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from: PC World

IPTV Spread Could Be Slowed by Class Issues
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Posted by Mark Sullivan

IPTV is slowly making its way to a neighborhood near you, but not without some significant red-tape snags along the way. Two of the nation's biggest phone companies, AT&T and Qwest, have recently suffered setbacks in obtaining the franchise agreements they need to roll out IPTV service in new markets. In both cases, lawmakers cited concerns that the companies intend to "cherry-pick," or offer IPTV to only the most affluent neighborhoods in town.

A Tennessee state-wide franchise bill pushed by AT&T was recently withdrawn for that reason in the face of strong opposition from cable companies and community groups. AT&T says it had planned to bring IPTV to four major metro areas and 70 smaller towns in the state.

Qwest is running into the same concerns with the city council in the Denver suburb of Broomfield, Colo. The company recently presented a plan to provide IPTV in the city and ran into a cool response from council members. Qwest has plans of selling IPTV throughout the Denver area.

AT&T and other telephone companies have been pushing hard for legislation that creates a state-wide video franchise. With a state-wide franchise they don't have to negotiate with every town in the state to offer service. Big companies like AT&T aren't likely to start offering IPTV in states that don't have a state-wide franchise in place.

Since the Congress failed to pass a nationwide video franchise last year, 11 states have passed statewide franchising agreements--Texas, Indiana, Virginia, Kansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey, California, Michigan, Missouri and, most recently, Florida. Two other such bills are waiting to be signed on the desks of the governors of Georgia and Iowa. Another 14 bills are making their way through the assemblies in other states around the country. Still, major video franchise bills in four states have been defeated so far in 2007.

AT&T now sells IPTV in California, Michigan, Texas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana and Connecticut. Qwest already offers IPTV in some areas around Denver, and says it's trying to obtain video franchises with communities in Utah, Washington and Oregon.