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Earlier this year we editorialized against an AT&T effort seeking state legislation which in effect would permit it to deal at the state level instead of with each local government in providing competitive cable and related service.

To the best of our knowledge, amendments have removed our main objections.
As we understand the bill, at this time it requires any new provider to pay the same fees as existing providers pay to local governments and payment would be made directly to the local governments involved. Currently that amount being paid locally is 3 percent of gross revenues earned in the locality but that could go up to as much as 5 percent, just as it could now.

It permits an annual audit and permits the local governments the same control over access to public rights-of-way as currently exist.

The bill also permits the same in-kind contributions such as INETs, complimentary service to schools, libraries or other public building as is now done.

It would establish a Tennessee Regulatory Authority as the franchising authority in the state, speeding up the competitive arrival of new products and services.

These provisions remove our main objections to the proposed bill.
Still remaining on the positive side are a number of factors.

We feel the competition of other services will help assure better and more types of service, lower rates and fewer complaints than exist under the current monopoly system.

AT&T has approval on similar arrangements in 19 states, including six of the eight that border Tennessee. The opportunity to provide video, which includes installation of fiber optics to neighborhood nodes, has resulted in AT&T investment commitments of almost $6 billion in other states.

Cable rates have continued to climb throughout the state. Between 2000 and 2007, Comcast raised rates 45.1 percent in Knoxville and 51.6 percent in Chattanooga. In Clarksville, Charter raised rates 18.4 percent between 2002 and 2006. Last year, the Federal Communication Commission found that cable television rates rose 93 percent between 1995 and 2005.

Additional high definition channels and the opportunity to deploy new technology such as AT&T’s U-verse TV, promise more options and possibly lower rates than is now likely.

We feel the statewide system of local cable authorities has done little to assure service, keep down rates and provide cutting edge technology.

It is our current opinion that with the objectionable items removed from the bill as presented this past spring, the legislature would be doing all Tennesseans a favor by opening the door to new possibilities and likely better rates on a number of cable services.