NEW AGREEMENT FOR AT&T

Regulators in Sunrise, Fla., agreed to OK a new franchise for AT&T Broadband after last year's suit against MediaOne ? which was bought by AT&T in 1999 ? over the old contract. City regulators told the Sun Sentinel that new federal regulations would have automatically renewed the agreement for 20 years, so they cut a new ten-year deal. The new contract imposes stricter standards of service, requiring one-minute response times on calls for service or repair and making the cable company list a toll-free customer service number in the phone book.

CHARTER ADMITS OVERCHARGES

Hundreds of Charter Communications customers in Cape Girardeau, Mo., have been overbilled for service in the wake of a switchout that requires customers to have digital boxes in order to receive premium channels, according to the Southeast Missourian newspaper. Since Charter began requiring digital boxes Nov. 2, some customers have been overbilled by as much as $18.14 a month, Charter manager Roger Harms admitted to the paper. That's because premium channel customers who declined to take boxes were billed for the channels for the last two months anyway.

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