Comcast could go dark in Tennessee amid pole attachment dispute

A Tennessee utility company has threatened to remove Comcast’s cables from its poles if the company doesn’t pay $176,000 the utility claims it's owed by June 28. "We've been going back and forth with them for going on three years now trying to get payment out of them," said Scott Sims, CFO for Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corp., to WREG-TV Memphis. The utility, which serves around 50,000 customers in Tipton County (TN) said it delivered a 30-day “final” notice to Comcast in late May, seeking a payment on a charges dating back to June 2014. It is unclear as to how many of the utility’s 50,000 customers also subscribe to Comcast services. For its part, Comcast is disputing the amount of the bill, claiming the utility double-charged it in 2015 after it allegedly found pole attachments Comcast hadn’t been paying for. Comcast said it requested evidence supporting the charges, but that it hasn’t been provided.