Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 1, 1992 TAG: 9202030145
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
SENATE OKS CABLE TV RATE RULES
The Senate on Friday overwhelmingly passed legislation that once again would allow local governments to regulate prices charged by cable television operators, a measure designed to provide relief from soaring prices for the 54 million subscribing households.The Senate approved, 73-18, a bill that rolls back portions of the 1984 Cable Act, which deregulated the cable TV industry and helped make cable the preeminent means for delivering TV news, entertainment and sports programming in the United States.
The vote sends the bill to the House, which passed similar legislation two years ago. But Bush administration officials are promising a veto unless the measure is changed significantly.
Cable TV providers operate without direct competition in more than 99 percent of all cities and counties nationwide and are entitled in most areas to set prices without government oversight.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, a critic of skyrocketing cable rates and the corresponding lack of market competition, predicted a rough road for the bill in the House.
"The weakness of the bill is that it is entirely rate regulation," he said in an interview. "It's a very, very quick fix. It does not create a competitive market."
Boucher, who sits on the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, said he will propose marrying the regulatory portions of the Senate bill with his Cable Competition Act. That measure would allow the nation's telephone companies to provide cable TV service.
Because it could take five years for the telephone companies to make headway in the cable business, Boucher foresees rate regulation on an interim basis only. Bush, opposed on philosophical grounds to regulatory measures, already has voiced support for Boucher's bill.
Managers for Cox Cable Roanoke and Salem Cable TV did not return phone calls Friday.
The bill sponsored by Sens. John Danforth, R-Mo.; Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii; and Albert Gore, D-Tenn., requires the Federal Communications Commission to regulate rates for basic cable service unless a competing multichannel television company exists in a community.
The bill directs the FCC to write national rate regulation standards, which would be enforced by local governments. Cable companies still could raise rates, but price increases would have to be deemed "reasonable" under the FCC definition. Consumers could also petition for rate reductions.
Proponents of reregulation say the industry has abused its monopoly status and needs to be reigned in, citing government statistics showing that cable rates have risen three times faster than the general inflation rate since price deregulation began in late 1986.
The bill's sponsors fought off efforts by Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., and others to weaken it with a substitute measure that was being pushed by the cable industry. That bill was voted down 54-35.
Business writer Daniel Howes contributed to this story.
REGULATING CABLE\ BILL'S PROVISIONS\ \ Authorizes the Federal Communications Commission to regulate rates for basic cable service (those channels desired by at least 30 percent of customers) unless there is a competing company offering similar multichannel television service.\ \ Requires basic cable service to carry broadcast stations on the same channel as they would be without cable, or negotiate other arrangements through discussions with the broadcast stations.\ \ Requires cable to include up to three qualified non-commercial, educational television stations.\ \ Requires the FCC to limit the number of subscribers a cable company can have nationwide and the number of channels that can be occupied on a cable system by programmers affiliated with the cable operator.\ \ Prohibits cable programmers owned in part or full by a cable operator from unreasonably refusing to deal with competing multichannel companies.\ \ Requires the FCC to establish customer service standards and minimum technical standards.\ \ Prohibits local communities from unreasonably refusing to grant franchises to cable competitors.\ - AP