Scare tactics: See how big ISPs demonize city-owned broadband (original) (raw)

spooky stories —

Gallery: a look at anti-muni broadband phone calls and flyers.

As part of its investigation of municipal broadband, the Center for Public Integrity put together some audio and visual imagery to show just how the fight plays out at the local level.

Large telecommunications companies have bankrolled campaigns to try to defeat referendums that would allow cities to build or expand their own high-speed broadband networks.

First up, two examples of anti-muni broadband robocalls and push polls—one from Longmont, Colorado, and the second from Lafayette, Louisiana.

Next, here are some examples of the newspaper ads and direct-mail brochures telecom companies used in a Batavia, Illinois, 2003 referendum, Lafayette, Louisiana’s 2005 local election, and referendums held in 2009 and 2011 in Longmont, Colorado.

• A brochure Comcast sent to residents in Batavia, Illinois, in 2003 opposing a referendum to build a municipal broadband network. The initiative failed.
• The cover of a brochure sent out in Longmont, Colorado, prior to the 2011 referendum. The ballot initiative passed with 61 percent of the vote.
• Another page from a brochure sent out in Longmont, Colorado, prior to the 2011 referendum. The ballot initiative passed with 61 percent of the vote.
• A direct mailing in Longmont, Colorado, prior to a failed 2009 ballot initiative to establish municipal broadband.
• The proposed municipal broadband network targeted by this 2003 brochure would serve the tri-city area of Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles in Illinois.
• Another brochure sent to residents in Batavia, Illinois, in 2003 opposing a referendum to build a municipal broadband network. The initiative failed.
• This ad, paid for by SBC Communications Inc., ran in the Kane County Chronicle in 2003.
• This and other materials were funded by SBC Communications Inc., which bought AT&T in 2005 and kept the AT&T name.
• Brochure using a quote from the Kane County Chronicle to build opposition to a 2003 referendum to build municipal broadband in Batavia, Illinois.