ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602130079
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press WASHINGTON
How Americans get telephone, television and computer services in the 21st century will depend on decisions that federal regulators will make over the next year.
Well before the ink dried on the Telecommunications Act signed by President Clinton on Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission had been considering how it would implement the measure.
The law directs the agency to write more than 80 rules. The most difficult will be ones that deal with local Bell company entry into the long-distance business and such related subjects as making sure telephone service is available to all Americans, federal regulators say.
The law immediately freed Bell companies to provide long-distance service outside their local phone territories. But it requires the companies to meet certain conditions before they can offer long-distance service to their local customers.
By Aug. 6, the FCC must create detailed rules covering these conditions. If a Bell company met the requirements, it then could apply to the FCC for permission to provide long-distance service to its local customers on a state-by-state basis.
But most phone company executives, citing economic and state regulatory issues, say it will take several years before they provide long-distance service to their own customers.
Some of the other rules that FCC must write would:
* Let the biggest electric and gas utilities provide telecommunications services.
* Make it more difficult for cable customers to contest rates for levels of service above basic. These levels include popular channels such as CNN, USA, and ESPN.
For television, the FCC must work with TV set manufacturers to come up with a standard for the "V" chip, a computer chip that would recognize programs electronically rated for violent and other objectionable content.
The Electronic Industries Association says much of the development work on such a chip has already occurred.
The FCC also must set a date - after Feb. 8, 1998 - when the "V" chip must be included in new TV sets 13 inches or larger.
And, the agency would have to appoint an independent panel to create a ratings system that broadcasters and cable networks are supposed to use if the TV industry doesn't create one on its own by next year.
For computers, the commission may - but is not required to - ``describe measures which are reasonable, effective and appropriate to restrict access to'' indecent material over computers.
Those measures are supposed to include technologies that would help parents block or filter their children's access to objectionable materials on computer networks.
The law makes clear the FCC has no authority to require use of blocking technology.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB