Save Access

from: Carlin's Comments

Statewide Video Franchises vs. Universal Service: Grasping the Total Picture

3/14/2007

Carlini’s Comments, MidwestBusiness.com’s oldest column, runs every Wednesday. Its mission is to offer the common man’s view on business and technology issues while questioning the leadership and visions of “pseudo” experts.

from: Silicon Valley

Feds, AT&T: Eavesdropping trial would reveal state secrets

Posted on Tue, Mar. 13, 2007
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - The federal government is urging an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program, warning that disclosure of such activities could compromise national security.

from: Nashville Post

AT&T rejects Nashville video franchise for the second time

03-12-2007

Mayor Bill Purcell recently offered to help AT&T Tennessee — the former BellSouth — rapidly obtain a local franchise to offer video services in Davidson County, but AT&T declined the offer on the spot, according to Purcell spokesperson Molly Sudderth.

from: City of Geneva

AT&T LOBBIES ILLINOIS HOUSE TO REMOVE LOCAL CONTROL.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY WANTS EMINIENT DOMAIN POWER OVER GENEVA PROPERTY OWNERS?

AT&T has launched a bill at the State House level to remove local franchise control from municipalities (a power Geneva currently holds) and instead give power over Geneva's Rights of Way directly to the State of Illinois. Most important to Geneva citizens, if passed, this bill would remove full citywide buildout requirements from AT&T - something cable companies must currently do - and allow them to serve parts of Geneva that they found most profitable, and not serve others they did not.

from: JS Online

Bill would level playing field for TV programming providers
Only cable companies now held to franchise requirements

By DORIS HAJEWSKI

Posted: March 8, 2007

A bill that would eliminate municipal cable franchises and shift the approval process to the state was unveiled Thursday in Madison.

from: Lafayette Pro Fiber

Sunday, March 11, 2007

AT&T & Cox should reconsider state video franchising

Tis spring and the legislative season is opening in these United States. Our Louisiana silly season won't begin 'til April but many state legislatures are already in session. An article in the Jackson, TN newspaper reminds us that phone companies are still up to their old tricks. Last year the telephone companies launched a nation-wide push in state legislatures to take control of local rights-of-way away from the cities and counties that own them and create state-level privileges for phone companies who wanted to get int the cable TV business.

Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO: Endorse Video Competition Bill

3/7/2007

Thursday March 8, 2007 Contact: Ann Crump, Communications Workers of America 414-525-4292

Groups Say Bill is Critical to Future of Union Telecom Jobs

Madison, WI – The Communications Workers of America (CWA-IUE), a labor organization representing more than 10,000 workers in Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO said Thursday they strongly support a bill that would promote video competition and encourage job growth.

Note: A new spin on this older story (May 2006), remember that the Justice Department and the FCC cleared the AT&T-Bell South merger well after the original story was broken. EFF still has a lawsuit pending against the NSA

from: AlterNet

Top Secret Gov't Spying room revealed by AT&T Whistleblower

Tell Illinois Representatives to OPPOSE Illinois House Bill 1500.
This Thursday, March 8, the Illinois House Telecommunications Committee will vote on the AT&T-backed Illinois House Bill 1500. HB 1500:

* Shuts down Public, Educational and Government (PEG) stations around the state
* Drops requirements that companies serve everyone
* Weakens customer service protections
* Harms fair competitions

from: IndyBay

California PUC Elects to Not Fully Implement Cable Legislation AB 2987

by ron cooper
Monday Mar 5th, 2007 2:05 PM

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has rejected the oversight role the CA Legislature thought it had mandated in AB 2987. In a perfunctory vote, the state PUC rejected the protests of California cities and consumer groups, deciding against any direct oversight of the state's new statewide video-service franchises for phone and cable companies. PEG access provisions of the bill are now threatened.