless networks. Jim Baller has joined us once again. Thank you, Jim.
01:17:
Jim Baller: Nice to be back, Chris.
01:19:
Chris: We've had a lot of positive response, starting right with the first episode, where a lot of people are really interested. So I'm glad that we're taking the time to do this in several shows, rather than trying to rush through it.
So, the last time, where we left off, we were speaking about how a number of communities -- Chelan, Grant County, both in Washington; Kutztown in Pennsylvania; BVU, Bristol, Virginia; and Dalton, Georgia -- those were some of the earliest fiber-to-the-home networks in the United States, where local governments really picked up a new technology, ran with it, and helped to commercialize it. And we were going to pick up right after that with the private sector...
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