with other providers. so you're right that meaningful use is actually a path to getting us to a place where we can share all the information. i think it's fair to say that many providers are finding this challenging. so the doctor is also correct when he says give me a break, because if you're thinking about actually just uploading all information from one to another, that's actually much, much steeper and likely a bit far off, but i think your original assertion that, in fact, the incentives put in place by the high-tech act are are setting us in the right direction and i wanted to make the point that vha is complying with all of those. >> my understanding having spoken to some physicians who do work at va hospitals that they do appreciate the vista medical record. quote, and i'm quoting him, the information is all there. and it seems common sense to me that if the records are integrated, that that enhances the integrated care within the system. so within the va system, doctors can -- >> absolutely. >> --

although, currently two other providers, those are king american and amr that provide ambulance response for advanced calls as shown on this table here, the percentage of the fire department ambulance responses has declined since 2007. in 2013, the fire department's response was 73 percent of the total market, which is below the eoa requirement established by the state of 80 percent. and in order to determine the staffing level needed to increase the fire department market share, audit team compiled since months of data from 2013 to calculate the demand at every interval of the day, between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on average, the fire department needs three more ambulance shifts in order to increase the number of responses to meet the 80 percent minimum requirement. these three ambulance shifts would require 16 additional ems positions and those have been included in the mayor's fiscal year, 14/15 budget. while our analysis indicates that the three ambulance shifts would be sufficient, to increase the fire department's market share to the 80 percent requirement, we did identify other sta

we are complying with all the standards, yes. >> but the private health care provider -- providers were given incentives to digitize the records, there is a standard set forth by cms. offer interoperability with this guy? >> it should. in some cases we are starting to explore this, for example, with some pilot projects on allowing veterans to get immunizations at health facility. we can exchange the kind of information. there is a difference between people meeting the same standards and being able to share freely across platforms. i would be the ultimate goal. >> you're saying it should, but theoretically, people have who have been incentivized to digitize, those standards set wash -- you said this forwarded by cms? >> yes. >> they should provide the platform for interoperability with vista? >> yes, they should provide the first foundation for it. >> so part of being able to facilitate this ability to access care in the private arena, this would be to facilitate this interoperability. ,aybe part the answer would be if there were further incentives for our physicians to digitize, this wo

and sometimes i've talked to providers taken a year to get paid for services they provide. the va is that slow in providing the services and can't expect the private sector to really shore up the va if you don't pay them for it. there's a simple way to do this. you allow and i think senator mccain had this idea several years ago. allow veteran to go out and see me as a patient, as a medicare patient. very simple. it's not a complicated deal at all. if the veteran is low income and can't pay the co-pay, the va covers it and medicare covers the rest. we can do this for our veterans very, very easily. and but i think also for this bill to be fiscally responsible we have to be sure and careful who we open va care up to. i don't need to be on the va care right now. i have adequate health insurance as a veteran. i don't need to be in line in front of a needy veteran and millions of us that feel the same way so i don't think we can afford to expand coverage to every veteran. right now. and i really truly believe this. bottom of my heart that throwing more money at a system that's

and sometimes i've talked to providers taken a year to get paid for services they provide. the va is that slow in providing the services and can't expect the private sector to really shore up the va if you don't pay them for it. there's a simple way to do this. you allow and i think senator mccain had this idea several years ago. allow veteran to go out and see me as a patient, as a medicare patient. very simple. it's not a complicated deal at all. if the veteran is low income and can't pay the co-pay, the va covers it and medicare covers the rest. we can do this for our veterans very, very easily. and but i think also for this bill to be fiscally responsible we have to be sure and careful who we open va care up to. i don't need to be on the va care right now. i have adequate health insurance as a veteran. i don't need to be in line in front of a needy veteran and millions of us that feel the same way so i don't think we can afford to expand coverage to every veteran. right now. and i really truly believe this. bottom of my heart that throwing more money at a system that's

