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from: Broadcasting & Cable

Verizon Touts Fiber Growth

Verizon's FiOS fiber-optic network is now delivering high-speed data service to one million customers and will soon be providing TV service to half a million customers, Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg announced during a keynote address Wednesday at the Nxtcomm trade show in Chicago.

from: Indianapolis Business Journal

AT&T Is Holding Up Road Projects, Municipalities Claim
June 19, 2007
By Chris O’Malley

Weeks after Indianapolis sued AT&T Indiana for costly delays in relocating phones wire for a road project, Hendricks County officials say the phone company has put them behind schedule and thousands of dollars over budget.

from: Chicago Tribune

Senate greenlights cable bill
Franchise rules to soften if governor signs off

By Monique Garcia
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 19, 2007, 2:43 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD—In a move aimed at creating cable TV competition and lowering rates statewide, the Senate passed legislation today that would allow AT&T and other telecommunications companies to more easily get into the cable-television business.

Illinois Video Bill SB 678 passes the Senate – PEG Access is protected.

For more information: Barbara Popovic - bpopovic@cantv.org

Illinois SB 678 (the amended HB 1500) passed in the Illinois House by a vote of 113-0 on May 31 followed by a 54-0 vote in the Illinois Senate on June 19.

SB 678 resolves public, educational, government (PEG) access TV and many of the local regulatory control issues. Strong consumer protection and enforcement provisions are included in the bill. SB 678 does not resolve all concerns about build-out requirements but is an improvement over the original HB 1500.

from: Reclaim the Media

The Year of cable discontent

by David Hatch, Tech Daily

For the cable industry, 2007 could be a year of discontent. Lost among the headlines about the transition to digital television and efforts to rejuvenate telecommunications legislation is a bevy of proposals that threaten to reshape the subscription television business.

from: Washington Post

AT&T files FCC access complaint against Cablevision

By Peter Kaplan
Reuters
Monday, June 18, 2007; 7:43 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Corp. said on Monday it filed a U.S. regulatory complaint that Cablevision Systems Corp. was improperly withholding regional sports programming that AT&T must have to roll out video service in Connecticut.

from: Callahan's Diary

SB 117 and the city: Moving on

The end of local cable franchising is not quite law in Ohio, not yet. The Ohio Senate must accept the House’s changes to SB 117, or a conference committee must reconcile the two versions, and the Governor must sign the final product. But this will all happen in a matter of days. The argument is over, the deal has gone down. Time to move on.

from: The Enquirer

Bill may kill Miami Twp.'s TV channel
Communities would have to share public access
BY BARRETT J. BRUNSMAN | BBRUNSMAN@ENQUIRER.COM

MIAMI TWP. - They want their MTTV.

Officials in this Clermont County community also want to keep the $252,000 a year in franchise fees paid by Time Warner Cable, which funds the township's TV channel.

from: Buffalo News

EDITORIALS
On balance, a good bill

Right now, the final days of the State Legislature session are winding down. But in the meantime, there’s a controversy brewing among big business over a bill to change how cable television is distributed, taking it out of the hands of local municipalities and creating a special state panel to decide what company gets the franchise.

from: The Daily Record

Big hang up: Verizon fails to offer users local access

Some subscribers say stations were to be available right away

BY MICHAEL DAIGLE
DAILY RECORD
Sunday, June 17, 2007

1 Comment
Cable TV subscribers switching to Verizon from their town-licensed provider are losing access to the local, free channel used by the public, educators and local government.