Save Access

from: Save Texas Access

- For Immediate Release -

April 5, 2007

Public Access Community Television
1143 Northwestern Avenue
Austin, TX 78702
www.pactaustin.org
512-478-8600

Media Contact:
Stefan Wray, Communications Director, Ext. 13
stefanw@pactaustin.org

San Antonio Council Postpones Action On Public Access TV

from: 411 Productions

Is Public Access Under Fire by AT&T U-Verse?

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Public Access Producers in San Antonio Texas have been in a long battle over keeping Public Access Television alive in Texas. We monitor what goes on at the City and State level. Since San Antonio was the 1st city to be impacted by changes to telecommunications laws in Texas we are the crash-test dummies for what will happen to the rest of Texas and the U.S. when it comes to Public Access Channels.

from: Broadband Reports

AT&T Cuts U-Verse Deployment Goal in Half

March 1, 2007

A day after AT&T told the San Antonio Express News they were “taking off the brakes” on U-Verse IPTV & VDSL deployment, USAToday says that the company quietly cut their projected deployment goals in half for 2007. Fletcher Cook, an AT&T spokesman, tells USA Today the company decided there was no need to issue a press release to highlight the change. “We figure people are paying attention to the analysts’ call,”

from: Save Access Texas

The Committee That Never Met
by savetexasaccess on Thu, 2007-03-01

The 79th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 5 in the Second Special Session. This new statute called for the formation of a Telecommunications Competitiveness Legislative Oversight Committee that was supposed to “conduct a joint interim study” with the Public Utilities Commission to, among other things, examine the “continuation of public, educational, and government (PEG) access channels.” But this committee never met.

Note: on top of this 1.3 billion, AT&T also raised local phone rates immediately after getting the state video franchise bill passed.

from: WOAI

Texas Phone Users Spend $1.3 billion Subsidizing Big Companies
Last Update: 1/14/2007 2:59:09 PM

from: Austin American Statesman

COMMENTARY

Williams: In defense of local control

Chad Williams, AUSTIN COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

After 22 consecutive years of telecommunications deregulation, the law that ensures consumer protection and local control is in jeopardy.

from: CNET News

AT&T launches IPTV in second market

By Marguerite Reardon
Fri Dec 01 2006

AT&T is moving forward with its Internet Protocol television rollout as it begins offering the service in a second city.
On Thursday, the company announced it has launched the service, called AT&T U-verse, in Houston. This is the second market where U-verse services are commercially available. The company debuted the service in June in San Antonio. AT&T has said publicly it plans to expand U-verse to 15 to 20 markets by the end of 2006.

Note: In Texas, AT&T is now reselling regular cable TV over regular cable. Why would such a 'technological advance' have required such massive state-wide telecommunications reform? Will At&T sell Comcast cable cheaper than Comcast? Is this the realization of 'consumer choice' and 'competition' touted by the phone companies to get their video franchise bills passed?

from: Multichannel News

from: TMC Net

[April 13, 2006]

Swarming Capitol paid off for SBC

(San Antonio Express-News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 13--During the 2005 Legislature, the halls of the Texas Capitol were thick with SBC Communications Inc. lobbyists touting the benefits of a bill that would deregulate the phone giant and ease its entry into the video business.