In August, SBC Communications Inc. ended up on the winning side of a hard-fought battle over franchise rules in Texas when the legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that overrides local franchising with a requirement that carriers obtain just one state-level license. The Texas bill says new video entrants will have to pay the same local fees incumbent cable operators pay.
While BellSouth Corp., Qwest Communications International Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have played by the existing rules by seeking cable franchises for their video operations, SBC has no intentions to go the franchise route as it rolls out IPTV, says Jeff Weber, vice president for product and strategy at SBC. “We don’t believe we need a cable franchise, and we don’t intend to seek any,” he says.
Weber says his company would welcome legislation at either the state or national levels that would clarify the rules. But, he says, even without legislation, SBC will take its chances in the courts rather than wait for legal issues to sort themselves out in Congress or at the FCC.
Whether SBC actually will get to the point of launching video services before the law is clarified remains to be seen. But with a tough battle shaping up in Congress on telecom reform, the choice might well come down to delay an already pushed-back IPTV launch agenda even further or risk the fallout from whatever legal battles would ensue if the carrier proceeds without seeking franchises.
For more on the battle in Congress over telecom reform, read "Act II? - The Telecom Showdown Looms as Congress Gears for Action."
