SBC, Verizon ready to take on the cities

[Archived in Entry]

[Om Malik’s Broadband Blog] SBC and Verizon may have received a little setback in their IPTV efforts from the Texas legislature but they are not giving up, and are now preparing for a fight with the cities, according to Austin American-Statesman. They will start offering the services to the consumers, regardless. Their argument - well since phone companies pay the right of the way for their phone service to the cities why do they have to pay the franchise fees for video.

Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.

[Om Malik’s Broadband Blog] Bells Setback in Texas IPTV Battle: Baby Bells plans to offer IPTV in Texas had a bit of setback, when Texas State Senate rejected a proposed legislation that would have allowed Verizon and SBC to fast track their IPTV services by signing a single statewide video franchise agreement, instead of negotiating with individual cities. The cable guys on the other hand, have negotiated franchise agreements with cities and municipalities. Texas’ house of representatives had cleared the way for a state wide franchise.

[Telecom Jungle - My Mental Musings] Verizon, SBC IPTV (and Muni Ban) Setback: In order to speed up their deployment of IPTV services (and eliminate having to haggle with towns and cities), SBC and Verizon are trying to eliminate the local TV franchise concept, instead writing laws that would pass single, state-wide franchise provisions. Their attempt to do so in Texas has not gone as planned, their State bill failing to gain approval. "Competition for video services will occur much slower without a statewide video franchise," warns a regional Verizon president. (It would have been slow anyway; they still need to build the network).

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog: Heartland Institute which for some reason thinks of itself as “know it all” says that The Federal Communications Commission ruled on May 19 that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony service providers must make E911 service accessible to their customers within 120 days. Unfortunately, since the ruling calls for VoIP providers to implement technology that does not exist, it’s difficult to see what good the ruling will do. Not sure who this fellow, Steven Titch came up with this, but few phone calls to companies that are in the business of e911 (Intrado for one) would prove the technology does exist.

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog » Wired: Alternatively, since we have been noticing all the issues with IPTV - technical and political - which means the higher speeds could take a little while, this could be a defensive move to shore up against line losses to cable operators a chance to mop-up the broadband market. By being aggressive, SBC can lock in a lot more people. That’s smart. Hey no one is talking about the upload speeds on these budget connections.

[Gigaom.com] Om Malik’s Broadband Blog » IPTV: Baby Bells plans to offer IPTV in Texas had a bit of setback, when Texas State Senate rejected a proposed legislation that would have allowed Verizon and SBC to fast track their IPTV services by signing a single statewide video franchise agreement, instead of negotiating with individual cities. The cable guys on the other hand, have negotiated franchise agreements with cities and municipalities. Texas’ house of representatives had cleared the way for a state wide franchise.

[Unmediated.org] unmediated: Verizon, SBC IPTV Setback: (via Broadbandreports) In order to speed up their deployment of IPTV services (and eliminate having to haggle with towns and cities), SBC and Verizon are trying to eliminate the local TV franchise concept, instead writing laws that would pass single, state-wide franchise provisions. Their attempt to do so in Texas has not gone as planned, their State bill failing to gain approval. "Competition for video services will occur much slower without a statewide video franchise," warns a regional Verizon president. (It would have been slow anyway; they still need to build the network).

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Iptv, Plasma TV News

Posted at June 06, 2005 01:34 PM