Lafayette, Louisiana has never sit still for private companies bypassing the heart of Cajun country. When electric companies refused to wire the city, the community elected to do it themselves. When Cox Cable and AT&T said no to providing the kind of cutting-edge broadband that would allow Lafayette to protect its reputation as an entrepreneur-driven community, publicly owned utility LUS constructed a fiber to the home broadband network for every resident and business. Today, LUS Fiber has helped transform the parish, with half the unemployment rate of the rest of the country and an attractive place for digital economy jobs. It has even helped curtail well-educated recent graduates moving away in search of high-tech employment.

“There really is no infrastructure more important in the 21st century economy than fiber,” said Geoff Daily, executive director of Fibercorps, a non-profit group promoting digital economic development in Lafayette.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/FTTH Council – LUS Profile 9-24-12.flv[/flv]

Watch how LUS Fiber has transformed the lives of students, attracted new high-tech business, and promoted job growth with broadband infrastructure most cable and phone companies simply won’t provide.  (9 minutes)

Despite perennial protests from pay television providers that programming costs are getting out of hand, this fall viewers will find an even greater number of costly sports channels that will fuel rate increases in 2013.

The biggest boost in sports programming comes from Time Warner Cable, which has finally signed a deal with the National Football League and will also launch a series of regional and sports specialty channels for subscribers already able to watch more than a dozen sports-related networks. When it comes to betting on televised sports, a site like 4D Result 8 can definitely be trusted. The deal also affects Bright House Networks subscribers. Time Warner Cable handles programming negotiations for Bright House.

This past weekend’s addition of the NFL Network to the company’s digital standard service lineup and the niche NFL RedZone channel, which is part of the company’s $5.95 Sports Pass specialty tier comes nine years after the NFL Network launched. Time Warner Cable was the last major holdout that refused to carry the network, which costs an estimated $0.95 per cable subscriber, per month. But as League officials began gradually increasing the number of season games on the network, enraged sports fans feeling left out increasingly pelted the cable operator with complaints.

The NFL has also consistently refused to allow its primary NFL Network to appear on a mini-pay tier, available only to those willing to pay extra, instead demanding it be a part of standard service.

Another holdout, Cablevision, relented and agreed to carry the two NFL networks in August, leading to speculation the cable operator will break its promise not to increase rates in 2012 and will raise prices while blaming the addition of the costly sports networks.

At nearly a dollar per month per customer, it is a virtual certainty much, if not all, of that cost will also be passed on to Time Warner Cable customers during the next round of rate increases.

But that is just the beginning, especially if you are a Time Warner Cable customer in southern California.

In mid-August, most Time Warner customers began receiving at least one Pac-12 network on the company’s Sports Pass tier. But in Los Angeles, customers are getting two channels, one devoted to the entire conference and an extra channel dedicated to USC and UCLA coverage that every local subscriber will receive.

Your cable bill is going up again.

Both channels do not come cheap. Sports Business Journal has reported that the Pac-12 is seeking more than 80 cents per subscriber to carry its channels, about the same price charged by the Disney Channel.

Cox, Comcast, and Bright House Networks subscribers don’t get a free pass either. They will also find Pac-12 Networks on their local lineups (and bills) soon enough.

Also for southern California, Time Warner Cable is creating two new sports channels, SportsNet and Deportes (Spanish), that will exclusively carry games featuring the Los Angeles Lakers, Galaxy, Sparks, and perhaps one day the Dodgers.

The networks’ broadcast territory includes all regions that previously broadcast Lakers, Galaxy and Sparks games. That area stretches from Fresno County to the north to San Diego and Imperial County to the south. It also includes Hawaii (Time Warner Cable Deportes not available in Hawaii) and Clark County, Nev. A full list of California counties that can receive the networks: Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura.

The Lakers signed a $4 billion, 20-year deal with Time Warner Cable for broadcast rights, taking them away from KCAL-TV, a free over-the-air station. Time Warner will want their money back, so they will get it from you, the subscriber. Ironically, while Time Warner complains about other sports programmers insisting their networks be carried on the standard service tier, it has no problem wanting the same for its own sports channels. Subscribers throughout the region may end up covering the nearly $4 monthly cost per subscriber for the two regional sports channels, whether they want them or not.

Cox Communications has launched two new broadband tiers for business customers in the Acadiana region around Lafayette, La., offering speeds of  80 and 100Mbps.

With LUS Fiber providing community-owned fiber to the premises symmetrical broadband in the area, Cox Cable has been at a speed disadvantage, but hopes it is now better positioned to attract and keep commercial customers in southern Louisiana. LUS Fiber offers business customers speeds of 10/10, 50/50, or 100/100Mbps.

Cox’s new speeds, made possible with DOCSIS 3.0, are part of a $12 million upgrade the cable operator has underway in the state. Acadiana is the first Cox market in the country to get the new speeds. Other Cox markets will see upgraded speeds later this year or in early 2013.

Deregulation likely means higher phone bills for CenturyLink customers in Arizona.

CenturyLink has convinced Arizona state regulators local phone service is now competitive throughout the state, allowing the company to raise rates with less regulatory oversight. But some consumers are wondering how deregulation benefits them.

“Once again the phone company has sold us another bill of goods in Arizona,” says Tucson ex-CenturyLink customer Miguel Gonzalez. “First Qwest and now CenturyLink told us that deregulation would bring rates down for phone service, yet both companies fought for years to raise, not lower prices.”

