Save Access

from: Multichannel news

Esser Sermonizes on Franchise Reform
By Karen Brown6/6/2006 5:58:00 PM

Chicago -- Cox Communications Inc. president Pat Esser turned his podium into a pulpit at the Globalcomm telecom convention here Tuesday, delivering a stern sermonlike keynote accusing Bell competitors of trying to gain a regulatory free pass into video to make up for their own delays in developing those services.

Here at saveaccess.org we just came upon this page of the City of Geneva, Illinois. We encourage you to visit their site (they have compelling documents and 'actual' pictures of telco box installations). The city is being sued by AT&T for establishing a moratorium so there would be adequate time to assess the issue. Please go to:
http://www.geneva.il.us/att/Lightspeed.htm

With the COPE vote bearing down this week, the astroturf groups are busy sprouting plastic dandelion blooms. Consumers for Cable Choice, which has been pushing their deceptive marketing campaign since last June, today claimed to have sent a petition to Congress on behalf of one million Americans. This is pretty creative math for an organization with 1200 individual supporters and 71 organizations. Apparently they tally up all the members of each organization and count them as petition signatories too (with Women Impacting Public Policy providing a whopping 505,000 count alone). One wonders if the same people behind C4CC also counted votes in Ohio and Florida.

The deadline for filing public comments with the FCC about the AT&T-BellSouth merger is today (June 5th). Please take a moment to send a letter via the Free Press web site! This 69 Billion dollar merger will make AT&T the largest telephone company in the world.

Note: The deadline for filing FCC Comments is today (June 5th). Please take a moment to send a letter via the Free Press web site!

from:Broadcasting and Cable

AT&T/BellSouth Opponent Weigh In

From: Digital Destiny

Hey! Guess Who Helps Fund the Heritage Foundation? AT&T and Verizon

Ready as always to weaken the public interest potential of U.S. communications, James L. Gattuso wrote a anti-network neutrality “Backgrounder” for the Heritage Foundation (released June 2, 2006). Subtitled “Will Congress Neuter the Net?”, the piece is a politically timed missive designed to undermine the growing pressure on Congress to enact network neutrality safeguards. It contains the usual litany of rationalizations and under-developed analysis used by big cable and phone advocates to criticize network neutrality.

A surprising admission from AT&T CEO Whitacre. The Telcos have been claiming that competition will lower prices and they have repeatedly used this argument in their push for state and national video franchising. Apparently what the telcos tell Congress is much different from what they tell Wall Street

from: Broadcasting and Cable