When I write about the Telco's emerging business in IPTV, it is difficult not to bump into the topic of cable-franchising. Click here to see a list.

In that same vein we have the city of Milwaukee filing a federal lawsuit against AT&T trying to force them to negotiate a cable-franchise agreement for its U-Verse TV IPTV service. Basically, the city wants AT&T to make the same annual payment that Time Warner Cable makes under terms of its franchise.

AT&T says that IPTV service is not a cable-TV system as defined under federal law so it does not want to pay up.

Milwaukee city attorney Grant Langley told AP the city is in talks with AT&T on an interim agreement that would let the company "continue to build and operate" its system, adding that he is "taking into account the agreement we have with Time Warner when we're negotiating the points of an agreement with AT&T."

I'm not sure what that means but surely this story has a few more twists and turns to it.