Work starts for AT&T TV service in Nashville

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008

AT&T has begun pulling permits in Nashville to roll out its new TV service, the areas first formidable competition for Comcast cable and the satellite TV companies that operate here.

Although the company is remaining mum on its exact plans, its contractor has been pulling permits to install equipment boxes in the public right of way in different parts of the city.

The initial permits arent a definitive portrait of which neighborhoods will get the new TV service, as AT&T has said not all of the equipment boxes its installing will provide TV.

But the volume of permits shows a major infrastructure push by AT&T into Davidson County as the telecommunications giant gets ready to go head-to-head with cable.

""We are moving as quickly as we can to get this service to as many as we can, AT&T spokesman Bob Corney said.

Calls to a handful of other cities, including Franklin and Brentwood, found no permits pulled in those locations, although the company has said it plans to provide TV service to other areas.

The locations of the permits imply that AT&T wont be neglecting mixed-income neighborhoods in favor of the wealthier parts of town. Earlier, critics had accused AT&T of cherry-picking wealthier neighborhoods.

East Nashville and South Nashville have been receiving the better part of the infrastructure upgrades on permits pulled this year, city records show. AT&T has not said precisely when Nashville will get the TV service.

The product, called U-verse, offers different packages ranging from $44 per month to $132 per month, the latter including up to 320 channels and high-speed Internet service. The digital TV service allows customers to record four shows at once, remotely record TV shows from a computer or wireless phone and customize weather, sports and other info on-screen.

The equipment cabinets that make such technology possible, roughly 4 feet by 3 feet, have been described as ""refrigerators"" by some unhappy neighbors who have seen them pop up on their lawns.

""We were pretty upset to see a bulldozer destroying our backyard, said Laura Deleot, who lives at 2218 Belmont Blvd., with her husband, Land. The couple had just installed new sod in the yard.

Deleot and her husband negotiated a compromise with AT&T after the couple stopped construction of two equipment boxes in the public right of way of their yard.

Source: The Tennessean