Phone Firms Get Anaheim Mayor's Backing to Offer TV Service Free of Limits on Cable

[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James S. Granelli]
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle broke with mayors nationwide Tuesday by proposing to abolish local pay TV fees and to allow phone companies to sidestep the rules that cable companies currently must follow. In his state of the city address, Mayor Pringle said the typical cable franchise agreements and "other restrictive policies" built into old laws were "standing in the way" of creating a more competitive pay TV market. He wants to allow AT&T to work on upgrading its network to carry video, even without a written agreement with the city. The proposal puts the city in the middle of a heated war between regional phone companies and cable TV operators over rules governing the delivery of television programming. In siding with AT&T, Pringle parted ways with state and national mayoral and municipal groups including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities and its California chapter and the National Assn. of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, a group of local government telecom officials and consultants. Those groups have insisted that phone carriers play by the same local rules as cable companies in an attempt to ensure, among other things, that all of a city's residents get service.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-iptv1feb01,1,7573767....
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