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AT&T to begin competing with Comcast in Hernando TV clash
May 25, 2009 (The Commercial Appeal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Hernando residents will soon have a new option for television service.
Contingent on final approval by City Atty. Ken Stockton, aldermen have agreed to allow AT&T to begin providing its U-verse service to the city.
The service would compete with Comcast Cable.
Horn Lake and Southaven last year approved contracts with AT&T.
"Anytime you have competition for public services, the citizens come out on the winning end," Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson said. "Many times when there is competition, the prices come down and level of service goes up."
U-verse offers more than 100 high-definition channels, and subscribers select from a group of packages to choose the price and programming that best matches their viewing habits.
Sue Sperry, corporate communications specialist for AT&T, said the product offers nearly unlimited bandwidth, so the number of channels that can be offered to subscribers is far greater than other providers.
"What makes it different and cutting edge is you tell U-verse what you want and it delivers only what you want," Sperry said. "It's two-way communication, so it is much more interactive then what is currently available."
U-verse enters the home through phone lines and is delivered via fiber-optic cables and is promoted as being interactive with both computers and cellular phones.
The agreement to provide service to Hernando came after nearly a year of negotiations.
The city hired Greg Fender, who specializes in negotiations with service providers on behalf of cities, to represent Hernando in the deal.
"AT&T came with a whole team of experts that know all about negotiating these contracts, so the best thing for us to do was to hire our own expert," Johnson said.
Highlights of the contract for the city include receiving a quarterly check for 5 percent of all revenues AT&T collects from providing services to Hernando and the capacity to add a public and government access channel exclusively for the City of Hernando.
Sperry said for competitive reasons, AT&T could not release a date when the service would be available to Hernando residents, but she did say workers would begin installing the necessary infrastructure to support U-verse immediately.
For an overview of what U-verse offers, residents can log on to att.com/u-verse.
-- Mark Crum: (662) 996-1421
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Memphis, Tenn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For
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