WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 16, 2008) — AT&T met with representatives of the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) on Thursday, July 8, to demonstrate the company’s U-Verse system. The demonstration confirmed multiple problems with U-Verse which were acknowledged by AT&T’s representative, Chris Boyer. These include a delay in accessing PEG programming, inferior picture quality, lack of DVR functionality, and no support for closed captioning or second audio programming.

As reported by blogger, Geoff Daily, Boyer “admitted that the reason all PEG channels are lumped under channel 99 is because of technical limitations.” ACM Board Chair, Matt Schuster states “The channel 99 limitation is a result of a business decision by the company, not because of technological limitations.” Schuster adds, “Instead of engaging in damage control after the fact, AT&T should have worked with community access stations prior to rollout. AT&T’s sub-par system makes it unnecessarily difficult to view local community programming.”

Cable systems both large and small have historically carried PEG channels in an equivalent manner with commercial and other non-commercial channels. As a new competitor to cable, Verizon has done the same. Only AT&T’s U-Verse system has failed to meet the needs of local programmers.

Schuster said, “This degradation of PEG services reduces the benefit to many communities of the diverse, local programming provided through PEG channels. That contradicts the 1984 Cable Act goals that franchises be responsive to the needs and interests of the local community.”

The Alliance for Community Media is a national membership organization representing more than 3,000 PEG access centers across the nation. Local PEG programmers produce 20,000 hours of new programs per week, and serve more than 250,000 organizations annually through the efforts of an estimated 1.2 million volunteers.

For more information visit the Alliance For Community Media