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from: MultiChannel News

IBEW Tries Mass. Organizing Of Comcast Workers
Electrical Union Rallies, Sets Up Web Site Targeting Largest Cable Operator
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 3/23/2008 5:22:00 AM

Comcast is in the crosshairs of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which has vowed to demonstrate nationwide at Comcast facilities in an effort to organize the company’s employees.

from: The Sun Chronicle

Verizon under fire for FiOS
BY TED NESI / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:05 AM EDT

Verizon has been under fire in recent months from critics who question why the company’s rollout of FiOS, its new fiber-optic cable television and Internet service, has mostly ignored Massachusetts’ cities, including Attleboro, Boston and Brockton, in favor of suburbs.

Note: Unlike AT&T, Verizon doesn't demand public interest concessions via state video franchises before upgrading their network, in fact Verizon seems to have had no problem negotiating hundreds of local franchises in MA, PA and NY. Perhaps AT&T should attend a communications seminar at Verizon?

from: Boston.com

from: Community Media in Transition

Audio Documentary on Community Media in the YouTube Age
January 3rd, 2008 by Colin Rhinesmith

For his graduate audio production course at Emerson College, my fellow grad student and CCTV colleague John Donovan (above) sat down with staff and members at Cambridge Community Television to find out “why community media still matters” in a YouTube age.

from: Boston Globe

The Push Is On to Bring Broadband to Whole State

From Boston Globe, August 12, 2007
By Carolyn Y. Johnson

Before Sharon E. Gillett took charge of the state’s newly formed Department of Telecommunications and Cable in May, she wrote reports about broadband access and policy. Now, she is shaping the state’s telecom landscape, starting with the Patrick administration’s $25 million initiative to bring high-speed Internet to 32 unserved communities, which she discussed with Globe reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson.

from: From Berkshire Eagle

Massachusetts Cable Bill Travels Down Slow Road

July 4, 2007
By Hillary Chabot

Lawmakers say a controversial bill meant to encourage cable competition might not pass this year because of fierce opposition from cities and towns.

Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill, who is chairman of the telecommunications committee reviewing the bill, said that the bill is in no way dead, but that committee members need time to study it after mayors, city managers and other municipal officials statewide spoke out against it earlier this month.

from: State House News Service

HOUSE CHAIRS ON MA VERIZON BILL: NOT THIS YEAR

Legislation easing regulations for telecommunications companies looking to break into cable TV markets, which has the backing of Senate Ways and Means chairman Steven Panagiotakos, is unlikely to pass this session, two House committee chairs said yesterday. Reps. Daniel Bosley, House chair of the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, and Brian Dempsey, House chair of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, said yesterday outside a leadership meeting in House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s office that the bill’s prospects this year are dim.

from: Mark Sardella

A BAD START FOR VERIZON

22Jun07
A major corporation comes to town and says whatever it needs to say so that local officials will let them do business here, and then waits for the town to threaten legal action before living up to its agreement.

I know–it’s shocking. But that’s exactly what communications mega-giant Verizon did to the town of Wakefield, Massachusetts in the last year.

Massachusetts Video Franchise Bill Faces Delay

From Multichannel News, June 11, 2007
By Linda Haugsted

A vote on a bill that would reform cable franchising in Massachusetts, much criticized by local officials, may be headed for a 90-day delay.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Steven Panagiotakos (D-Lowell) has recommended that a task force study the measure, which would move franchising authority to the state’s Department of Telecommunications and Energy. He began publicly suggesting the bill needed more work even before a June 5 hearing on the Verizon Communications Inc.-backed bill before the Joint Committee on Utilities, Telecommunications and Energy.

from: MultiChannel News

Massachusetts Bill Faces Delay

By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 6/11/2007

A vote on a bill that would reform cable franchising in Massachusetts, much criticized by local officials, may be headed for a 90-day delay.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Steven Panagiotakos (D-Lowell) has recommended that a task force study the measure, which would move franchising authority to the state’s Department of Telecommunications and Energy. He began publicly suggesting the bill needed more work even before a June 5 hearing on the Verizon Communications Inc.-backed bill before the Joint Committee on Utilities, Telecommunications and Energy.