TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Pacific Telesis Sues Over Cable Act Prohibitions: Pacific Telesis Group sued the U.S. government in an attempt to void portions of the Federal Cable Act that prevent phone companies from offering video programming. “We believe video programming is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and that the Cable Act ban on video programming in our service area violates our right to use our own facilities to communicate,” Executive Vice President Dick Odgers said. A federal court in Virginia ruled earlier this year that Bell Atlantic Corp. could offer video programming, but that ruling only applied to Bell Atlantic.