THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 19, 1995 TAG: 9506170016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Congress is drafting legislation to deregulate the exploding world of telecommunications. Action is overdue. Once consumers had few TV stations to choose from and only one cable or phone supplier. In an environment tending toward monopoly, consumers may have needed protection. But those days are long gone and with them the need for burdensome regulation.
Now, local and long-distance phone companies are scrambling to invade each other's markets. They are vying to compete with cable companies that face new challenges from satellite dishes. Utilities may also seek to deliver data to homes and businesses.
A bill to get the government out of the way of these revolutionary developments occupied the Senate for most of last week. The House version comes next. A final bill ought to aim at giving consumers as much choice as possible and at permitting as many competitors as possible to enter a marketplace with a level playing field.
That means reducing barriers to entry in the cable, telephone and video markets. Limits on how many TV and radio stations companies may own are anachronistic and should be lifted. There's no evidence the government knows best when it comes to an evolving world characterized by the merging of phone, television and computer technologies. It can contribute most by regulating less. by CNB