AT&T has begun pulling permits in Nashville to roll out its new TV service, the area's 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 aren't a definitive portrait of which neighborhoods will get the new TV service, as AT&T has said not all of the equipment boxes it's 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 won't 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.
Mark Macy, assistant director of public works for Davidson County, said AT&T's subcontractors had not pulled a required permit to build in the right of way in front of the Deleot home and he contacted the company to get a list of the equipment cabinets in Davidson County that may have been built without permits.
AT&T said it follows all local rules and restrictions and resolves concerns as they arise.
$400M to build networkAT&T negotiated a compromise in the state legislature earlier this year to offer its digital TV service via a high-speed Internet connection without having to get permission from local governments or serve entire cities. The cable industry and local governments had fought against the bill.
The compromise, which requires at least 25 percent of those with access to the service within 3½ years to be low-income, was signed into law in May. AT&T has pledged to spend $400 million on the infrastructure needed for the service in Tennessee.
"Their technology is different from cable technology,'' said Stacey Briggs, the executive director of the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association, which represents AT&T's competitor, the cable industry. "It simply requires an enormous box every 300 homes. We don't use boxes."
Some of the boxes in other cities have caught on fire. AT&T said it has replaced the batteries that were causing those problems.
Metro Councilwoman Emily Evans said she called AT&T to find out where the boxes were going but was told that was proprietary information.
"I'm just trying to keep an eye on it,'' she said. "I thought everything was getting smaller. Apparently, whatever they are doing is getting bigger."
AT&T officials said in July that the company had more than 500,000 subscribers nationally for U-verse and that it planned to have 1 million by year-end.
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