Saratoga News

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Saratoga's out to make a little history at site of first library

By Shannon Burkey

Saratoga residents will soon have a new choice when it comes to video cable service in the city.

The recent passage of the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 (AB2987) will allow telephone companies such as AT&T and Verizon to obtain a statewide franchise agreement to offer TV/video services through their wires and compete with cable companies such as Comcast.

Following the passage of the bill, the Saratoga City Council reached an agreement with AT&T to be one of the first cities in the area to be offered video service from the phone company.

"The benefits they are offering are pretty good," said former Mayor Norman Kline, who worked on the agreement as one of his final projects. "Now this just means there will be competition instead of no competition in the area."

Currently, Comcast is the only cable company servicing the area. In the past, if customers were unhappy with their service, the only option would be to get a satellite service such as DirecTV or the Dish Network.

"Saratoga has not been on the leading edge of cable technology in the past, so hopefully this will spur Comcast to do a better job," Kline said.

As part of its Project Lightspeed, AT&T will make significant upgrades to its network infrastructure in the city to prepare for the new services. Along with video service, AT&T will also be able to offer higher-speed Internet access, IPTV and voice over IP.

Once telephone companies start offering video service, cable companies will also be able to obtain a statewide franchise agreement. Currently, cable companies negotiate their franchise agreements with each city where they offer services.

The first state franchises are not expected to be given out until spring, but with the city's agreement with AT&T in place, the telephone company will be able to offer its services to Saratoga residents before their franchise comes through.

According to Councilwoman Kathleen King, the only problem so far is that in the beginning, AT&T won't be able to carry the community access station, KSAR.

"They won't be able to tie into KSAR right away, but they wouldn't be able to if they waited and went through the state anyway," King said. "It will take them some time to make it work, but this way we may even be able to get a jump on things."