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from: The Morning Star

Lawmakers Press FCC On AT&T's Public Program Offerings
9-17-08 2:10 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Members of a powerful House committee are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to put a stop to how AT&T Inc. (T) offers public and educational programming on its fledgling paid TV service.

from: Riedel Communications

More Verminators!

On the eve of a Congressional hearing regarding what has happened to Public, Educational and Government (PEG) access channels since the passage of statewide or state issued franchise legislation, it is heartening to note that the cable and telecom industries (and the FCC) have severely overplayed their hand. Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will hear a laundry list of harms done to PEG in what appears to be an industry-wide effort to bury and destroy these local channels. An effort that was spawned by the FCC’s First and Second Report and Order on Video Franchising and the nineteen states that passed the state legislation. These harms come at a time when Congress and the American people are acutely sensitive to media consolidation and the loss of localism.

The following link is scheduled to provide a live look at this morning's subcommittee meeting on PEG:

http://appropriations.edgeboss.net/wmedia-live/appropriations/33698/282_appropriations-happrops_080213.asx

Background:

Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Hearing on Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Access for Cable Television

from: Illinois Channel

AT&T Access Plan Challenged
by Curtis Black | curtis@newstips.org
June 5,2008

AT&T's plan for public access on its U-verse video service -- which the company calls "innovative" and critics call inadequate -- is being challenged in Illinois.

In other states, AT&T has relegated hundreds of public, educational, and governmental (PEG) stations to submenus on a single Channel 99, where accessing a particular channel is cumbersome and time-consuming, and picture and sound quality are on a par with YouTube, access advocates say. (This video demonstrate how Channel 99 works in California.)

from: The Advicate

House OKs cable franchise bill

* By SARAH CHACKO
* Advocate Capitol News Bureau
* Published: Jun 11, 2008 - Page: 6A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

Comments (1)

After lengthy debate and several failed amendments, House members gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that would enable cable companies to get a statewide franchise.

from: WZTV

Tennessee Governor Signs Statewide Video Franchise Bill Into Law

Associated Press, May 19, 2008

Gov. Phil Bredesen has signed into law a bill to create statewide TV cable franchising in Tennessee.

The measure pushed by AT&T Inc. was the result of two years of negotiations with the cable industry and local governments that also saw millions spent on lobbying and advertising campaigns.

from: Telephony Online

More disturbing numbers for telcos

May 13, 2008 11:02 AM, By Carol Wilson

Two separate sources this week are offering up more analysis showing the telcos are falling behind the cable companies in the broadband and video battle.

Information Gatekeepers, an analyst firm that once predicted the telcos would overtake cable in broadband penetration, this week issued its High-Speed Access Report for the first quarter of 2008, showing cable is outperforming its forecast and the telcos are under-performing what IGI had forecast in 2006. The latest report is in keeping with what IGI began saying in 2007, when it warned that both AT&T and Verizon were falling behind in implementing high-speed access plans, and thus their data revenues would not make up for lost wireline access income.

from: Journal Gazette

Published: May 15, 2008 6:00 a.m.
Public access TV suffering from telecom ‘reform' bill
By Erik S. Möllberg

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Those of us in the Public, Educational and Government Access TV community believed that House Bill 1279 (transferring cable franchising from municipalities to state control) would not only fail to address concerns we had prior to its passage, but also would cause irreparable harm to every PEG access center in Indiana. State legislators assured us this would not happen. Now, two years after the bill’s passage, those trepidations have materialized.

from: The City Paper

As AT&T legislation wraps up, city may be first to see U-verse
By John Rodgers, Friday, May 2, 2008 3:21 am

Nashvillians and residents of neighboring counties will likely have the first crack at AT&T’s television programming later this year now that legislation is close to becoming law, a lawmaker close to the telecom said.

from: Nashville Public radio

Statewide Cable Franchise Bill Passes General Assembly

Thursday, May 01st, 2008

A bill that would allow AT&T to expand into cable and broadband internet services statewide is on its way to the governor.

The Senate unanimously passed the measure today, after two years of behind-the-scenes bargaining between the giant phone utility and the cable television industry. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says he’s satisfied with the end result.