Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006080178
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SENATE PANEL OKS BILL ON CABLE TV REGULATION

The 18-1 vote by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee marked the first time lawmakers have moved to restore some of the regulation of the cable industry that Congress lifted in the 1984 Cable Act.

The 1984 law ended local rate regulation effective in 1987, and since then members of Congress have been deluged with complaints of soaring prices and poor service.

More than 20 re-regulation bills were introduced in Congress in the past two years, and the Senate communications subcommittee held nine hearings before Thursday's compromise bill emerged.

"This is a major victory for the American public," said Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., who had introduced a bill last year that would have been even tougher on the cable industry.

"Cable television is an unregulated monopoly in virtually every community," Danforth said. "You don't need a degree in economics to know that unregulated monopolies are bad for consumers, and millions of subscribers are fed up with high prices and `who cares' service. The message is that help is on the way."

- Associated Press