Under the plan approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission, CenturyLink will be able to raise its residential rates up to 10 percent per year, so long as the rate increases do not exceed 25 percent over three years.

Arizona residential landline customers have paid roughly $13.18 for standard urban phone service since the 1990s, when Qwest was the local phone company. Now CenturyLink is free to raise those prices $1.30 a month in any of the next three years or up to $3.30 overall, even as customers continue to disconnect service across the state. Business customers face potentially higher rate hikes — 15 percent annually or 25 percent over three years.

Regulators expect the company to file for a rate increase before you finish reading this article.

Oddly, both CenturyLink and some members of the commission called the change a victory for consumers, despite the likely higher rates to follow. The plan won approval in the Republican-controlled body in a 4-1 vote.

“It should be a win-win for the consumer (and the company),” said Democrat commissioner Paul Newman, who represents southern Arizona and voted for the plan with reservations. “That’s yet to be seen, but I hope it will be.”

The Arizona Daily Star reports CenturyLink will not be able to charge different rates in competitive and less-competitive areas, which consumer advocates say will protect ratepayers in areas where wireless coverage is poor and cable companies do not compete.

CenturyLink said it needs “rate flexibility” to compete as people disconnect landlines and head for cell phones and cable company “digital phone” products. Although the company did not elaborate, it argues the right to raise rates will allow it to compete more effectively with dominant cable operators Cox and Comcast.

Prior to deregulation, CenturyLink was allowed a guaranteed rate of return based on the true cost of providing landline phone service. The company also guaranteed to provide phone service to any Arizona resident inside of its service territory who asked. Under the terms of the new agreement, CenturyLink will now enjoy more rate flexibility, but will continue serving as the phone company of last resort.

“I’m still scratching my head about how the pointy-heads in Phoenix believe that raising rates makes you more competitive with cable and cell phone companies and not less,” Gonzalez says. “I guess it’s the same kind of New Phone Math that CenturyLink uses to try and keep the customers that are slipping away from them faster than ever.”

Gonzalez says he pulled the plug on CenturyLink last August.

“They offer nothing compelling to me when I can get a better price and better service with more calling features from the cable company, and now they offer even less.”

(Image courtesy: FCC.com)

The Department of Justice today announced it had achieved a settlement with Verizon and four major cable operators regarding their efforts to establish a cross-marketing agreement to sell each other’s services, sell wireless spectrum, and develop a technology research joint venture.

Despite criticism that the deal represented a strong case for marketplace collusion that would reduce competition between Verizon’s FiOS fiber to the home service and cable company offerings, the Justice Department signed off on a series of deal revisions it defends as protective of competition and consumers. Among them is a time limit for the cross-marketing deal and restrictions on where Verizon Wireless can cross-market cable company services.

“By limiting the scope and duration of the commercial agreements among Verizon and the cable companies while at the same time allowing Verizon and T-Mobile to proceed with their spectrum acquisitions, the department has provided the right remedy for competition and consumers,” said Joseph Wayland, acting assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “ The Antitrust Division’s enforcement action ensures that robust competition between Verizon and the cable companies continues now and in the future as technological change alters the telecommunications landscape.”

The proposed settlement forbids Verizon Wireless from selling cable company products in areas where its FiOS service is available. That is a major reversal from the original agreement between Verizon and Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Bright House Networks which restricted Verizon Wireless from marketing FiOS. Under the original deal, Verizon Wireless stores could effectively only sell cable company products, never FiOS. The Justice Dept. will still permit Verizon Wireless to sell cable service, but supposedly not at the expense of the fiber service.

The agreement also specifies that Verizon Wireless can sell cable service in areas where it currently markets DSL only until the end of December 2016, renewable at the sole discretion of the Justice Dept. Antitrust lawyers were concerned Verizon would be unlikely to expand its FiOS network or improve DSL service in areas where it could simply resell cable service.

Justice lawyers also put a similar time limit on the technology joint venture, making sure any collaborative efforts don’t impede competition.

The settlement also approves of Verizon’s proposed acquisition of spectrum from the cable companies and T-Mobile USA’s contingent purchase of a significant portion of that spectrum from Verizon.

The deal has been signed off by Justice lawyers, the companies involved, and the New York State Attorney General’s office. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski also weighed in separately with a positive press statement about the agreement.

But consumer advocates remain concerned that the deal does nothing to enhance competition and allows the companies involved to enjoy a new era of competitive detente from a stable and predictable marketplace. Verizon still has little incentive to innovate its DSL service, free to pitch cable service in those areas instead, and without robust changes to the marketplace where FiOS is sold, cable operators have little to fear from Verizon’s stalled FiOS rollout and recent price increases.

Parts of the agreement may also prove confusing to consumers. An important concession prohibits Verizon Wireless from selling any cable service to a street address that is within the FiOS footprint or in any neighborhood store where Verizon FiOS is available. Consumers likely to receive broadly marketed special offers that offer bundled discounts could be frustrated when they are prohibited from signing up because of where they live.

This concession also requires both Verizon and cable operators collaborate to share information about where Verizon FiOS competition exists currently and where it will become available in the future, so that unqualified customers are not sold cable service in violation of the agreement. That represents valuable information for cable operators, who will receive advance notification that customer retention efforts may be needed in areas where Verizon’s fiber optic service is scheduled to become available for the first time.

Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed settlement during a 60-day comment period to Lawrence M. Frankel, Assistant Chief, Telecommunications & Media Enforcement Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 7000, Washington, D.C. 20530. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia may enter the proposed settlement upon finding that it is in the public interest.