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from: MultiChannel News

Waiting For Martin’s Next (Big) Steps

By Ted Hearn 1/8/2007

In December, a politically divided Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that give franchising authorities 90 days to act on cable entry petitions filed by phone companies and others with pre-existing access to rights of way.

from: Public Knowledge

The Price of Net Neutrality

Submitted by Art Brodsky on January 5, 2007 - 3:46pm.

As Democratic legislators start the process of running the legislative branches of government, it’s worth a moment to take a last look at the unusual statement on the AT&T/BellSouth merger issued by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and his colleague, Deborah Taylor Tate. The merger conditions, approved Dec. 29, enshrined the concept that companies that offer service like AT&T can’t discriminate in how they provide content. That’s the shorthand for Net Neutrality. AT&T agreed not to sell as service that “privileges, degrades or prioritizes” any data transmitted over its network. Martin and Tate didn’t like that condition, among others, and said so in a statement issued when the deal was approved.

from: Light Reading

2006 Top Ten: Big IPTV Moments

JANUARY 05, 2007

Most people will probably look back at 2006 as (another) "warm-up year" for IPTV. Here at Light Reading we like to think of IPTV as a toddler -- just out of diapers, and about to break a heap load of stuff as part of its "learning process."

Friendly Giants in an age of deregulation?

from: Slate

Bellwether: Ma Bell is back. Should you be afraid?
By Tim Wu

Posted Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007, at 5:47 PM ET

Ma Bell is back. Blown into eight pieces by an antitrust court in 1984, AT&T, like a self-repairing robot, has slowly put itself back together. Last Friday, the Federal Communications Commission, demanding net neutrality and other conditions, approved AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth. That will make AT&T—once again—the world's largest technology company. And don't just think big. Think Goliath, with about $110 billion in annual revenue, more than 300,000 employees, and 90 million paying accounts. Google, by way of comparison, brings in about $9 billion a year. Even Microsoft, at $45 billion, is a mere elephant compared to the AT&T mammoth.

from: Broadband Reports

Can AT&T Just Ignore New Concessions?
Neutrality advocates cheer, ignore fine print...

Posted on 2007-01-02 16:25:46 by Karl

While AT&T did offer some additional concessions to squeeze through the AT&T BellSouth merger, Kevin Webach (via Techdirt) points out that the post-merger statements by Republican commissioners hint that they may not require the company to actually adhere to them. According to the statement, Tate and Martin believe that "while the Democrat Commissioners may have extracted concessions from AT&T, they in no way bind future Commission action. Thus, to the extent that AT&T has, as a business matter, determined to take certain actions, they are allowed to do so."

from: ISP Planet

DSL Prime: AT&T's Net Neutrality Offer is Just Hot Air

AT&T promises to deliver bits without traffic shaping, but the agreement excludes the parts of the network it can control.

by Dave Burstein
of DSL Prime and Future of TV
[January 4, 2007]

"I call them the black ninjas. They work by night and are very, very good."

from: ComputerWorld

FCC boss: We can throw away the AT&T net neutrality agreement

By Preston Gralla on Thu, 01/04/2007 - 2:34pm

The groundbreaking AT&T pledge to agree to net neutrality provisions in return for being allowed to buy out BellSouth carries absolutely no weight with FCC honcho Kevin Martin. In fact, Martin has said that the FCC "will oppose such policies going forward."

a technology consultant firm predicting business as usual

from: Gartner

AT&T Closes BellSouth Deal by Making Only Small Concessions

4 January 2007

Jay E. Pultz Kathie Hackler Phillip Redman

AT&T made several minor concessions to win FCC approval of this deal. Now larger and with a wholly owned wireless capability, AT&T is strengthened as a global telecom leader. But enterprises shouldn't overlook alternatives.

From TV Week

FCC Video Franchise Vote Out of Bounds

January 1, 2007
By Marianne Paskowski

Just days before Christmas, the Federal Communications Commission in a 3-2 vote removed a barrier for phone companies entering the video business by mandating that municipalities must decide on franchise requests within 90 days, not the usual six-month window or more that cable incumbents have endured for decades.

From: National League of Cities

FCC Decision on Video Franchising Is Detrimental for Local Government

December 20, 2006

“We are confounded by today’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that would systematically block the ability of local governments to protect their citizens, local assets and revenues.