i'm providing a chance [inaudible]. we want to prevent unnecessary homelessness. >> next speaker, please. >> hi, thanks for having me today. i'm here to advocate for saint james, a clinic that provides care for those in the bay area. we support the people with medical care, and reproductive health care, needle exchange and transgender services. the community is unable to access health care because of the stigma they face. i'm asking to restore $80,000 of funding that we lost last year due jurisdiction in their budget. saint james provides a continuing of care with proven outcomes to over 2,000 unique participants since opening our door in 1999. right now we're operating on a staff of one full-time staff and one a part time staff of six due to our budget. my position as program director is on hold and i'm here advocating for saint james as a volunteer because i deeply understand the necessity of the clinic to provide people with a lifeline. we are with the support of jane kim, our supervisor asking the department to back

with other providers.so you're right that meaningful use is actually a path to getting us to a place where we can share all the information. i think it's fair to say that many providers are finding this challenging. so dr. ban i check is also correct when he says give me a break because if you're thinking about actually just uploading all information from one to another, that's actually much, much steeper and likely a bit far off. i think your original an sherrion that in fact the incentives put in place by the hi-tech act are setting us in the right direction. i wanted to make the point vha is complying with all of those. >> my understanding having spoken to some physicians who do work at va hospitals that they do appreciate the vista medical record. quote and i'm quoting him, the information is all there. and it seems common sense to me that if the records are integrated, nthat that enhances the integrated care within the system. so within the system doctors can pass this information around. so the conce

users, while they provide less, they do not provide no protection. one of the providers is for .ervices the provider offers some cases where it cannot discriminate against competing services. if at&t does offer a new over-the-top video service, those provisions of the rules might taken. >> you are subject as a common carrier. we have seen reports of fast lane, slow lane. >> we are working at the fcc now for strong net neutrality rules that would apply to the entire industry. i question whether it makes sense to have rules that applied to one company and not others. i prefer them to be industrywide. if they go beyond, presumably at&t would be subject to that. if they go not as far as 2010 thes we would hold onto 2010 rules. >> i know there is discussion about a common carrier. i will not get into that. something the committee should have a look at. discriminatory pricing obviously is a concern. preserve what we have. you talked about a differential of 30% in your testimony. the use of the proposed transaction will increase directv affiliate programmer

but since 2002 we have been the primary provider for the san francisco behavioral health court, providing assisted outreach for those who are court ordered to do so. the carther foundation funded research which demonstrated effectiveness through the behavioral health court. if you come to our facility you cannot tell the difference between the two groups of clients. voluntary versus involuntary is a continuum, it's not an either/or situation. by the way, because we are part of a larger clinic we can provide services in the primary language of any client that walks through our door. so by supporting the assisted outpatient treatment for those who have not yet been criminalized, we will offer the same kind of effective services that will prevent rehospitalization and incarceration. so i think we ought to extend that to those who have not yet broken the law and also to avoid people getting in law. thank you. >> thank you very much, next speaker, please. >> good afternoon again, my name is maureen decass and i am here to oppose ab 1421. i have heard a lot of language going on that says this i

these services that are provided by the department of public health will be accessible to this small population of individuals who are at very great risk for harm coming to them in the community. it's an effort to provide treatment that can potentially allow them to live a more satisfying and recovery-oriented life. so overall i want to emphasize that this is an important option for patients, for families and for our community and provides necessary treatment to an important group of individuals. thank you. >> thank you, dr. leery. colleagues, any questions? >> yes, question here. in regards to this concept of the intervention team or team advocacy approach, you have a psychologist, a family member and sort of an advocate. what i'm concerned about is whether or not the department of public health would have the capacity to deal with people that are not english speakers in this team approach. i mean, if there's only one team or -- i mean i know the amendments were just made, but if you could sort of imagine if this gets implemented, how will you deal with people that can't speak engli

