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To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (6878)	3/26/1999 10:34:00 AM
From: Ted Schnur	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Frank, Thanks for the technical rundown on the problem. About 2-3 weeks prior the completion of the AT&T/TCI deal, several regional AT&T reps spoke before the California legislative committee (I don't remember their name) that oversees the Public Utilities Communication (PUC). The short proceedings were carried over TCI cable, during the regular broadcast over the public access channel (I find that a bit ironic). There were no decisions or actions the committee was considering, it was just an informational Q&A session. The subject of open access came up. AT&T did an ok job of explaining the dilemma (intermixed with the usual "we are here for our customers" PR pitch). The argument set forth with simple. If AT&T/TCI allocates a small number of channels for internet services and opens it up to all ISPs, the bandwidth taken by any single ISV customer would effect other customers in the same community that did not sign up for that ISP. If they allocate a separate channel for each ISP, and considering the number of ISP's [today], there would not be enough bandwidth left for any cable TV channels! IMHO, this simple argument backs the PUC into a corner. Either open the cable, and deal with the AOL customer complaining about how much bandwidth is neighbor it taking up with streaming video from another ISV (that's unfair!), or eliminate cable TV programming! I was impressed. And liked the fact that they did not dive into the technical aspects of the problem (granted, it was the wrong form for that anyway). I find this a far better defense to the open access push then the "what about our investment?" approach. Government committees don't care about money, but choosing between "unfair" and no TV! The legislative committee chairman thanked AT&T for presenting to the committee... end if discussion. Ted