Local governments lose on  local control in AT&T case Count the cable channels on your home set. That’s probably about how many opinions there are on the meaning of the recent decision by the 9th Circuit Court in the case of AT&T and Multnomah County. AT&T, which merged with cable provider TCI, provides cable service in Multnomah County and Portland, Ore. The court’s ruling, June 22, upheld AT&T’s right to keep competitors off its high-speed cable connection to the Internet and denied local government control over Internet access. See the full story