TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: SBC Pushes Ahead With Video Despite Franchise Laws

SBC Pushes Ahead With Video Despite Franchise Laws

Jack Decker (jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request)
Fri, 06 May 2005 08:11:13 -0400

[COMMENT: Funny how SBC seems to want to have its cake and eat it too.
They argue here "that a new competitor with new technology should not
face old rules", yet in the case of VoIP they seem to have the
opposite idea, that VoIP companies should be burdened with the rules
that currently bind traditional phone companies. I happen to agree
with their argument here, that new competitors with new technology
should NOT face old rules, but wish that SBC would realize the
hypocrisy of arguing one way in one situation and advocating for the
opposite position in another similar situation, just depending on
which argument is most to their benefit.]

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=8403855

By Justin Hyde

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - SBC Communications has charted a collision
course with local governments with its plans to launch a video
television service late this year without seeking local franchise
agreements.

SBC, the second-largest U.S. telecommunications company, plans to
offer video to 18 million homes over the next three years, using a
combination of new technology and existing telephone wires, in a plan
it calls "Project Lightspeed."

But it is running into federal and state regulations for cable
television franchises, which can govern everything from where a
company can offer service to how many public-access channels it has to
offer.

SBC is pressing its case with lawmakers and regulators, arguing that a
new competitor with new technology should not face old rules, and that
forging franchises with up to 2,000 small governments would greatly
slow its plans.

Full story at:
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=8403855

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