ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601110152
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
Deregulation, technological revolution and escalating competition promise to make 1996 another newsworthy year in the broadcasting and cable industries.
Significant changes in those industries are likely to follow passage of a new national telecommunications act this year, though effects at the local level are not yet clear.
A bill now being hashed out in a congressional conference committee is the first comprehensive overhaul of the nation's telecommunications policy since 1934, when Congress declared that broadcasters must serve the ``public interest, convenience and necessity.''
Yet, many local broadcasters aren't sure just how dramatic the impact of the new legislation will be.
``It's one of those things that has a lot of potential to make a huge impact,'' said Randy Smith, general manager of Roanoke's WSLS-TV. ``But in the last two decades we've been through so many things with a lot of potential for impact. Now, 20 years later, we find the more they change, the more they stay the same.''
The new legislation will set policy for broadcast, satellite and cable transmission of radio and television programming, as well as for the telephone industry. Provisions already approved by congressional conferees will make it easier for stations to keep their licenses, further deregulate cable rates, allow telephone companies to enter the cable business and vice versa, and require TV manufacturers to install a so-called ``V-chip.''
The chip is intended to allow parents to block programming they consider too violent or otherwise inappropriate for their children to watch. The ``V-chip'' almost undoubtedly will face a constitutional challenge from broadcasters who say it interferes with their First Amendment rights of free speech.
Though details have not been resolved, the measure also likely will significantly expand the number and percentage of television, radio and cable outlets any single company can own.
``One thing I see - and that, speaking personally, I'm not thrilled with - is more concentration of ownership across the country,'' Smith said. ``There will be fewer, bigger companies'' owning a larger slice of the broadcasting pie.
While that will be true nationally, Robert Lee, general manager of WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, doesn't expect stations in this market ``to be targets of the mega-media companies.''
``Disney/ABC is not likely to want to buy a station here'' as it tries to reach a proposed cap of 35 percent of the national audience, Lee argued.
But, he said, he ``will be curious to see how few owners there are left among local radio stations.''
Multiple-station ownership already is burgeoning in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market as buyers take advantage of 2-year-old rule changes.
In the last year and a half, Baltimore, Md.,-based Benchmark Communications has purchased the market's two top-rated stations - WYYD, and WROV-FM and WROV-AM.
New York-based Cavalier Communications recently bought five stations in the market - including WJJS/WJJX and WRDJ/WLDJ - further concentrating ownership of the market's radio stations.
While the ownership changescould be important, Mike Slenski, president of the Cavalier Communications stations, said he doesn't see any dramatic changes in the stations' operations in the immediate future.
Unless a group buys out a competitor and changes its format, Slenski said, ``I don't think programming will change at all.''
But streamlined operations under multiple ownership could bring better profits to the new owners, he said.
Likewise, Kenny Shelton, operations manager at WYYD in Lynchburg, contended that companies that ``make smart purchases should only make more money.''
The company that bought his station, Benchmark, is not interested in ``cookie-cutter radio,'' Shelton said. ''They realize that each market is different and they are reluctant to make changes'' that will jeopardize successful operations.
Success for Cox Communications means maintaining a balance between providing ``excellent service for both customers and shareholders,'' said spokeswoman Sharron Davies.
It is still too early to say exactly what changes will result from legislation that hasn't been passed, Davies said. But she said her company ``welcomes competition. It's healthy.''
``We do have a fiberoptics network that is capable of carrying voice, video and data.'' She said she does not expect significant changes in how that network is used in 1996, however.
In Lee's view at Channel 7, the national telecommunications legislation is a matter of the ``big telephone and big cable companies at war with each other.'' Broadcasters ``are small potatoes in this thing.''
If telephone companies are permitted to enter the cable TV business, Lee sees that competition as strengthening the position of local TV stations that want compensation from cable companies that retransmit their programs.
Though the time is coming when viewers and listeners could have hundreds of video and audio choices in their homes, Channel 10's Smith believes success lies in the commitment of local broadcasters to their home markets.
``What will set us apart is what we do in local community.''
LENGTH: Medium: 95 linesby CNB