MISSION VIEJO : City Seeks Control of Basic Cable Rates

Seeking to control cable rate hikes, city officials have applied to the Federal Communications Commission for authorization to regulate basic cable fees.

They also have filed a complaint with the FCC on behalf of Mission Viejo cable subscribers, which will trigger a federal review of fees for cable channel packages known as “tiered programming” provided by Dimension Cable.

Under tiered programming, cable companies sell groups of channels such as ESPN and Discovery. City officials and some subscribers say Dimension charges too much for its cable packages.

“Dimension Cable has provided excellent service and a wide variety of programming--we have no complaint with that,” said Mayor Robert D. Breton. “But they also have a virtual monopoly” on setting rates.

The opportunity to have a voice in cable rate hikes was provided by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. The federal law allows cities to apply for certification as rate regulation authorities.

The act also allows the FCC to review and possibly change what cable firms charge for tiered programming if consumers file a formal complaint.

City officials said they decided to file a complaint on behalf of all subscribers in the city after complaint forms sent by individuals were recently rejected by the FCC for being incomplete.

Owned by the Times Mirror Co., which also owns The Times, Dimension Cable serves most of South County.

Dimension General Manager Leo Brennan said Mission Viejo’s action made sense from the city’s point of view.

“The bottom line is the (1992 Cable Act) allows governments to certify basic cable rates,” Brennan said. “It’s a sort of check-and-balance system where the franchise authorities (generally cities) want to make sure rates being charged are justified.”