and sometimes i've talked to providers taken a year to get paid for services they provide. the va is that slow in providing the services and can't expect the private sector to really shore up the va if you don't pay them for it. there's a simple way to do this. you allow and i think senator mccain had this idea several years ago. allow veteran to go out and see me as a patient, as a medicare patient. very simple. it's not a complicated deal at all. if the veteran is low income and can't pay the co-pay, the va covers it and medicare covers the rest. we can do this for our veterans very, very easily. and but i think also for this bill to be fiscally responsible we have to be sure and careful who we open va care up to. i don't need to be on the va care right now. i have adequate health insurance as a veteran. i don't need to be in line in front of a needy veteran and millions of us that feel the same way so i don't think we can afford to expand coverage to every veteran. right now. and i really truly believe this. bottom of my heart that throwing more money at a system that's

at&t is primarily a provider of services.internet directv is exclusively a video service provider. begun to offerly a video service which is referred to as universe, which is a competitor in various parts of the country. in addition to its video service company, it has a few sports networks in the pittsburgh, denver, and seattle areas. today's hearing will examine how the proposed merger may impact the future of universe and its ability provoke to provide services to consumers during the merger. -- ill also examine submittedirectv have a paper arguing the merger will allow the combined company to offer a bundled product that will and hence consumer choice i increasing competition in the market for bundled products and services. in addition, they contend the cost saving would allow additional resources to be applied to expanding broadband access, articulately in rural communities. ofhave the chairman ceo directv and at&t here to answer any questions arising from the public interest filing. forward to theok testimony on these and other proposed mergers. member,rn to my ranking mr. jo

this service, and cannot provide the service. so somehow the taxpayers of san francisco are supposed to make up for that. i think that -- i think that would be a tragic policy move. there is also environmental consequences. the vehicles are not subject to any clean air goals. and while you can say while most of them are priuses or whatever, that may or may not be true . we have no way of knowing that or anything else about the business operations and consider that we have estimated again without any way of knowing, because these are private businesss with no oversight, that there is probably 10,000 of these vehicles on our streets now. and we're creeping up on nearly 2,000 taxis, about 1700 taxis right now. and clearly there is some unmet demand out there, but to simply flood our vehicles with -- to flood our streets with 10,000 new vehicles seems dangerous for people, pedestrians and bicycles. it seems illogical in terms of our clean air goal and it's extremely problematic in terms of the values that the sfmta is supposed to be

language access is actually having staff in staff to provide it and we make every effort that in every clinic whether san francisco general or community based clinics we have that capability. if we don't have the capability we have an interpreter service that's actually run by the san francisco general automatic transfer seem less transfer the patient themselves probably won't know that and then the dmi i don't know if you have seen the vmi the video medical interpretation but also we have -- >> i know i hear information from members of the community about challenges they have and i wondered is there some way for a complaint based system to get feedback after the fact there are san franciscans who feel like the language needs weren't met but that's probably a longer term conversation that we need to have with other departments. >> last year we actually had 10 complaints and 10 of the complaints were resolved. >> what were the nature of those complaints? >> timeliness and initially had to do with the translation itself which is why darlene -- the goal of that training is not only the la

it is, however, an option that we can use to identify community providers who are willing to provide care and to meet certain conditions of the contract which specific that care will be provide within 30 days, that we will receive reports in a timely fashion. so pc3 is an enhanced method of providing care in the community that gives benefit to the va because it assures timeliness and assures we get records back in a timely fashion. >> i would also just add that they assure some minimal level of quality. i mean foundational level of quality in terms of contracting with hospitals that are accredited by the joint commission or relevant creditor that the plans that they are contracting with have met standards for the national committee on quality assurance and so forth and we're going to be working with them to figure out how do we even make those standards a bit higher. >> thank you. the committee is aware that the va had conducted several pilot projects such as project hero and project dodge before implementing pc3. va also has indicated in designing pc3 it used lessons learned from th

