Tenn.: 'Competitive Cable' bill pulled

Tenn.: 'Competitive Cable' bill pulled

	Published : Thu, 24 May 2007 17:11 By : Agencies Print this Story

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A bill that would have changed the way telecommunications companies could apply for cable franchises in Tennessee will be withdrawn, the measure's sponsors said.

AT&T was pushing the 'Competitive Cable and Video Services Act' to allow itself and others apply for cable franchises at the state level, rather than negotiating with individual local governments across the state. The legislation had become the state's most expensive lobbying effort of the year.

AT&T officials said the measure would allow for more competition for cable consumers. But cable companies that already do business in the state, as well as local governments, have said the bill merely creates an opportunity to bypass a system that's worked for years and is already open to competition.

'I'm going to ask it be taken off notice until next year,' Rep. Steve McDaniel, R-Parkers Crossroads, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. 'It's been disappointing the way the local governments, the cities and counties have been fighting this.'

Taking a bill off notice means it could be reconsidered during the next legislative session, but McDaniel said he wouldn't push the measure unless he detected a change in attitude from the opponents of the bill.

McDaniel said with only about two weeks left in the session, there was not enough time to reconcile all of the parties involved in the legislation. He also felt that sending the measure to a summer study committee was unnecessary.

Marty Dickens, president of AT&T Tennessee, said Tennessee not only would lose out on potential cable competition but also the investment the company would have made in the state's economy.

'Consumers in Tennessee still have no choice regarding which provider they purchase their video service from,' Dickens said in a statement. 'Rather than the consumer being in charge of the video marketplace, the cable companies have retained control.'

Opponents of the bill said AT&T and other supporters mislead the public by saying cable rates would drop with statewide franchising.

'The real victory is for the consumer,' said Stacey Briggs, executive director of the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association, which represents cable companies that do business in the state. 'Hopefully they will now go in and play by the rules as we have.'

The legislative battle has led AT&T and others supporting the legislation to spend upward of $1.8 million on lobbying through March. The cable TV companies and others fighting the measure have spent nearly $2 million on lobbying efforts, according to reports filed this week with the Tennessee Ethics Commission.

The bill had been discussed and extensively amended by the House Commerce Committee, but the committee had yet to vote on it.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Charles Curtiss, D-Sparta, was working on a compromise measure that he said would have created a panel with representatives from local governments that would have granted statewide franchises.

'Both sides got what they wanted,' he said. 'But I think the reality was, I think, that AT&T had something embedded in this legislation that would have given them an unfair advantage. When I did the rewrite, I think they lost that.'

Curtiss said he was unsure what aspect of the legislation AT&T was concerned about.

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the companion bill on Tuesday. Curtiss said he had received assurances from members of the Senate that they would approve the House's version of the legislation if the House passed the bill.

'(The sponsors) bolted on it, so it's not going to raise its head again this session,' Curtiss said.