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TELECOM IN THE NEWS Consumer Groups Protest Risks of Telecom Reform A group called SaveAccess.org held protests on May 24 outside buildings owned by AT&T Inc., Verizon, BellSouth Corp. and Owest Communica- tions International Inc. in Chicago, Boston, New York and San Francisco. The groups were protesting legislation pro- posed in the House and Senate that would grant telephone companies national video franchises. They argued that a national-franchise law would threaten funding for PEG-access (public, education and government) channels. To view the story, visit www.MultiChannel.com. Look for the story titled, "Verizon Can Hear Protesters Now". New AT&T Video Strategy Could Be In the Works Concerns that AT&T's "Project Lightspeed" fiber- to-the-node (FTTN) architecture may be experiencing challenges and even if deployed could be un-competitive is leading market re- searchers to predict that AT&T will announce a new video architecture with increased revenue potential later this year. To view the story, visit www.forbes.com and look for the story titled "New AT&T Video Strategy Could Be In The Works." Mayor of Albuquerque Calls Video Franchise Legislation 'Unwise Trade-Off' Martin Chavez, mayor of Albuquerque, N.M. recently addressed issues of video franchise legislation reform in an op-ed. In his remarks, Mayor Chavez labeled efforts for video franchise legislation to be seeking to solve competition problems that do not exist, calling the repeal of current law a "very unwise trade-off." To read the article, visit www.news.com and search for "Perspective: Hanging Up on the Competition." S.C. Passes Statewide-Franchise Bill South Carolina became the latest state to approve a statewide video-franchising bill, but the new law has provisions that may release incumbent cable providers from their local agreements once a new provider launches service in direct competition. The bill, signed into law this week by Gov. Mark Sanford, assigns franchise licensing to the secre- tary of state. To view the article, visit www.muitichannel.com and search for "S.C. Passes Statewide-Fran- chise Bill." Pa. bill would allow competition in cable from phone companies A Pennsylvania state lawmaker plans to intro- duce legislation within two weeks to establish a statewide franchise for telephone companies to introduce video services to compete with Comcast and other cable television providers. To read the article, visit www.Doconorecord.com and search for "Pa. bill would allow competition in cable from phone companies." Telecos' Push for Network Neutrality is Ironic Change of Pace A blog entry on network neutrality posted at www.techdirt.com points out that while telecos are claiming that their interest in network neutrality is about "keeping regulatory hands off the Internet," the telecos have gained billions of dollars from regulations in their favor over the years and are more concerned with how regulation would impact competition than a regulation-free Internet. The piece further illustrates that if there was true competition that allowed others to enter the market, network neutrality would not be an issue, as firms couldn't break network neutrality without receiving serious criticism. To read the full article, visit www.techdirt.com and search for "Funny, the Telecos Weren't So Against Regulations When it Helped Them." PAGE 2 . PRIORITY FOCUS May 26, 2006 . Issue #21 Visit the League's Official Website..www.cacities.org ,..'" ..,........, -"-"-'" ....,...........,..~_....- ....- ..- '-'---""""'--""'---"