I love the media. Here is a CBS marketwatch story which implies that AT&T is being forced into open access by the SF board of supervisors.
cbs.marketwatch.com
Here's the snippett:
"By Debra McGarry, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 5:18 PM ET Jan 16, 2000
NewsWatch
AT&T (T: news, msgs) and Ma Bell-linked ExciteAtHome (ATHM: news, msgs) will be dealt a cable-access "rebuke" by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, according to a weekend San Francisco Examiner report. The newspaper indicated that the supervisors -- lobbied by AT&T, which holds the city's
cable franchise, not to require open access to rival Internet access services (it cited its exclusivity pact
with AtHome) -- would soon approve a report favoring open access. In Friday trading, AT&T shares rose 1 5/16 to 54 11/16, while ExciteAtHome descended 2 to 40 9/16."
Now here's is a link to the actual article:
examiner.com
"City closer to giving more ISPs access to AT&T's cable system Supes may let firms share lines by 2003 for faster Net service
By Matt Beer
EXAMINER TECHNOLOGY WRITER
San Francisco will have open access, but it will have to wait. According to sources in City Hall, San Francisco residents will have a cable TV system that delivers an array of different Internet services by a range of companies by January 2003, if a soon-to-be released report is adopted by the Board of Supervisors.
The report comes as a rebuke to AT&T, the city's cable TV franchise. AT&T had lobbied the Board of Supervisors to vote against an open access policy,which would allow others to use AT&T's cable TV system to deliver their own brand of Internet services.
AT&T argued it was bound by an exclusive contract with Excite At Home, a Redwood City-based Internet service provider.
San Francisco is being watched by other cities to see how it handles the growing dispute among Internet companies trying to get into cable TV Internet systems.
Cable TV modems give users access to the Internet that is hundreds of times faster than the fastest dial-in telephone modems. Also known as broadband access, this connection is the future of the Internet industry as a whole.
The open access issue arose when AT&T purchased TCI early last year. That purchase required approval by the Board of Supervisors.
AT&T competitors, including GTE, Pacific Bell and others, intervened in those hearings, asking that approval of the new cable TV franchise ownership be predicated on an open access policy, which would let other companies have access to the cable system. AT&T resisted.
The ensuing fight involved demonstrations at City Hall and millions of dollars of lobbying by all sides.
Last July, the Board of Supervisors voted for a general policy of open access and referred the matter to the Telecommunications Department for guidance on implementing that policy.
AT&T has since said it would adopt an open access policy with other ISPs, but only those selected by the company.
City Hall sources say Internet service providers for The City will also be required to include features that will help disadvantaged citizens, such as the disabled. This will include Web pages that are easily read by software that speaks to the blind.
AT&T spokesman James Peterson said the report "won't hurt too much." AT&T's contract with Excite At Home expires in the summer of 2002. But Peterson did express dissatisfaction with a government-mandated open access timetable. "The market is deciding these questions, not cities," he said." |