sfmta capitol policies have been, in effect, really since 2011 providing the policy framework for the management of scope, schedule and budgets that are obviously are the heart of any management and control system for project delivery. and develop, the clear procedures for a budgetary and scope changes and each of these changes are documented for analysis and lessons learned. for the three years of data, it is possible for sfmta to evaluate the data and the more proactive and proposed changes and processes the project delivery. but what we call the transportation capitol committee or the tcc recently approved the 5-year program that was adopted by the sfmta board on may 20th when the annual basis reviews, the cip past performance, and recommends improvements going forward. project p development phase, and since we have established what we call a free development phase to better design the scope of front, and prepare a better initial cost estimates that improves the opportunities for the project coordination and when the process of recruiting a project schedule and cost estimator and w

it's to better manage care and provide networks that have those high provider values in them that can keep the pressure on to keep spending low so part of the idea behind the competition and the transparency is to get at this some extent. >> i would add to that i think the process is much more transparent as a lot of folks have mentioned there's going to be data out there to use that we have to be realistic from the pricing perspective it doesn't necessarily give them the leverage into so a lot of the tools that you are seeing venues in the networks is one way to try to get it to regulate what a provider charges a carrier and i think what you are seeing particularly john can speak to this in massachusetts they are trying to address the pricing issues and tie the reimbursement and healthcare spending to the increase in the consumer price index so there is a lot of questions about how to manage the costs generally and the rate review process is a good way to get the data out there but the next step is to look at it globally and engage all of the stakeholders. >> i have a question. i am

to look into that when i get back to the office so recreation and parks part of our mission is to provide healthy recreational opportunities for people in san francisco for everybody in san francisco as well as parks so essentially every single employee that works for our department provides direct service to the public. we have over a thousand employees ranging from program coordinators and soccer coaches to garden ers and park patrol officers so we are all day every day interacting with the public in various ways. currently this year our budget for translation and interpretation was set at $40,000 of which so far we spent close to 30 thousand compared to last year at 15 thousand so doubled the amount of language translation services we provided. >> was that deliberate that you started to translate more materials? >> yes. one of the largest barriers that i think we've had a great leap in is providing scholarship applications so we now have the scholarship application available in chinese spanish russian and vietnamese and tagal will be coming towards the end of the summer now that that's

for providers as well as for plans. in other parts of the state we may be only insurer and then maybe the only hospital network. and so a lot of the variation for ross has to do with the provider network, the formularies, really with the underlying cost of care which gets automatically reflected in the rate. we cannot lose sight of the fact that ultimately on the cost of care. >> i would add to the point that from a rating perspective carriers of the flexibility to include the geographic rating factor. you may be across a different area and end up with variability because carriers can price based upon geography. >> if i could add three quick things. the first is it is important to emphasize that we have to look at aggregate's instead of anecdotes. there will always be some folks that go up plot and some folks that go down along. .. >> >> the 10 required benefits. how much variation in his there in benefits going forward? we know from the bronze to the silver that has to do with the degree of coverage of premium but in t

working throughout the city to provide direct services to businesses. one of the key aspects of the job squad initiative is not waiting for a business to call us and saying i have a problem but being proactive how can we help. and the ada program but also to ensure that we're selling other programs and making businesses aware of other programs. the office of small business which, supervisor, i know you were a leader in helping to create, continues to provide services to small businesses another key area where our small business team is focussed is on the implementation of outreach workshops designed specifically to address appropriate specific programs like the ada program and i want to spend a second talking about how we designed this program. this really came out of -- supervisors, you know well, many times just sending a letter to get a letter with all this intimidating language citing statute and with the support of all 3 of you supervisors we've implemented a program and expanding the program that works with these small businesses to provide inform

additional rent of $689,049 plus provide a one five-year option that will, if exercised, provide additional798,813. . >> okay, mta? >> good morning, chair farrell and supervisor avalos, i am with the mta and today we are requesting your approval to execute the third amendment to the current lease with the sprint spectrum who has been a long term tenant and if approved this amendment will result in an additional ten years of rent of 1.5 million for the city and mta. and for the background, the garage was built in 1950 and since then, until 2012 it was managed by a non-profit corporation established by the city, since then, the garage and the lease spaces have been managed by mta, and the sprint spectrum has been leasing to the space since 2004. and we have been a very good tenant, and the amendment will allow them to continue the tenantcy for an additional 5 years and also give them an option to extend for an additional five years after the first five years is up. and in all, it will generate, almost 1.5 million in grants. and we strongly urge your support for this amendment for several reas

