New AT&T Chief Makes Video a Priority

AT&T’s new Tennessee president hopes his experience as head of the telecom giant’s South Carolina operations will help grease controversial legislation through the General Assembly.

Gregg Morton was named last week to replace Marty Dickens as head of Tennessee operations. Morton says one of his priorities will be to get AT&T a statewide franchise agreement to offer cable television service. Currently, a company entering the market has to negotiate with individual cities. Morton says that’s way too expensive.

He’s selling the idea as a way to expand broadband internet service and drive down cable rates by increasing competition. Morton says the state is already surrounded by others, including his home state of South Carolina, whose legislatures voted to allow the statewide franchising rights.

“We announced a 250-million dollar capital investment in South Carolina. It was 350-million dollars in North Carolina. I think it was 500-million dollars in Georgia. We’ll be making an announcement shortly in Florida, so why not Tennessee?”

Morton says he hasn’t found an answer to why the legislation hasn’t passed in Tennessee. The Competitive Cable and Video Services Act of 2007, as it was called, did face strong opposition even after considerable debate during the session.

Municipalities lined up against the legislation saying it would reduce revenue that comes from negotiating their own franchise agreements with cable providers.

Morton says AT&T wants to be fair. He adds that AT&T’s entrance into the cable market would bring an additional 2-thousand jobs to the state along with hundreds of millions in broadband infrastructure improvements.