Save Access

from: Colombia Missourian

Salina, Kan., sets standard for access television

By EMILIE RUSCH

January 6, 2008 | 6:57 p.m. CST

Community Access Television of Salina, Kan. — 300 miles west of Columbia — isn’t the biggest or the busiest public-access center in the country, but it’s proving public access can be successful and valuable.

from: Nashville City Paper

AT&T vs. Cable, round 2
By John Rodgers, jrodgers@nashvillecitypaper.com

AT&T vs. Cable, round 2
Ding ding.

That’s the sound of the bell ringing to begin round two of the multi-million dollar battle between AT&T and the cable industry and local towns and cities over statewide television video franchising.

from: Times News

Area city officials oppose AT&T push for video, TV service

Published 01/04/2008 By Hank Hayes

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Officials with Tri-Cities municipal governments expressed opposition to AT&T’s legislative push for a statewide video services franchise while handing out their 2008 policy marching orders to Northeast Tennessee lawmakers Friday.

from: St. Petersburg Times

County sells out to cable provider
A Times Editorial
Published January 4, 2008

State Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Tampa, was the force behind a predatory law last year that enables the pay-TV industry to wring even more from its customers while giving back less in return. Local government and consumer groups opposed the legislation. The cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg are fighting the fallout in court. Hillsborough County Commissioners, though, are more interested in exploiting the law for their own self-promotion than in defending the public interest. Once again, the county distinguishes itself by siding with big business instead of average citizens.

from: The Columbia Missourian

Columbia Access Television: Is the show over?
The public access station is at a crossroads
By EMILIE RUSCH

January 04, 2008

COLUMBIA — A canopy of studio lights from years gone by — still bearing the stenciled letters of the KTVI television station in St. Louis — hangs from the rafters of Studio A at the Stephens College Helis Communication Center.

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: Times Free Pres

Fight for fiber
Thursday, January 03, 2008

By Dave Flessner
Staff Writer

The new year should bring new options for Chattanooga consumers who want high-speed Internet, telephone and cable TV services.

But as the local cable provider, electricity supplier and phone company try to invade one another's traditional turfs in 2008, battles loom in the General Assembly, the courts and ultimately the marketplace among Comcast, AT&T and EPB.

from: Consumers Union

Your World, Delivered. If You Can Figure Out Where We Hid It

January 2, 2008
By Bob Williams

Your World, Delivered.

That is, of course, the current slogan of AT&T. But we think its time for the communications behemoth to modify its catchphrase to better reflect the way it actually operates in the real world. We’re thinking something along the lines of “Your World, Delivered — If You Can Somehow Figure Out Where We Hid It.”

from: Lasar's Letter

The top paid telecom executives of 2006

The Security and Exchange Commission now has a handy-dandy new database that tells you who in the corporate world is making what these days.

These are, of course, the firms that voluntarily disclosed this data. LLFCC couldn't resist downloading the numbers and coming up with this table. Enjoy!

Note: Thorough background from Miller Van Eaton on the recent FCC rulings effecting PEG

from: Miller Van Eaton