there's no content being provided. there's equipment that's being provided. so when they activate the system and they say, i want to watch the news at 6:00, they then start the process that then fills their individually assigned storage with the 6:00 news. but until that happens, there's no content being provided. so the notion that they have in their reply brief over and over that we're somehow a content provider would mean that everybody who provides an antenna or a dvr is somehow a content provider. and if that's true, then the implications for the equipment industry are obviously quite massive and you can understand why that would frighten the cloud computing industry because that turns them into public performers whenever they are handling content. now, the government says -- justice ginsburg: they give the subscriber a menu, and it says you can get any of these things. it's not as though the subscriber initiates it. you have these choices and they're providing you these choices and those choices are content. >> it's no different, justice ginsburg, than

ear content provider. as i said -- >> a lot of people pay for the aereo service, do the same thing all by themselves? >> because if you don't have to buy a tv, a dvr, and an antenna and a shrink box which might -- sling box, which might cost thousands of dollars, might pay hundreds of dollars to rent it or look at programing selectively $8 a month. that is rental service, justice ginsburg. that can't change the copyright analysis. just because you rent equipped does not transform the person providing that equipment into a public performer, particularly when you are the one who initiates every set of signals that activate the programing and the he have content. if there are no further questions, we'll submit. >> thank you, counsel. mr. clement, you have three minutes remaining. >> thank you, mr. chief justice. just a few points in rebuttal. first i have to correct the fundamental difference. mr. frederick says as he did in his red brief, if you're only cable company, and you only retransmit locally you does

that they need to provide the continuity of care that the veterans need, but also provide those same standards of reporting to the v.a. so that they can enter that information to their outcomes measurements that they -- that they need for the patient? >> so being as far from an i.t. expert on the panel today, i would say from what mr.clain referenced before in terms of a more open source environment with the v.a.'s system itself. let me go off the answer for just a little bit. because a lot of this also has to do with the manner with which a veteran is received at a different facility. let's just call it first impressions. if i go from the veteran to the person on the other side of the desk as well, i think many of us have -- whether it's at an airline counter with b whether it's a a hospital, an emergency room, sometimes we get an impression that the person on the other side of the counter doesn't have quite the empathy that they would need to project to a new veteran. i think we have to even be able to go -- this is a little bit of a hearts and minds conversation as well. it's off

this is a system that's no longer supported by the vendor that initially provided it. it was the standard at the time that it was adopted over 30 years ago. by jurisdictions we're one of the last legacy users in the system in the state of california, for example. the system does a lot and has done a lot of good things for us for a number of years, but it has limited functionality when you compare it to current product. most of our purchasing, vendor management, inventory, and some of our more complex project management activities now occur in subsidiary systems. so, while famous, which is what we call the city's financial system, sits at the heart of this, we have a growing proliferation of subsidiary system owned by the department around the edges of it and that limited functionality really inhibits the city's ability to do good work. again, you appropriate planning fund in the current year budget. with those we've completed initial product demos. we've hired key department staff including mike deer man who will be serving as the project director ~. and we've undertak

my position has been that when we provide information we should provide completely if we provide you input the information people sometimes tempted to lead to the wrong conclusions without will be important to to give you the full description -- >> it's okay for the white house and treasury to leap to conclusions six weaker congress but my question also is, have they been discussion within the irs about when to reveal this information to congress? >> certainly. >> these discussion included treasury? >> no. >> how did treasury find out about it speak with treasury and covers a i'm not aware. apparently the first time i knew was -- >> i will have a lot of questions to write to you to follow up with you. completely unacceptable. >> can i answer that question and get -- >> i want to move onto another topic. your letters describe the lois lerner e-mails as being unbreakable. >> correct. >> but failed to mention with the damaged hard drive is today. you know what actual hard drive is that crashed in 2011? >> i'm advised the actual hard drive after was determined there was dysfunctional and

