If only the Yankees were on such a roll

August 10, 2005

Man, it would be nice if my beloved New York Yankees - you know, the underachieving team with the bloated $208 million payroll - could catch fire the way telcos have in the last couple of weeks.�

First, Sen. Ensign (R-Nev.) rolls out BICCA, which would essentially remove intramodal competition for cable companies and telcos.�

Then the FCC deregulates DSL to put telcos "on a level playing field" with cable companies.� Included in the order was the elimination of the requirement that telcos had to lease their lines to competitors.�

Now, the word out of Texas is that the state legislature (the Senate yesterday, the House today)�approved legislation that enables the telcos to roll out their IPTV offerings without having to obtain local franchise agreements.� Negotiating one such agreement can take up to eight months at a relatively high cost.

Needless to say, SBC and Verizon are pretty happy with the latest news.� Consider the following excerpts from the two telcos' press releases:

SBC Texas President Jan Newton - "By passing this bill, lawmakers have encouraged new competitors - using new technologies - to build broadband infrastructure and provide a next-generation video alternative to cable."

Verizon Southwest Region President Steve Banta - "All Texans should be proud that our state is the first in the nation to open up the video market so that consumers can have a choice of video providers. Consumer choice and competition among video providers will result in new and innovative services and better pricing."

Translation: (SBC and Verizon to the Texas legislature) You had me at hello; you had me at hello.

Anyway, not everyone was so pleased with the legislation, which awaits approval by the governor.

The following is an excerpt from a press release quoting Tom Kinney, president of Time Warner Cable-Austin Division and chairman of the board of the Texas Cable & Telecommunications Association (TCTA).

"For months, Texas legislators have been seeking a way to address the crisis in public schools and the rapid increase in property tax rates. And yet, while members' attention was focused on other areas, a telecommunications bill that had failed in the regular session was reintroduced.

"The passage of this special interest legislation seems to clearly violate the spirit of the vow of the Governor.

"While neither school reform nor property tax reform seems close to passage, the SBC-backed legislation has been sent to the Governor's desk. Even if the legislature is able to pass some limited reforms on these important issues, SB 5 is bad for consumers, bad for competition and bad for Texas -- and should not become law.

"While we are disappointed in the actions of the legislature in sending this bill to the Governor, we trust that the Governor will hold to his promise, and therefore are calling on him to veto this ill-considered legislation."

Regardless, the telcos continue on their tear, while my Yankees struggle to keep pace with the, ugh, World Champion Boston Red Sox.� Today, the Bronx Bummers lost 2-1 in 10 innings to the Chicago White Sox.� Does anybody want to hold my hair while I barf?