RE: Cable Access, ISP's, Portland and Regulations
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corp.excite.com
Portland Decision Reversed!
Read all about it:
AT&T Wins Key Victory in Cable-Access Fight (News.com)
9th Circuit Court's Decision
Some Background
In a monumental effort to deploy sophisticated,
high-speed data-over-cable services to consumers
and businesses across North America, the cable
industry has invested well over $6 billion to upgrade
their existing infrastructure. At the core of
this tremendous, albeit risky, undertaking is the
fact that ubiquitous and affordable broadband services
represent a giant leap in the evolution of the Internet.
As the cable industry drives to make affordable
broadband connectivity a reality, several competitors,
including America Online (AOL), have pressured
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate
the cable Internet industry in its early growth stage.
These same ISPs are creating and heavily marketing
their own broadband offerings over the telecommunications
infrastructure, a mature infrastructure
over which they have gained tens of millions of subscribers.
Yet, by playing the victim on Capitol Hill and in the
public arena, AOL and other ISPs seek to
promote their special business interests by leveraging
the financial risks taken by others.
The FCC has adopted a "hands off" approach towards
the nascent broadband cable Internet access market.
Their strategy is to let the market decide its own
fate, instead of adopting regulation that would
effectively suffocate the construction of new
broadband networks and the growth of the Internet itself.
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news.cnet.com
AT&T wins case to keep rivals off networks
By Corey Grice
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 22, 2000, 1:00 p.m. PT
Update: A federal appeals court ruled today that AT&T
won't have to let rivals tap into its high-speed cable
Internet networks, reversing a closely watched
lower-court decision.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals overturned a 1998 decision by Portland, Ore.-area
officials that would have forced AT&T to lease capacity on
its cable-based high-speed Internet access networks to
competing Internet service providers. That early ruling,
which came as part of city officials' approval of Ma Bell's
1998 acquisition of Tele-Communications Inc., was later
upheld by a lower court.
The federal judges today ruled that Portland officials didn't
have jurisdiction over AT&T's cable Internet business,
reversing the lower court.
The ruling represents at least a short-term win
for AT&T, its broadband service Excite@Home, and
other cable operators that have argued
that the market, not government regulators, should
dictate cable Internet access agreements.
Major Internet service providers including America Online
and MindSpring Enterprises--now part of EarthLink--had
aggressively lobbied local and federal officials for
the right to lease capacity on cable operators' high-speed networks.
"We're pleased with today's ruling because it clarifies
decisively the limits of local authority when it
comes to the provision of high-speed Internet access
over cable," AT&T general counsel Jim Cicconi said
in a statement. "Now that the court has made clear
Congress' intent to bar ordinances like the one
enacted by Portland, AT&T and other cable companies
will be able to get on with investments that will bring
advanced services to millions of Americans."
An Excite@Home spokeswoman said her company also
was pleased with the decision, as it would prevent
individual cities across the United States from
creating a "patchwork quilt" of different policies
on cable Net access.
While the ruling is significant, its effect may be
diminished by a series of industry deals and mergers
that are expected to produce, in their
own way, "open access" to the cable networks.
AT&T and MindSpring agreed last year to work
together for cable access. Ma Bell later extended
its once-exclusive contract with Excite@Home, though
the companies clearly expect that Excite@Home will
not be the only service provider AT&T works with
after June 2002. Earlier this month, AT&T said it
will begin testing third-party cable access in
Boulder, Colo.-area trials later this year.
Similarly, with its pending acquisition of Time Warner,
which would give AOL access to broadband cable networks,
AOL announced it would open its networks to competitors.
Nevertheless, proponents of open access said today's
ruling would in fact work in their favor.
In the decision, the federal appellate court judges
determined that Internet access should be defined as
a "telecommunications service" under the 1996
Telecommunications Act. "Therefore, Portland may not
condition the transfer of the cable franchise on
non-discriminatory access to AT&T's cable broadband network,"
the judges wrote in their opinion.
But calling cable Net access a "telecommunications service"
means that it should be regulated under the same rules that
force telephone companies to share their
networks with rivals, AT&T opponents said.
In a conference call with reporters, the OpenNet Coalition
characterized the ruling as "a huge victory," saying that
cable Net access should now be opened to many
competing ISPs just as the phone networks are.
The 9th Circuit ruling will only be valid in that court's
jurisdiction, which includes California, Oregon and Washington,
among other Western states. But the ruling provides
legal precedent for other courts and local jurisdictions to
follow when considering cable access regulations.
A handful of communities, including St. Louis and
several Boston-area municipalities, followed Portland in
passing similar cable access laws. Meanwhile, other cities,
including Los Angeles and San Francisco, continue to
flirt with open access policies.
Portland city officials said they have not yet decided
whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. |
