A statement by AT&T notes that the company's U-Verse VDSL & IPTV service has finally arrived in Memphis, as U-Verse rolls into BellSouth territory. Tennessee was one of a dozen states where baby bells lobbied to "reform" the video franchise system, promising lawmakers lower prices if they passed a state-level franchise law. AT&T's lobbying effort in the State was among the most expensive in state history. In their statement, AT&T lauds state and city lawmakers who had the foresight to give AT&T what they asked for without pesky thinking:The problem with such laws, as we've well discussed, is that they often streamline franchise approval at the cost of citizen eminent domain rights, price controls, cherry-picking restrictions and other consumer protections. In most states the laws are written by AT&T lobbyists and are essentially wish lists for baby bell operators, hidden under the promise of lower TV prices for consumers. Not too surprisingly, consumers who were promised lower TV prices are looking at AT&T U-Verse pricing in Memphis and wondering where their savings is.

Instead what consumers get is a duopoly engaged in non-price competition, and fewer protections against market abuse -- especially on the local level. Tennessee isn't the only state to wake up from their lobbying bender and notice a disheveled AT&T in bed next to them. Wisconsin also was promised lower prices and signed off on one of the worst of these bills we've seen, only to realize they got very little in return. In most instances, committees tasked with going back and seeing if the bills actually help consumers -- mysteriously disappear.