Save Access - WISCONSIN

WI: Charter is dropping cable deal with Madison; Madison City Channel

Thu, 22 May 2008 07:01:47 -0400

Charter is dropping cable deal with Madison; Madison City Channel, WYOU could move to triple digits

DEAN MOSIMAN
608-252-6141
dmosiman@madison.com

Charter Communications is opting out of its cable franchise deal with Madison, which may mean changes for the city's government and public access TV stations.

WI: Charter's New Franchise Could Jeopardize City-Run Channels

Thu, 22 May 2008 06:51:06 -0400

from: Channel 3000

Charter's New Franchise Could Jeopardize City-Run Channels
Charter Terminates Financial Agreement With Municipalities

POSTED: 7:54 pm CDT May 21, 2008
UPDATED: 10:32 pm CDT May 21, 2008

MADISON, Wis. -- The future of city-run cable channels is in question after Charter Communications pulled its cable franchise agreements with municipalities across the state.

WI: AT$T still not definite on U-verse here

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:12:30 -0400

from: Capital Times

AT&T still not definite on U-verse here

Jeff Richgels — 4/28/2008 11:26 am

AT&T is looking to hire 200 more technicians to install and service its U-verse TV service, which now is available to more than 200,000 homes in the Milwaukee, Racine and Sheboygan areas.

But even though the jobs include positions in south central Wisconsin, indicating that U-verse may be offered here in the near future, the company still isn't saying when the Madison area might get U-verse.

WI: Cable providers in Wisconsin seek statewide franchises

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:15:22 -0500

from The Business Journal

Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - 2:55 PM CST
Cable providers in Wisconsin seek statewide franchises
The Business Journal of Milwaukee

Five Wisconsin cable and video service providers - Charter Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable, AT&T Inc., CenturyTel and Comcast Cable - have applied for statewide video franchises under legislation passed last year.

WI: AT$T is not being transparent about exploding cabinets

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:44:01 -0500

Note: This is an article from earlier this month, and prior to the request of the The National Association of Real Estate Brokers to have the Attorney Generals of five states investigate AT&T (according to Light Reading NAREB has since backed down).

from: Milwaukee Biz Blog

WI: Tornado destroys woman’s house: Time Warner Cable bills her $2,025.45

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:47:09 -0500

from: ZDNet

January 31st, 2008
Tornado destroyed woman’s house: then she gets this $2,025.45 bill from Time Warner Cable
Posted by Russell Shaw @ 3:21 pm

From Wisconsin’s Kenosha News comes this story that after a January 7 tornado demolished her home, and ensuing rain and snow made it a bear to fix, a woman from the area has received a $2,025.45 bill from her (now former, well duh) cable television service.

WI: A case study in how corporations get the legislation they want

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:14:35 -0500

from: Nieman Watchdog

Wisconsin: A case study in how corporations get the legislation they want

COMMENTARY | January 31, 2008

Telecom and broadband expert and activist Bruce Kushnick describes how model corporate bills get introduced and enacted in Wisconsin, to the detriment of the common good. (Second of two articles.)

WI: Reverse for AT$T's U-verse video?

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:11:53 -0500

from: The Madison Times

Reverse for AT&T's U-verse video?

Jeff Richgels — 1/24/2008 3:45 pm

Could AT&T be out of the video business before it even brings its U-verse service to Madison?

That's possible, according to TVPredictions.com president Phillip "Swanni" Swann, who predicts AT&T will be out of the video business within 12 to 18 months, CedMagazine.com reported.

WI: Exclusive Photos: Fire to the Node

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:47:11 -0500

from: Light Reading

Exclusive Photos: Fire to the Node, Part II
JANUARY 22, 2008

Last week, Light Reading broke the news that AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T - message board) has set out to replace the 17,000 Avestor batteries providing backup power to its U-verse network equipment cabinets in neighborhoods all over America. (See AT&T Begins Massive Battery Replacement.)

WI: The video competition bill is now law - take action!

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:32:56 -0500

from: WAPC

January 17, 2008

Dear PEG Access Television Supporters:

The video competition bill is now law.

You and WAPC have spent the last year working hard to ensure AB207 would not spell the end to PEG access television in Wisconsin. I can report that we have succeeded, yet even the Governor, who signed the bill on December 21, admitted concerns about PEG's future under this law -- Act 42 -- and urged lawmakers to consider remedial legislation.

WI: Wauwatosa residents had expressed safety concerns over AT$T cabinets

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:20:13 -0500

Wauwatosa residents had expressed safety concerns over AT&T cabinets

Nearly a year before the recent explosion of an AT&T VRAD cabinet in Wauwatosa Wisconsin, some local residents had expressed safety concerns about the large boxes. At a February 12, 2007, City Planning Commission Meeting, residents opposed the installation of a VRAD box and had sent emails and information to the Commission making specific reference to the fires and explosions in Houston Texas.

Your World Delivered . . . On Fire

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:59:17 -0500

Another AT&T U-verse VRAD Cabinet Explodes

Updates 1/15/08:
AT&T Begins Massive Battery Replacement (Light Reading).
Wauwatosa residents had expressed safety concerns over AT&T cabinets (Save Access)
Additional Photos (Light Reading 1/22/08)

In the early hours of Christmas morning, an AT&T VRAD cabinet (DSLAM) exploded in the city of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Only days earlier, Governor Jim Doyle had signed Assembly Bill 207, a statewide cable franchise bill pushed through by AT&T despite the best efforts of municipalities and public interest advocates to stop it. A saveaccess reader concerned over the lack of any local or regional news coverage sent us the following note with the attached photos:

WI: Gov should have vetoed cable bill

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:03:14 -0500

from: Capital Times

Gov should have vetoed cable bill

An editorial — 1/07/2008 9:59 am

Gov. Jim Doyle recognized that Assembly Bill 207, the plan to restructure cable regulations to favor AT&T and other big telecom companies, was flawed legislation.

That recognition led Doyle to veto substantial portions of the proposal that was crafted by AT&T lobbyists and that critics say was advanced by Republicans in the Assembly and Democrats in the Senate in order to satisfy the demands of big campaign donors.

WI: Editorial: Competition for cable

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:30:31 -0500

from: Journal Sentinal

Editorial: Competition for cable

A bill signed by Gov. Jim Doyle opens the state for increased competition in video services, which will help consumers if rule-making doesn't needlessly slow the process down.
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Dec. 26, 2007

Wisconsin residents should see the value of increased competition for video services now that cable television's hammerlock is about to be pried loose.

WI: Don't hold breath for new services under state cable law

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:05:19 -0500

from: Madison.com

Prof: Don't hold breath for new services under state cable law

Jeff Richgels and Judith Davidoff — 12/22/2007 7:32 am

Gov. Jim Doyle's signing of the state cable franchising bill isn't likely to mean AT&T -- a leading backer of the bill -- will bring its U-verse TV service to the Madison area anytime soon, one prominent observer said.