The battle among telcos, satellite providers and cable companies to deliver ultra-fast Internet has just gotten another wrinkle. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) will make its super-fast fiber product available in 18 new cities. That puts it in a contest with local cable, at least. And it may start the kind of price war that is the staple of wireless 4G competition.

The announcement is also bad news for traditional television programmers, which include content providers that range from local news to ESPN. So-called cord cutters have dropped these services as they have walked away from cable and used broadband to pick which content they want without buying program bundles. Broadband Internet services are the key to the ability for consumers to do this.

In AT&T’s consumer blog:

This morning we announced plans to expand AT&T GigaPower to 38 additional metros, starting with the launch of service in parts of the Los Angeles and West Palm Beach metros today. This is another step on our journey to bring our ultra-fast fiber network to reach more than 14 million locations. This will bring us to at least 56 metros where AT&T GigaPower is available or planned.

The cities are:

• Alabama: Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery
• Arkansas: Fort Smith/Northwest Arkansas and Little Rock
• California: Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose
• Florida: Pensacola and West Palm Beach
• Georgia: Augusta
• Indiana: Indianapolis
• Kansas: Wichita
• Kentucky: Louisville
• Louisiana: Baton Rouge, Shreveport-Bossier, Jefferson Parish region and the Northshore
• Mississippi: Jackson
• Missouri: St. Louis
• Michigan: Detroit
• Nevada: Reno
• North Carolina: Asheville
• Ohio: Cleveland and Columbus
• Oklahoma: Oklahoma City and Tulsa
• South Carolina: Charleston, Columbia and Greenville
• Tennessee: Memphis
• Texas: El Paso and Lubbock
• Wisconsin: Milwaukee

Whether this movement of more fiber for more households undermines cable and satellite based content channels is no longer a matter of conjecture. What is left is how many viewers channels like ESPN can hold as consumers have new ways to pick and choose content, in a way that presumably saves money.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.