Joe Hall

NASHVILLE — AT&T and the cable industry spent as much as $17.5 million through March 31 during an 18-month lobbying and public relations war over statewide cable licensing legislation, state Ethics Commission records show.

Despite being outspent by about $2 million, telecommunications giant AT&T this year ultimately achieved its legislative goal of bypassing local government cable franchise rules, although the company did not get everything it sought.

AT&T officials plan to use the new law’s statewide licensing procedure to jump-start their entry in providing cablelike television programming to consumers.

Disclosures filed with the Tennessee Ethics Commission show that, through March 31, AT&T and its ally, trade group TV4US, spent $7.47 million to $7.7 million on 31 lobbyists, public relations firms and television advertising since Oct. 1, 2007.

The Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association, a trade group, as well as Comcast and Time Warner Telecommunications, threw into the fight $9.4 million to $9.8 million with 12 lobbyists, PR firms and television advertising.

“Wow,” said Ed Cromer, who edits the nonpartisan political newsletter The Tennessee Journal, of the collective spending.

Mr. Cromer said the spending “shows just how much money is at stake over the issue.” Existing cable companies, he observed, “obviously are bringing in a lot of money and don’t want to give any of it up. And obviously, AT&T sees an opportunity.”

The cable industry fought the bill to a standstill in the 2007 session. But this year, House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, intervened and forced both sides into closed-door sessions to hammer out a compromise that included local governments.

“It really, at the end of the day, came down to a compromise ... that we do believe will bring competition,” said Bob Corney, a former communications director for Gov. Phil Bredesen who now works for a PR firm hired by AT&T. “We didn’t get everything we wanted. The other stakeholders didn’t get everything they wanted.”

Mr. Corney said AT&T had legislative issues besides video-franchising reform but acknowledged “obviously, this was a big part of our legislative agenda.”

Efforts to contact Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association CEO Stacey B. Briggs were unsuccessful. But Joe Hall of Hall Strategies, a PR firm hired by the cable group, said the cable industry believed the money was well spent.

“Certainly from our standpoint, particularly in 2007, the law that AT&T was asking in 2007 would have given the company a significant competitive advantage ... and resulted in pretty big losses for consumers and local governments in 2008,” Mr. Hall said.

This year “we believe there was a better-educated General Assembly and public about the important factors of the bill,” he said.

Since spending totals only reflect expenses through March 31, total figures could go higher. The figures also do not reflect expenditures by local governments, which battled the bill among other issues last year.

Figures culled from disclosures show the bulk of AT&T and cable industry spending went not toward lobbyists but to “lobbying related expenses” that officials said included television advertising, public relations and similar items.

AT&T reported spending $950,000 to $1.1 million on lobbying this year, hiring 28 lobbyists, including John Lyell, Bo Johnson, Nathan Poss and Anna Durham Windrow, Gov. Bredesen’s former chief lobbyist.

Also on the AT&T roster was Betty Anderson, wife of Speaker Naifeh, who last year lobbied for the cable industry. Mr. Corney previously has said Ms. Anderson’s work did not involve this year’s AT&T/cable fight.

AT&T chalked up $4.1 million in lobbying-related expenditures that Mr. Corney acknowledged included some television advertising.

TV4US, an industry group whose members include AT&T, spent $75,000 to $160,000 on three lobbyists, according to filings. An estimated $2.35 million went toward lobbying-related expenses over the past 18 months, records show. Officials last year acknowledged the bulk of the money went toward ads promoting AT&T or attacking the cable industry.

Records show the Tennessee Cable Telecommunications Association over the 18-month period spent $700,000 to $850,000 on lobbyists, including former state Treasurer Steve Adams, a Democrat, and former state Rep. Joe May, R-Knoxville. Last year, Ms. Anderson lobbied for the group.

The overwhelming amount of money — $8.45 million — went to lobbying- related expenses, according to records. Ms. Briggs said earlier this year that much of the money was going into the cable industry’s television blitz attacking AT&T.

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