News and Reviews....
A T & T U-verse December 2007
By Bob Lieto
This past October 31 was a good day for the citizens of the State of Connecticut. Hartford Superior Court Judge Robert McWeeny issued a decision overturning an October 15th state Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) ruling requiring the telecom giant to apply for a statewide cable TV franchise license.
Mr. McWeeny instead decided that AT & T could operate under a new state law which took effect on October 1, encouraging competition for cable services. As you might know from our recent report "Cable BIZ" on November of this year. The cable companies were originally controlled by the state, where as the state was divided into sections and an advisory board was set up to monitor their service to the state's customers. That is no more, for as I have been told in a letter by the State's Attorney General, Mr. Richard Blumenthal, the Federal Government now has authority over the entire service. Back to the issue, McWeeny decided that the "Certificate of Video Franchise Authority" is all that A T & T has to apply for, and it would suffice to cover it's service known as U-verse to customers.
A T & T began the U-Verse service back in 2006 following a state DPUC ruling that is was not a cable service in description and therefore not subject to the cable franchise regulations. This triggered a federal lawsuit by the state's Office of Consumer Council and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, arguing all state residents might not be offered the service because A T & T would likely "Cherry Pick" only the most affluent markets to introduce the service. I think this is a bogus reason, for if A T & T felt their service was a competitor in the market, why would they self limit themselves to certain markets? In July of this year, U.S District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton determined U-Verse was a cable service. A T & T filed a petition seeking reconsideration of the ruling. Arterton denied the petition on October 2, 2007, saying that state regulators must oversee the A T & T service as it would a Cable service. Am I missing something or is this a Hide the pea game. As a result the DPUC issued its October 15th ruling saying A T & T had to stop signing up customers until it received a cable franchise. A T & T's appeal to state court led to McWeeny's decision, which OCC attorney William Vallee indicated was "probably the end of the line" for legal action. AMEN
Get ready for a alternative to cable service coming your way soon.
Comment ..... IT IS ABOUT TIME. The hard working people of Connecticut get home from work each day and relax to watch 2-3 hours of programming at a cost that is by far out of range. We need competition in our TV programming service and it has been needed for a long time. And although I say Congrats to A T & T, they too will probably price their service a notch below the current cable service. Get yourself a HDTV free air antenna and get 6-12 or more (depending on your area) free HDTV channels. Call Custom Audio-Video Systems to get your antenna and receiver.
UPDATE: Get 16-30 or more free HDTV Channels. Add a Roter to you antenna and get more variety March 2011
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Past Articles on Subject:
Cable BIZ November 2007
Digital Cable, See It Now or Not May 2007
