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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994                   TAG: 9404010112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CABLE FIRMS AWAITING FORMS TO FIGURE RATES

Six weeks before the Federal Communications Commission's new cable price rules take effect, cable operators still are waiting for the forms necessary to calculate new rates.

The FCC released new rules Wednesday designed to cut cable rates an average of 7 percent, but not the formula that cable companies need to calculate new rates.

Even with the formula in hand, operators said, new rates won't be figured out for weeks.

Once they are, there's no guarantee that every cable subscriber's monthly bill will be reduced. In fact, some could go up.

That's because of a second change scheduled to take effect May 15: A yearlong rate freeze will be lifted and companies will be able for the first time in a year to raise rates to account for inflation and increases in business costs.

by CNB