House OKs Bill to Tighten Cable TV Regulations : Legislation: The OMB is recommending that Bush veto the measure. The Senate passed its own version in January.

The House, responding to consumer complaints about rising cable television rates, approved legislation Thursday to bring the industry under tighter government control.

The bill, passed 340 to 73, requires that companies offer basic service under a price formula set by the Federal Communications Commission. It establishes the package of channel offerings cable companies must provide consumers under basic service and sets standards for quality of service.

The Bush Administration’s Office of Management and Budget is recommending that the President veto the bill, but supporters of the measure, sensing strong consumer support nationwide, were undeterred.

“We will put a cable bill on the President’s desk,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who sponsored the legislation.

He noted the sizable number of Republicans who voted for the bill and said members of Congress “don’t want to be put in an ideological straitjacket on this.”

The margin by which the bill passed is well beyond the two-thirds necessary to override a veto.

The Senate voted 73 to 18 in January to re-regulate the cable industry until there is more effective competition and the two bills will have to be reconciled by a conference committee.

The Administration supported a bill offered by Rep. Norman F. Lent (R-N.Y.) that would have required regulation of basic cable service, with a definition of “basic” that was much less expansive than the version that won final passage by the House.

Lent’s bill, which was defeated 266 to 144, also would not have permitted the FCC to act against cable systems that charge unreasonable or abusive rates for programming beyond basic service, as would the Democratic version that prevailed.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers said during debate that the best solution to rising cable rates is competition.

In an effort to foster that competition, the House passed an amendment 338 to -68 offered by Rep. W.J. (Billy) Tauzin (D-La.) that prevents cable-affiliated programmers from denying programs to cable’s competitors.

The chief competitor to cable, though now serving only about 400,000 subscribers, are members of the United States Interactive and Microwave Television Assn.

The industry, which transmits programming to a small antenna on the homeowner’s roof from a receiving tower linked to a satellite, has complained that it has not been able to grow because it does not have easy access to the cable programming that people expect to see on television, like CNN and ESPN.

The House put off for now resolution of other major industry disputes that could ultimately affect programming.

In particular, a provision that would require cable companies to negotiate with broadcast stations before carrying over-the-air programming was not debated.

Broadcasters, who provide the shows viewers watch most often, say they need this provision to continue to compete effectively with the cable industry, which has been relaying broadcast programming for free.

The provision is contained in the Senate-passed version of the bill and will be one of the things the conferees will have to resolve.