Consumer Choice Sought In Telecom Merger Commissioners Adopt Position Similar To City’S On At&T-Tci Plan

Fri., Jan. 15, 1999

By Dan Hansen danh@spokesman.com

Spokane city and county officials are presenting a united front in wanting cable TV providers to give local Internet companies access to cable.

Whether it actually happens depends on how the federal government defines the term “video programming.”

The issue involves the pending merger of AT&T and TeleCommunications Inc. TCI is licensed to provide cable television in Spokane and the county, as well as many other communities nationwide. The merger can’t happen unless governing bodies in those communities agree to transfer TCI’s license to AT&T.

Internet companies are using the opportunity to try to force TCI to give them access to cable systems. In response, the City Council on Monday and county commissioners on Thursday approved resolutions granting the license transfer on the condition that “competition and consumer choice” are assured.

Speaking to county commissioners on Thursday, John Robideaux, a marketing consultant for Internet On-Ramp of Spokane, called the resolution “a double, it’s not a home run.”

Internet On-Ramp and other providers had hoped elected officials would write stiff language into the contract requiring TCI to grant them access.

They cite a federal law requiring cable companies to provide access for competing “video programming.”

But city and county attorneys warned that the Federal Communications Commission has not yet determined whether that includes Internet providers. Officials in Portland required Internet access, and may face a lawsuit as a result.

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