Senate OKs Deregulation of Some Cable : Telecom: Bill would also eliminate restrictions on station ownership. White House opposes measure.

The Senate approved a plan Friday that would immediately deregulate rates of small cable systems and eliminate restrictions on how many TV and radio stations one company can own.

The plan, which was attached to the Senate’s sweeping telecommunications reform bill, also includes provisions designed to protect cable customers from excessive rate increases. Passed on a 77-8 vote, the plan brings the measure more in line with a bill awaiting a vote in the House.

The legislation would have implications for every American who owns a phone or a television and would unleash multibillion-dollar telecommunications companies to get into new businesses.

A final vote on the Senate bill could occur as early as Tuesday evening, said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.).

The plan approved Friday merged an amendment offered by Dole and one written by the bill’s co-author, Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Under the provisions crafted by Dole, the plan would let a company own an unlimited number of TV stations but would keep a provision in the bill prohibiting those stations from reaching more than 35% of the national TV audience.

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Under existing law, one company may own no more than 12 stations, reaching up to 25% of the national audience.

The plan would also let one company own as many radio stations as it wanted. The current limit is 40. And it would immediately free small cable companies--those with fewer than 1% each of the nation’s 60 million cable customers--from rate regulation.

That would affect nearly 30% of all cable customers, according to the Clinton Administration.

While Dole’s provisions make the bill more deregulatory, Hollings’ and Daschle’s add some consumer protections. In addition to measures designed to keep cable rates from soaring, their provisions would considerably reduce the number of communities in which a local telephone and cable company could merge.

The Administration strongly opposes the Senate bill, saying it would lead to higher cable and telephone rates. The bill’s cable deregulation and merger provisions are particularly troublesome, it has said.