Save Access

from: Broadcasting and Cable

AT&T Is Cable Operator, Says Connecticut Court
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/26/2007 3:33:00 PM

A Connecticut U.S. District Court has ruled that AT&T's Lightspeed IPTV video service is a cable service subject to local franchising laws.

The summary judgment was a victory for the New England Cable & Telecommunications Association, and the cable industry at large.

Note: we couldn't let the slippery logic of silicon alley slip by without a comment - below.

from: Silicon Alley

Court Ruling Screws Telcos, Boosts Cable
Dan Frommer | July 27, 2007 5:43 PM

A federal court made things a lot stickier for AT&T as it builds out its "U-verse" Internet-based television network. Reuters reports that a U.S. District Court in Connecticut has decided to lump IPTV in the same legal category as cable TV, reversing a previous decision by a state commission. This forces telcos through an expensive, obnoxious town-by-town dance to get local cable franchise licenses, the results of which rarely benefit consumers. (Nevermind that cable companies skip this kind of legal hoopla when they go after phone companies' customers with Internet phone offerings.)

from: Capital Times

Reject cable legislation

An editorial — 7/27/2007 10:16 am

After months of revelations about the back room political dealing, the big-money lobbying and the deceptive claims that have characterized the campaign by out-of-state telecommunications companies to undermine the ability of citizens to regulate local cable television service, the Wisconsin State Journal has taken the side of out-of-state firms over that of Wisconsin communities and consumers.

Note: From our friends at Prometheus. No excuses on this one, make the call now and your community . . . could become more of a community.

Support the LPFM Bill!

Hello supporters of low power FM Radio, and Greetings from the
Prometheus Radio Project! Read below to get your Congressmembers signed
on to expand low power FM radio to America's cities, smaller
communities, and your neck of the woods. Please read and forward

Note: Now if the courts would only rule that U-verse is a bogus deception.

from: Reuters

Court rules U.S. cable laws apply to AT&T's U-verse
Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:21PM EDT

By Yinka Adegoke and Ritsuko Ando

NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court has overturned a decision by Connecticut authorities that would have allowed AT&T Inc. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to expand its new U-verse Internet video service in the state more quickly.

from: Yesh.com

Join NC Public Broadband List

From Yesh.com, July 26, 2007

Not long after I learned about HB1587, the bad NC House bill, I started a Google Group called NC Public Broadband. Its a email list with the goal of keeping people in the loop about what’s going on in the fight to protect community broadband. Its mainly an announce list but you can respond to emails. We can also upload files to share. Like a PDF of legislation or an Excel Spreadsheet of Legislative contact info.

from: Creative Loafing Tampa

No More Public Access?
July 24, 2007
By Alex Pickett

Democracy for America? The Keg Show? Straight From Da Streets?
As of Sept. 30, you may no longer have your share of these and 97 other alternative programs on Pinellas County’s public access TV channel.

from: Towson Times

Fiber-optic cable work leaves lawns with scars

07/25/07
by Bryan P. Sears

Paula Gore isn't happy with the state of her lawn these days.

It's not pests or lack of rain. Gore is upset with the topsoil-covered patches and trenches that dot her yard and others along her cul-de-sac of 4,600-square-foot homes along Tremblant Court near St. Paul's School.

from: HippoPress

D.I.Y. TV
Public access television is the original YouTube
By Lisa Brown lbrown@hippopress.com

Vito just might be the next godfather of community television.

Vito and characters like him are what you’ll find when switching the television dial and tuning in to public access television stations across New Hamphire. Vito “The Pug” Corleone has his own cable show that airs on Concord Community Television, Monday through Thursday, at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., and 7 p.m. The show opens with a deep, Marlon Brando-from-The Godfather-like voiceover, “Pull up a bone. Put your feet up. Don’t make me send Clemenza over, you don’t want to sleep with the fishes.”

from: Nashville Post

Telecom secrets shape Connected Tennessee report

Michael Ramage
07-23-2007 2:08 PM —

Connected Tennessee — the organization called into being by Gov. Phil Bredesen and the General Assembly to strengthen the state's high-speed communications resources — will reveal the results of its study of confidential industry information this week.