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from: Newsday

Blumenthal, consumer counsel demands AT&T get cable franchise

August 6, 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the Office of Consumer Counsel on Monday asked state utility regulators to order AT&T to get a statewide cable television license before signing up new customers.

They point to a recent federal court ruling that requires AT&T to follow the same regulations as cable companies for TV service that's delivered on phone lines. AT&T began offering its new Internet Protocol Television service in December. AT&T has argued that the Internet service is not cable TV under the law, but a federal judge disagreed last month. Blumenthal responded Monday by filing an emergency petition with the Department of Public Utility Control.

"The federal court's ruling provides a legal foundation for the fact that an unequal playing field for video services is unacceptable and illegal, and that the legal structures already in place in state and federal law demand balance among the service providers," Blumenthal said.

Seth Bloom, an AT&T spokesman, said the attorney general's action could take away consumer choice just as it arrives for cable customers clamoring for it.