there is no content being provided. there is equipment that's being provided. when they say i've want to watch the news at 6:00 they then start the process that fulfills their individually assign storage with the 6:00 news. until that happens there is no content being provided so the notion that they have heard over and over that we are somehow content provider would mean every one that provides an antenna or dpr somehow content provider and if that's true the implications for the equipment industry are obviously quite massive then you can understand why that would frighten the cloud computing industry because that turns them into public performers whenever they are handling content. >> they get the subscriber who says you can get any of these things. is it's not as though the subscriber initiates it. you have choices and they are providing at these choices and those choices are content. >> it's no different justice ginsburg if i have a rabbit ears on my tv. >> from the user's perspective an additive bandage if i'm watching cable. you just have a different cont

i want to thank the advocates who have provided a lot of insight. this is not a perfect piece of legislation, nothing really is, but i am confident that we have done everything we can to address at least the fundamental concerns and my hope is that as we move forward with this piece of legislation, one, we will ensure that the policy is a policy that is crafted through the board of supervisors so that we have the ability as the implementation proceeds to look back and figure out if the approach is working. that's a lot easier to amend when it's done through the board of supervisors rather than the ballot box. so thank you very much and i look forward to the conversation and to hearing from everyone who came here to speak on this issue. thank you. and i also want to thank hillary rownan from my office who has been working with supervisor farrell and his staff. >> supervisor farrell, if you'll go ahead and call people up for public comment. >> i have a number of public comment cards here. first of all there are a number of speakers we have here. first

the water agency provided a speed loan. we covered the cost of the consultant, staff time, surveys and marketing and that sort of thing between march of 2011 and january of 2013. that's a loan that ended up being $1.7 million and we'll get paid back with 3% interest on january 1st of 2015. the operating line of credit if -- the credit from where it left off is a $2.5 million operating loan from first community bank. that line of credit is guaranteed by the county of samona's treasury. the bridge loan which will pay power cost from the time we buy the power and the time we collect rates is also provided by first community bank and that's an unsecured loan. we have a 33% renewable base product which is called clean start. it's four or five percent below pg and e. it will remain that way through the end of this fiscal year. no, calendar year. and it's available to anyone in the participating cities. we also have a 100% renewable and local product. we entered into a contract with pine kyle. it's maybe 20% more. that's available

provider. at&t has started offering u-verse which is a competitor to directv in concern sporonts -- certain participants parts of the country. today's hearing will look at how the impact of u-verse and its ability to provide video and internet sevrvices to the cons e consume consumers. at&t and directv argue this will allow the combined company to offer a bundle and enhance competition by increasing compitation for bundles in the market. they contend the cost saving would allow additional resources to be explored in broadband networks. we have the ceo of at&t and directv with us. i look forward the testimony of the witnesses on these and other issues related to the merger. i now turn to mr. johnson for his opening statement. >> thank you. today's hearing concerns the merger of at&t with approximately 11 million broadband subscribers and 5 million tv subscribers and directv serving 50 million customers. the core question at the heart of this merger is whether creating an integrated bundle of at&

street will provide us the opportunity to provide the care. thank you >> good evening. my name is cynthia davis for the past 26 years i've been a member of the board of directors >> i'm sorry to interrupt you, you your time is up you'll have more time on rebuttal. >> okay. is the subject property owner here he'll have an opportunity to speak. seeing none, that he's not mr. sanchez >> scott sanchez planning department we've had a few formula retail items before this board this is a fairly unique case to be brought before the board as a reminder of the many of the facts in this case the flying building permit that releases the suspension of was issued on january 13th ever this year that permit was issued in error two facts related to the youth size prospered was required to cu and could be formula retail and would require a cu for that. we spent the permit on january 22nd, 2014, for those reasons and on february 7th the h f realized the suspension requests on the same day filed a discretionary review regarding the issues we've identified. we had

