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from: Nashville Post

Can the chamber paper over differences?

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse
04-26-2007 1:18 PM —

If you are a member of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, you are now in an uncomfortable position.

NashvillePost.com has learned that the chamber's Board of Directors will be presented a "white paper" today on the video franchising debate that is raging in the Tennessee State Legislature. Sources familiar with the report fear that it will pit major Chamber of Commerce members like AT&T and Comcast against each other.

The debate involves changes to state law, sought by AT&T, that would allow the telecom giant to bypass local governments and seek a statewide video franchise. Cable providers say that procedure would be an unfair advantage and would cost municipalities revenue.

Locally, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell has sided with the Tennessee Municipal League and the Tennessee County Services Organzation in opposing the legislation. They have said that the AT&T bill would cost the city money, give the phone giant carte blanche on public rights of way, and strip Davidson County residents of consumer protections.

In March, Purcell offered to help AT&T obtain a franchise to offer video services in Davidson County. In a much-anticipated move, he was rejected.

When contacted by NashvillePost.com about the white paper, chamber CEO Ralph Schulz said his staff had prepared "an objective review of the video franchising bill and would present it to the chamber's Board of Directors."

Schulz downplayed the report, saying that it was not the most important item on the board's agenda and that there was no recommended position attached to the report. Schulz conceded that a member of the board could make a motion that the chamber take a position on the legislation, but doing so would be an individual initiative, he said.