FIRST OFF . . .

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration--a Commerce Department agency that oversees several telecommunications industries--reported Wednesday that the federal government should investigate ownership concentration in the cable television industry. In a report released Wednesday, the agency recommended that measures be taken to encourage other video sources to compete with cable, an industry where a few big companies decide what a majority of subscribers will see, according to the report. “Such lack of direct competition risks undermining diversity of program choices, and denies the public benefits . . . such as better quality service, lower prices and more choices,” the report commented. Cable TV is watched in more than 42 million homes, but concentration of ownership among the largest cable companies “has reached levels that warrant investigation, and perhaps action by the (Federal Communications Commission).” Replied Lynn McReynolds, a spokeswoman for the National Cable Television Assn.: “We don’t think it’s in the public’s best interest not to remove local government (as a regulator of cable franchises) from the process. If you remove that, you force the federal authorities to step in, and that may not be the best thing.”