At&T; Takes Its Case To The Public

AT&T, one of the undisputed losers in the Senate’s passage of telecommunications reform last week, plans to launch an advertising blitz to whip up public support.

The nation’s largest long-distance company has bought time on commercial TV stations in 20 cities.

The time will be used to run a 30-minute infomercial on the promise of the new information age. The infomercial includes four commercials directed against local phone companies.

AT&T contends that the bill passed by the Senate is unfair because it makes it too hard for long-distance telephone companies to get into the local telephone business.

The four commercials tell viewers there is no choice in the local phone business. “Without competition, you can’t have choice. … But for competition to really work it’s got to be fair competition,” says a spokeswoman in one commercial.