The laws have been sought aggressively by large telephone companies offering new television services. The stakes at the state level were raised by the failure of nationwide franchising legislation during the 109th Congress.

But TeleCommUnity Alliance staff counsel Gerry Lederer noted that statewide franchising bills have succeeded in less than half of the states where they were they introduced this year. He attributed the slowdown to the fact that lawmakers have been able to study the effects of the laws in states that have them.

According to Lederer, the majority of recent franchising laws are considerably more reasonable from the perspective of local governments. Of the initial group of states with streamlined franchising systems, he said only Virginia adopted requirements for applications to provide services to rural and low-income areas. But the fact that five out of the last nine laws included such "build-out" requirements is progress, he said.

"I think build-out, if anything, is the winner," he said.

But Lederer also argued that the terms of the laws have been dictated by the companies lobbying for them, and that the laws enacted in states where AT&T is the dominant telephone provider generally have been the most aggressive.

He predicted that the debate will continue to mature in states where bills are still on the table, which include Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The issues that he claimed will shape future discussions include public educational and governmental programming, and consumer protection.

Lederer called consumer protection "the new beachhead" in the statewide franchising fight. He said lawmakers will benefit from being able to study whether prices have dropped and competition has been sparked under statewide regimes, as companies that have pushed for the laws promised they would.