N.C. governor's pen poised to sign anti-muni broadband bill

A bill that would essentially ban municipal broadband networks in North Carolina is sitting on Gov. Beverly Perdue's desk for review and, with 10 days to go before she has to take action, she's given no indication whether she will sign it or not.

"The governor is reviewing the bill now. I will let you know when there is some movement," her spokeswoman told the Davidson News.

The oddly named "Level Playing Field" legislation, which was backed by incumbent telecom providers in the state, including Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), throws a landslide of conditions in front of any municipality that wants to get into the broadband business, even if the incumbents aren't performing up to what the town considers to be snuff.

The tangled public-private muni broadband dispute in North Carolina took yet another strange turn this week the newspaper revealed that a leading critic of a North Carolina muni broadband system, MI-Connection, is and has been a Time Warner Cable employee even though he has "repeatedly denied working for the company."

The revelation came after a MI-Connection employee "spotted Mr. (Andy) Steven at a local shopping center wearing a Time Warner Cable uniform and driving a Time Warner Cable truck," the newspaper said

For more:
- the Davidson News has this story
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