New Challenge to AT&T-MediaOne; Cable Plan

AT&T; Corp. and MediaOne Group Inc., which have agreed to combine to form the largest U.S. cable television company, must open their systems to Internet service providers in Broward County, Fla., local officials ruled.

The Broward Board of County Commissioners voted 4 to 3 Tuesday to require cable operators to give Internet companies access to their systems, becoming the second municipality in the U.S. to do so. MediaOne said it is studying its options, including a possible lawsuit.

AT&T; filed suit against Portland, Ore., after the city ordered the phone giant to open its network as a condition for transferring the franchise of Tele-Communications Inc., which AT&T; bought in March.

Cable providers have been fighting attempts to legislate open access in several cities and counties, including Miami, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote on the issue in the fall.

Cable companies say their systems have been built with private capital and shouldn’t be opened to any company that requests it. They say open access would slow the roll-out of an array of interactive Internet services and clog broadband pipelines.

Open-access proponents and Internet service providers hailed the vote, saying it was good for competition and that Broward County residents would benefit.

The Federal Communications Act precludes regulation of Internet service over cable lines and the Federal Communications Commission has hesitated to take action on the issue. Chairman William Kennard said he wants the marketplace to have a chance to work out the issues.

Kennard had no comment on the Florida action. But last month, he raised concerns that a patchwork of local decisions requiring open access to cable networks would create “chaos” in the industry.