Published: October 29, 2009 10:01 am      

Supervisors approve new AT&T TV service agreement

PICAYUNE — Residents in Picayune and Poplarville will have an alternative television service provider through AT&T after supervisors on Monday agreed to sign a television service agreement, subject to review by board attorney Joe Montgomery.

“AT&T U-Verse” will be the fourth entry into what is called the TV cable market here, said Kathleen Shaughnessy, an AT&T manager who is in charge of a 12-county area in South Mississippi, which includes Pearl River County, and who appeared before supervisors on Monday.

Shaughnessy did not say when the county will get the new service, or how much AT&T will charge customers for it, although she said “it will be competitive.”

She said that what is called “AT&T U-Verse” is far more than cable TV service.

The AT&T manager said it would come into homes on the AT&T land line and be provided on an internet provider platform allowing for back and forth interaction between the provider and the customer.

“It will be a lot like entertainment on demand, where you can upload and download, but we will also offer a basic TV service of some 200 channels,” she said.

Dish and Direct TV satellite companies serve Pearl River County and its two cities, Picayune and Poplarville, and Charter serves Picayune and Galaxy serves Poplarville. Charter and Galaxy pay franchise fees but the satellite systems do not, Shaughnessy said.

Shaughnessy said agreements in her South Mississippi territory were about 95 percent completed and that she planned to meet with the Poplarville board of aldermen next to get an agreement there.

She said Picayune city council had already signed the agreement.

The system already is operating in portions of Jackson, New Orleans, Oxford and other areas in Louisiana and Alabama, she said.

She said the FCC requires cable companies to sign franchise agreements with government entities, but that AT&T’s service technically is not a cable service company.

However, she said AT&T was signing what she termed “a TV service agreement” with the government bodies in the areas it serves and will pay franchise fees in order to “be a good corporate neighbor.”

Said board president and supervisor Anthony Hales, “We do have a lot of complaints about the local TV stations, and we have a lot of people who have settled in here from Louisiana who want to get the New Orleans stations.”

Shaughnessy told Hales that the service would be offered where AT&T already has infrastructure and would be offered over either copper or fiber wire.

She said some upgrading of AT&T infrastructure will be necessary to serve Pearl River County.

Supervisor Patrick Lee motioned, and Hales seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.