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from: Chon.com

$4M Spent to Lobby AT&T-Cable Issue

By BETH RUCKER Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
May 18, 2007, 4:08PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The battle over legislation that would ease AT&T's entry into the cable TV market has led to nearly $4 million being spent in lobbying efforts over the past six months _ making it the state's most expensive lobbying issue this year.

AT&T and those supporting the legislation spent upward of $1.8 million, while cable TV companies and those fighting the measure have spent nearly $2 million, according to reports filed this week with the Tennessee Ethics Commission.

AT&T says the spending is needed because the legislation is facing a harder battle in Tennessee than in other states.

Cable television company representatives say that's just public relations spin in what has turned out to be a contentious state-by-state fight over whether to change how business is done in the lucrative field of cable and video services.

The reports, which disclose lobbying costs from Oct. 1 to March 31, show the "Competitive Cable and Video Services Act" to be the single most expensive lobbying issue in the state this year. Disclosures due in November will show additional money spent between April 1 and the end of the legislative session, which isn't expected to come before May 31.

Of the nearly $4 million spent on the cable bill, about an eighth of the money is going toward the salaries of lobbyists. Much of the rest of the money pays for TV advertisements, mailings and other promotional items.

AT&T spokesman Ted Wagnon said the money his company has spent on lobbying hasn't only been in support of the bill but also to react to the efforts of the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association, Comcast, the Tennessee Municipal League, which represents local governments, and others fighting the bill.

"Tennessee's (costs) may not be unique, but certainly it is distinguished by the fact that the cable industry and TML have refused to come to the table with solutions," Wagnon said.

Joe Hall, a spokesman for the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association and other cable entities opposing the bill, said that's not the case. Twelve states have passed similar legislation and 19 states have either not passed or delayed action on the bills. Bills in two states _ Florida and Georgia _ have passed the legislatures but await governor signatures.

"This bill has failed in more states than it has been approved," Hall said.

AT&T claims the current system, which requires cable and video operators to do business directly with local governments, presents a barrier to more cable providers, and therefore more competition, entering the market.

AT&T is asking for a statewide franchise, where a company could apply with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority to do business in Tennessee and bypass local governments. The bills considered by other states are similar.

Cable companies contend that since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 overhauled communications law, neither AT&T nor other companies have had barriers to entering the cable and video market.

Local governments oppose the measure because a statewide licensing system would take away from them the power to negotiate franchise deals, secure municipal cable channels and impose local regulations.

"What AT&T is proposing would dramatically change a system that today is very open, allows for competition and, in our view, is very fair for all providers," Hall said.

The "Competitive Cable and Video Services Act" has been stuck in the commerce committees of both the Senate and the House since February as lawmakers and interested parties have wrangled over potential amendments and changes to the bill.

The $3.8 million represents what AT&T, pro-cable bill organization TV4US, the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association and various cable providers have spent on lobbying, with AT&T and the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association representing the largest share.

The semi-annual lobbying expenditure reports are among many new requirements of the comprehensive ethics reform act passed by the Tennessee Legislature in the wake of the arrests of five current or former lawmakers in the FBI's Tennessee Waltz investigation into public corruption.

As of Friday, approximately 500 companies or organizations which employ lobbyists had filed the expenditure reports that were to be filed by Tuesday. Nearly 675 companies have registered as employers of lobbyists.