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from: Indianapolis Business Journal

AT&T Is Holding Up Road Projects, Municipalities Claim
June 19, 2007
By Chris O’Malley

Weeks after Indianapolis sued AT&T Indiana for costly delays in relocating phones wire for a road project, Hendricks County officials say the phone company has put them behind schedule and thousands of dollars over budget.

from: Washington Post

AT&T files FCC access complaint against Cablevision

By Peter Kaplan
Reuters
Monday, June 18, 2007; 7:43 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Corp. said on Monday it filed a U.S. regulatory complaint that Cablevision Systems Corp. was improperly withholding regional sports programming that AT&T must have to roll out video service in Connecticut.

from: Light Reading

State Video Franchise Push Grows
JUNE 11, 2007

Ah, the video franchise. Obtaining it is one of the final steps a carrier must take in order to provide television service to a community. Getting one is an arduous task that can take up to two years to complete for each community and has become a big thorn in the side of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T - message board) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ - message board) as they deploy their new TV services.

from: MultiChannel News

Connecticut Legislators Approve Franchise-Reform Bill

AT&T’s U-verse TV Would Face New Regulations if Passed

By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 6/8/2007

Connecticut legislators, on the last night of their session June 6, approved a franchise-reform bill that will subject AT&T's U-verse TV product to some regulation.

from: Chicago Sun Times

Consumer protections are cable bill victory

June 7, 2007

You can already get phone service from your cable company. And if a promising bill in Springfield becomes law, you could soon get TV service from your phone company. The result should be a win for customers, not only because the bill will spur competition for TV service as well as phone service, but also because the measure contains some consumer protections that are the strongest in the country.

from: Spinal Column

AT&T entrance into local market prompts utility box concerns

June 06, 2007 - Recent enactment of a new state law pertaining to cable television franchising is the catalyst for AT&T approaching several local communities for permission to begin providing Internet protocol (IP) television, Internet and phone service in the lakes area. Officials in some communities — while not trying to stifle competition for Comcast — have concerns with the new law, which some have argued will curb funding through set fees the service providers pay. Other municipal officials fear utility upgrades by AT&T could have negative aesthetic and public safety effects in their communities, which receive revenues from cable companies in two ways.

from: Chicago Tribune

Cable competition sought
State bill would aid AT&T's rivalry bid

By Jon Van and Jeffrey Meitrodt
Tribune staff reporters
Published June 6, 2007

The state legislature is making a push to increase competition in the cable television market that will bring a side effect all TV watchers could appreciate: a promised cap in the number of hours spent waiting for the cable guy.

Note: More evidence of the 'triple ploy'.

from: Houston Chronicle

Bundling Telecom Services May Not Always Save a Bundle

June 5, 2007
By Vicki Lee Parker

Bundling is the buzzword in the telecom industry these days. Cable TV companies, phone companies and Internet providers want to sell us all sorts of services for one price. It’s a big price, but cheaper than paying for each separately, they tell us.

We have slightly more than a day to save the Public Interest when it comes to Substitute Bill SB 117.

Note: We have heard similar reports from other states considering video franchise legislation. It seems the best way to get legislators to change their vote is to misinform them at the last minute. We hope our elected officials will read the fine print of these telco bills before signing off on them.

The day that SB 117 passed in the Senate I was at the statehouse and here are a couple of the things I noticed: