from: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH [1]

Creve Coeur deal puts AT&T's foot in Missouri TV door

By Jerri Stroud
11/17/2006

AT&T's video franchise agreement with Creve Coeur puts the company in position to deliver a bundle of telephone, television and high-speed Internet services over its own network for the first time in Missouri.

The company won't say whether Creve Coeur would be the first city in Missouri to get the fiber-based service, which currently is available only in San Antonio, AT&T's headquarters city.

The company says it will offer the service, called Uverse, in 15 cities by the end of the year and more broadly early next year. Houston is the only city among the 15 where AT&T has confirmed plans to offer Uverse.

AT&T spokesman Kerry Hibbs said the company is negotiating with more than 100 cities in Missouri, including St. Louis and Kansas City, to obtain franchises for video service, which would make its television offering more comparable to cable services.

But what AT&T really would like to see is a state law that would allow it to get a statewide video franchise. A bill allowing a statewide franchise stalled earlier this year in the Legislalture. AT&T has obtained statewide franchises in Texas, California, Indiana and Kansas.

Cindy Brinkley, AT&T's Missouri president, said, "We expect another bill will be introduced for the 2007 session, and Congress is looking at national video legislation as well. In the meantime, it's great to see cities such as Creve Coeur take the initiative to open the door to competition."

Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, is planning to pre-file a statewide franchise bill next month in Jefferson City. Greisheimer, who sponsored the bill that died earlier this year, said he is trying to get cable and telephone companies to agree on language for the new bill.

Telephone and cable companies are battling for dominance in providing bundles of service to homes and small businesses. The bundles usually combine telephone, high-speed Internet and subscription television services in a discounted package. In some cases, cell phone service is included in the bundle.

AT&T's Uverse delivers high-speed Internet service and television over fiber-optic lines, which provide higher speed and reliability than its copper network.

In San Antonio, Uverse packages range from $74 to $119 a month, including high-speed Internet service. The packages have 190 to more than 300 channels, movies and other programs available on-demand, digital music and other options including movie and sports packages. Customers who get AT&T telephone service and Cingular Wireless cell phones can qualify for additional discounts.

In Creve Coeur, Charter Communications Inc. objected to the AT&T franchise because it doesn't regulate AT&T as a cable company, said Sharifah Williams, a spokeswoman for Charter. "We don't have a problem with competition," Williams said. But the AT&T franchise "gives them an upper hand."

Hibbs said AT&T's service wouldn't be regulated as cable service because it works differently. The company will provide government and public-access channels under the Creve Coeur agreement.

jerristroud@post-dispatch.com