Save Access

from: Herald News

Will AT&T win battle?

June 3, 2007
By BOB OKON Staff writer

The unfinished business in Springfield includes legislation expected to have a big impact on the kind of TV service people get.

Senate Bill 678 is the latest version of legislation hotly contested by Comcast and AT&T.

AT&T sought the new legislation, saying it needed a new set of rules to compete with Comcast and other cable providers with its own version of video service.

The Senate adjourned Friday without voting on the bill. However, it looks like AT&T is winning the legislative battle.

Some consumer advocates also are applauding the legislation, which, they say, give television customers more protection than they have now.

"We've gone from no service standards to the toughest service standards in the country with this bill," said David Kolata, executive director for the Citizens Utility Board (CUB).

One provision in the bill would require Comcast, AT&T or any other cable/video provider to show up at a home for a service call within a four-hour designated appointment time or pay a penalty to the customer.

As of Friday, AT&T said it supported SB678. The Cable Television and Communications Association of Illinois, which represents cable television, withdrew its opposition but was not supporting the bill.

Comcast and other cable providers contended that AT&T wanted legislation that would allow it to cherry-pick the best customers. The bill allows AT&T to apply directly to the state for access to markets rather than negotiating franchises with municipalities like cable providers have done for years.

Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar said municipalities also are concerned about the future of public access channels that broadcast village board meetings and provide other community services.

"I want the same public access afforded to people who sign up for AT&T as the people who sign up for Comcast get," Claar said.

Weeks of compromises in the legislation were crafted to address public access and other issues. The results are ironed out in sometimes very technical language in the 120 pages of the bill.

The Illinois Municipal League has changed its opposition to a neutral stance.

State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, D-Joliet, said he expects the Senate to vote on the bill next week and he is likely to support it.

"I just want to make sure the bill is well thought out and make sure that consumers will be able to get help when there is interruption in their cable service," he said.

That is one of the strongest consumer protections in the bill, said Ben Weinberg, chief of the public interest division for Illinois Attorney General's office.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who gains oversight authority over cable/video providers, also supports the bill, Weinberg said.

"The attorney general's primary interest in being involved in this area is to see that consumer interests are protected," he said. "It is clear that the consumer protections in this bill are the strongest in the country."

Other states have put in consumer protections for future AT&T customers. Weinberg said Illinois would be the first state to apply those same protections to existing cable customers.