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Hazelwood Denies AT&T Video Services; Awaits New State Law on Competition
BY JEANETTE EBERLIN RIZZELLO
After thoughtful deliberations and serious questioning, the Hazelwood City Council, by a 5 -to-4 vote, has denied a request from AT&T to provide video services in the city.
At their meeting last week council members fired questions at Craig Felzien, regional director of External Affairs for AT&T. It was obvious Senate Bill 284, already approved by the Missouri Senate and probably headed for approval in the House, played a role in the council’s concerns. That bill will allow AT&T to compete statewide with Charter Communications for video services.
Among those concerns were: unclear regulations of yard boxes, small number of PEG (public, educational and governmental) channels to be allowed, provisions for cable access to schools, areas to be selected first, and consumer protection.
“We want to change the way Americans see TV,” Felzien told the council. “We want a video contract that is fair and equitable.” He added that AT&T had talked to 9 out of 120 cities in the county. Florissant has already approved AT&T video services.
Councilman Mike Conley was especially concerned about the placing of 4 foot boxes on residents’ front yards. AT&T says the boxes are needed to deliver the video services in residential neighborhoods.
“People might not want it there,” Conley said “why should they suffer with a box.”
“That’s a pretty bad situation,” said Councilwoman Pat Piotrowicz, “that’s putting the burden on the individual.”
Councilwoman Peg Lampert had several questions including AT&T’s commitment to preserve cable to schools, and what changes have been made to improve PEG.
“This bill is passing through our legislators like a dose of salts. It seems unnecessary for us to spend time discussing a separate agreement,” she added.
Charter’s Government Relations Manager Neal Gilb couldn’t resist the chance to express his firm’s objections. Charter is operating under a franchise in Hazelwood.
“This action would not be fair to us. It would be economically a disadvantage to us,” he said. He pointed out that Charter offers no charge for service to classrooms, police and fire and municipal buildings.
Some of the provisions of Senate Bill 284 are: the state franchises require that video services be available to 25 percent of low income households, the service must be made available to 25 percent of households (statewide) within three years and 30 percent within six years, and providers are subject to police power based regulations regarding the placement, screening and relocation of cabinets.
After the meeting Mayor T.R. Carr said, “I was somewhat unsure about the prospect for success by the city had we proceeded in pursuing a local franchise …but that was a possibility.
“We now await final approval by the legislature, signature by the governor and the awarding of a statewide franchise by the Public Service Commission.”
In an interview after the meeting Felzien repeated and enlarged on some statements he had made to the council, “We believe schools will be best served by two competing wireline networks competing for their business. While our initial launch of U-Verse (IPTV) is for residence customers only, eventually we will need a bundled package of services to compete in the educational environment.”
“While I understand a community’s concern about additional boxes in neighborhoods, our new facilities will be placed with care and we will work with city leadership to make sure we are honoring their desires.”
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