Lawmakers in Columbia are pushing a plan that would help telephone companies offer television via their fiber-optic lines, but critics say the legislation would let the new providers "cherry-pick" customers and avoid low-income neighborhoods.

Some 65 representatives and 16 senators have sponsored a bill that would let new television providers obtain statewide franchise agreements to offer video service. Currently, cable companies must negotiate separate contracts with individual municipalities and counties in which they want to provide service, a process that can take two to 12 months in each location.

The legislation aims to incite competition and lower the price of television programming by making it easier for phone companies to offer TV service. BellSouth Corp., the incumbent local phone company in South Carolina, is testing technology that sends television programming over the same fiber-optic network on which it delivers phone and high-speed Internet service.

The company may offer TV programming to most of its customers as early as next year, according to Hank Fischer, BellSouth's South Carolina executive director. Close to 80 percent of BellSouth's South Carolina customers are wired for broadband, which would allow them to receive TV signals.

At the same time, traditional cable companies like Comcast Corp. are rushing to offer telephone service over their Internet nerve systems. Although the company would not say when it might offer phone service in Charleston, Tim Horn, general manager of the local Comcast office, said his company is shooting to have 1 million voice customers nationally by year-end.

Prices for TV service have already started dropping in the few markets where complete "bundles" of services compete head-to-head. Cable TV companies in Tampa, Fla., started offering deep discounts last week, days after county officials there agreed to let Verizon Communications Inc. sell cable TV service.

Under the proposal debated in Columbia this week, the Secretary of State would sign off on new television providers. The companies would then pay franchise agreements up to 5 percent of revenue in the markets where they start doing business. The payments would be equal to what other cable TV companies pay in those markets.

Critics such as the South Carolina Cable Association said the legislation would allow new providers to pick the most profitable markets and ignore low-income neighborhoods.

Part of the bill forbids companies from denying service based on customers' income, but critics said the legislation takes the teeth out of any oversight by directing complaints to the state Office of Consumer Affairs, which cannot order changes or exact penalties. At present, town and county officials can forbid a company from doing business within their borders if the company does not agree to meet service requirements.

"It has the potential of setting up a scenario where you have telecommunications have-gots and telecommunications have-nots," said Nancy Horne, president of the cable association. "There's no strong discrimination enforcement."

BellSouth said it is already illegal to deny service based on income, and customers will be empowered by having more choices.

"It will bring greater oversight, because it will give the oversight to the customer themselves," Fischer said.

The Municipal Association of South Carolina is also against the proposal, arguing that the bill would limit the kinds of revenue that companies pay franchise fees on and thus lower local tax returns.

Howard Duvall Jr., executive director of the group, made his case to a House committee in late January, but he said BellSouth's lobbyists had already bent the ears of lawmakers. "The train was already on the track," Duvall said.

Texas lawmakers passed a similar measure in August, spurring investment by phone companies. But a group of Texas cable companies recently sued several of the state's public utility commissioners, alleging that the new law violates the state's constitution and grants special favors to phone companies.

About 1.3 million South Carolina households subscribe to cable television, according to the state cable association.

Reach Kyle Stock at 937-5763 or kstock@postandcourier.com.