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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994                   TAG: 9402270032
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

DEADLINE TO PROTEST CABLE TV BILL LOOMS

After that, the Federal Communications Commission will only take complaints if the rate you're paying for "expanded basic" services goes up. And that might not happen for a while since current rates are frozen and the FCC just ordered most cable rates to be cut by another 7 percent.

The FCC regulates rates charged by 11,000 different cable systems for the so-called "expanded basic" service, which includes most cable channels such as MTV, ESPN and USA. But only if it gets a complaint from some of the 57 million subscribers or the local governments that awarded the cable franchises.

The Monday deadline applies only to expanded basic rates charged since Sept. 1, when the FCC's first rate cut - 10 percent - went into effect.

Since a meeting Tuesday at which the complaint address and number were announced on C-SPAN, the number of cable-related calls "tripled" to about 500 a day, Mary Beth Richards, deputy chief of the Cable Services Bureau, said Friday.

As of Feb. 25, 8,100 complaints had been filed covering 2,300 cable systems.

After the FCC's first rate cut, many consumers complained that they had no idea how to protest their bills. Their members of Congress complained, too.

So with this rate cut, the FCC sent information kits to every member of Congress.

Copies of the complaint form are available by calling 202-416-0919 or writing P.O. Box 18238, Washington, D.C., 20036. The form may be returned to the FCC by fax. The number is: 202-416-0885.