New legislation will allow cable companies to compete for service in parish
For years, residents have complained about the lack of cable service providers in St. Charles Parish. Now though, that will all change.
During its last session, the Louisiana Legislature passed a bill called The Consumer Choice for Television Act, which will allow other cable or video service providers to come into Louisiana and offer competitive cable service rates to consumers.
“Our plan for supporting this legislation was to bring competition and offer services to as many people as quickly as possible,” Sage Rhodes, a public information officer for AT&T, said. “We don’t know for sure when customers would see these choices taking place, but they are coming in certain areas.”
Currently, there are only two options offered for cable television service in the parish – Cox Communications, the current provider, or one of several satellite dish services. AT&T seems the most likely cable provider to move into the area since they use another platform than Cox when it comes to providing cable service.
“AT&T would use a different kind of backbone to provide cable service,” Brad Grundmeyer, the public information officer for Cox, said. “Once a customer decides they want to go with them, they’d have to disconnect service with us, return our equipment and AT&T would come in and give them their equipment. They don’t need anything from us to provide their cable service.”
Cox can still apply to be the official cable franchise for St. Charles Parish, but the recent legislation means they must now go through the Secretary of State’s office.
“Our cable franchise with St. Charles Parish expires in December,” Grundmeyer said. “With the new legislation, we must apply for a certificate through the Secretary of State’s office to continue providing cable service to St. Charles residents.”
The new act states that “increased competition in cable services and video services not only provides consumers with more choices, better prices, and better services, but also encourages and speeds the deployment of new communication technologies to the public. The technology used to deliver cable and video service is not constrained or limited by local governmental subdivision boundaries.”
Rhodes says that the new legislation will help her company get a competitor’s edge.
“At AT&T, we want to bring the benefits of competition and choice to as many consumers, including in St. Charles Parish, as quickly as possible,” she said. “We are not able to comment on when or where we will offer services at this time for competitive reasons.”
Grundmeyer says he looks forward to the competition.
“Cox competes, quite successfully, against satellite providers for cable customers, against AT&T for telephone and Internet customers, and against other providers for phone, high-speed Internet and video customers,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to provide state-of-the-art services to St. Charles residents.”
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