FCC Says ‘Not Yet’ to Rolling Back Cable Fees : Communications: The agency wants additional staff to start enforcing the new law. Rate freeze remains in effect.

Cable TV subscribers will have to wait a while longer for rates to go down. The Federal Communications Commission said Friday it is delaying enforcement of a new law.

Meanwhile, an FCC freeze on cable rates remains in effect until Oct. 1, agency Chairman James Quello said.

The law, passed last year, lets regulators control rates for basic cable TV service, defined as over-the-air broadcast channels and cable channels used by local governments, school boards and the public. Quello said both the agency and local cable companies need more time to meet the law’s requirements.

The FCC’s work has been complicated by short staffing and Congress’ refusal so far to approve the funds to hire the attorneys and accountants needed to enforce the law.

Consumers won’t see any reduction in rates before November and perhaps not even by then, Quello said.

He said that both Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), chairmen of the House and Senate committees that guided the law to passage, approved the delay.

But Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), whose Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications wrote the legislation, objected. He said much of the enforcement process is routine and that regulation could begin without adding to the FCC staff.

Hollings is seeking an additional $11.5 million for FCC staffing this fiscal year; the bill is pending in Congress.

For rate regulation to begin, each franchising authority must file papers with the FCC to show that the local cable operation is a monopoly. The law does not apply in the very few communities served by two or more cable companies or where similar systems compete.

After the FCC has certified the monopolies, local authorities will make sure the cable companies bring rates into line with a formula established by the agency.

The law also allows individual subscribers to complain to the FCC if they believe rates being charged for channels other than basic cable are excessive. And a cable company may file a complaint if it believes the new rate requirements would not allow it to cover operating costs.

Each complaint will require individual review by an FCC employee. There are about 10,000 cable TV operations in the United States and 57 million subscribers.