Oxnard Plans to Regulate Local Cable TV Provider : Government: A 1992 law allows cities to influence rates and service. Officials aim to improve programming and guarantee fair prices from Jones Intercable.

Preparing for a freeze on cable television rates to end in November, the Oxnard City Council today will consider taking the first step to regulate the city’s cable TV operator under a new federal law.

City officials said they are interested in obtaining regulatory powers to improve local programming and guarantee fair prices from Jones Intercable, which serves 35,500 households in the city.

“The bottom line is that the programming will be more responsive to the community,” Mayor Manuel Lopez said Monday.

An official with Jones Intercable said local regulation should have little effect on the company’s prices or service in the short run, but could delay future improvements.

“Our rates should fall right in the middle of the benchmark,” said Steve Naber, the company’s business manager.

But other provisions of the 1992 Cable Act will have a significant impact on the company’s fees for additional outlets in the same household, remote-control units and other equipment, he said.

Naber said the cap on overall rates could make it more difficult for cable companies to obtain the cash they need to pay for improvements. That could delay the acquisition of digital compression technology, which would expand the number of channels from the current 56 to as many as 250, he said.

The power of cities to regulate local cable rates was part of a wide-ranging cable reform bill Congress approved in October over the veto of President George Bush. Supporters said the law was sorely needed because some cable companies, many of them with local monopolies, engaged in price gouging after Congress deregulated the industry.

Under terms of the complex legislation, the Federal Communications Commission is in the process of establishing a fair price for basic cable service, based on a national survey of cable operators.

Oxnard and other Ventura County cities have until Oct. 1 to apply for regulatory control over cable franchises. The council is expected to vote tonight on whether to prepare an application.

After assuming regulatory authority, cities will have the power to roll back cable rates to October, 1992, levels if they are above a benchmark set by the U.S. government. If rates are still above the benchmark, cities could order a cable operator to roll back its rates by another 10%. Future rate hikes would be tied to increases in consumer prices.

Under the new law, Oxnard would have the authority to regulate charges only for the lowest tier of service, the $14.75 a month Jones charges for “limited basic service,” with 23 channels.

The FCC, in turn, intends to apply a comparable per-channel rate to higher-tier program packages as well. Higher-tier packages include the basic channels plus specialty channels for sports, news, religious programming, music and other interests.

Such premium channels as HBO, Showtime and pay-per-view programming will remain unregulated under the new rules.

Dennis Scala, an analyst in the Oxnard city manager’s office, said the city has received few complaints from residents in recent years about Jones’ prices or service. “Their service has been good, and any complaints we relayed, they have responded to immediately,” Scala said.

Despite the lack of recent problems with the company, Lopez said residents still want to pursue local regulatory powers.

“People in general want as much local control over cable television rates as possible,” Lopez said.

And with Oxnard negotiating with Jones Intercable directly over rates and service, Lopez predicted that the city’s influence will lead to better programming from a franchise eager to cooperate.

“We will have more input to the local franchise,” Lopez said.