my position has been that when we provide information is provided completely. if we provide an incomplete iteration, people are sometimes tempted to leap to their wrong conclusion, so we thought it would be important to give you the full -- >> it is ok for the white house and treasury to lead you to a conclusion six weeks before the congress. had there been discussions within the irs when to reveal this information to congress? >> certainly. >> these discussions include treasury? >> no. >> how to treasury find out about it? >> apparently the first time i knew about that was -- >> i will have a lot of questions to write you to follow up. completely unacceptable. >> can i answer that question? >> i do not think you have given me the answer. your letter charts the e-mails as being unrecoverable. >> correct. >> but failed to mention where the hard drive is today. you know where the hard drive is that crashed in 2011? >> after it was determined it was dysfunctional and no e-mails could be retrieved, it was recycled and destroyed in a normal process. >> was it physic

instead of providing waivers, this bill should help the districts meet this higher standard by providing the technical assistance and training to become compliant. additionally, bill language would make white potatoes eligible for purchase by w.i.c. participants, which is inconsistent for the purpose of the w.i.c. program to include only foods based on documented nutritional deficiencies. white potatoes are not there today bussed on science, and science, not special interests, should continue to be the guide for w.i.c.'s policies. the majority should have fully embraced the work and purpose commodity futures trading commission and fully funded the administration's request. i'm also concerned that the bill only provides half of the requested funds to expand and improve oversight of drug compounding to ensure products are safe and effective. i thank the chairman for working with me to ensure that the summer feeding pilot program remains open to children in rural and urban areas and adding report language related to sunscreen ingredients, sprays and high s.p.f. products. and i very much sup

the programming costs for a smaller provider is significantly higher than for a larger provider. the spread, said to average around 30%, puts my members at a substantial disadvantage to big competitors. at&t's desire to acquire at&t does not surprise smaller cable operators. even though at&t's subscriber base nearly exceeds that of all other cable operators combined, its motives for buying directv point to it facing similar market problems, like aca's members, at&t also understandsist competitive standing is likely to worsen in the comcast time-warner cable and comcast charter deals are approved. while at&t can lower its programming cost and better compete by purchasing directv, smaller cable operators cannot because they lack at&t's financial resources. unable to spend their way out of trouble, these video providers will struggle to remain viable. some critics of at&t's deal raise concerns about the number of providers decreasing from four to three in u-verse territories. in rural areas where three providers exist, program costs have caused some small cable operators to close sy

this bipartisan legislation provides

there's no content being provided there's equipment being provided. when they activate the system and say, i want to watch the news at 6:00 they start the process that fills their individually assigned storage with the 6:00 news, until that happens, there's no content being provided. the notion they have, that somehow they're a content provider, would mean that everyone who provides an antenna or dvr is a content provider. if that's true, the implications for the equipment industry are massive, and you can understand why that would frighten the cloud computing industry, that turns them into public perfor r performers whenever they are handling content. >> they give the subscriber a menu, and says, you can get any of these things, it's not as though the subscriber initiates it. you have these choices, and they're providing you these choices. and those choices are content. >> it's no different justice ginsberg, if i'm at home and i have an antenna or rabbit ears at tv, and know what channels i can get. >> it's exactly same if i'm watching cable, right?

we can provide the substantial assistance we can provide to the forces. that's material, intelligence assistance and the like. we can contemplate other requests and take action as necessary. if the question you're asking is should we have 10, 20, 50, 100,000 troops in iraq the president's view is no. >> not necessarily. senator tim kaine said that the president should present a clear plan to congress soon. does the president have any immediate plans to consult with members of congress? >> we are in active consultation with members of congress on the situation in iraq. we will continue to do that os appropriate. >> finally, how would you characterize what's happening in iraq now? would you characterize it as a simple war? >> what we are seeing is an islamic jihadist group composed substantially of noniraqis, as i understand it. but certainly mixed nationalities threatening the sovereign state of iraq. the iraqi security forces need to confront that threat. we are working very closely with the government in baghdad and with iraq's political leadership to ev