Amended Cable Bill Seeks to Limit Controls

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators unveiled on Thursday an amended version of a cable re-regulation bill that would weaken tough new regulations proposed in the original bill.

The amended bill, which cable lobbyists claimed already has the support of about a third of the U.S. Senate, would blunt the ability of local communities to regulate cable TV rates and make it more difficult to launch services challenging cable’s monopoly.

The Senate is scheduled Monday to debate the original re-regulation bill that its sponsors hope will put controls on cable firms’ ability to raise subscription rates, which have more than doubled in many cities since the medium was deregulated in 1987.

The bill would also impose other new regulations on cable, ranging from customer service standards to mandating low-cost “basic” services with a minimum number of channels.

But the powerful broadcasting lobby in Washington succeeded in attaching provisions to the original bill that would force cable systems to pay for carrying local over-the-air TV signals. Cable system owners contend that such rules would drive up the cost of cable TV.

“The bottom line is the local cable operator is going to run to the City Council with their bill requesting a rate increase,” says Spencer R. Kaitz, president of the California Cable TV Assn. “They would decide whether people could see CBS or NBC.”

The amended bill retains these provisions, but deletes price controls on all but the most basic level of cable TV service.

Another major revision favorable to the cable industry in the alternative bill would keep rules in place that prevent popular networks such as ESPN or Cable News Network from being sold to new competing satellite or “wireless” cable services.

Nonetheless, despite the relief contained in the alternative proposal, cable industry officials say it still does not go far enough in reducing regulation.