roundtable: H.R. 1555 breezes through House Subcommittee

roundtable: H.R. 1555 breezes through House Subcommittee

H.R. 1555 breezes through House Subcommittee

W. Curtiss Priest (BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu)
Thu, 18 May 95 09:02:13 EDT 

Message-Id: <9505181309.AA16740@a.cni.org>
Date:         Thu, 18 May 95 09:02:13 EDT
From: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
Subject:      H.R. 1555 breezes through House Subcommittee
To: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable <ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG>


May 18, 1995
CITS Observations on attached article:
W. Curtiss Priest

There appeared little to be little interest amongst members
of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Commerce to
listen to outside parties about H.R. 1555.

With a large majority vote of 24-5 approving it in its current
form -- we have a loud signal that further concerns, particularly
those from public interest groups are not being listened to.

The Cliff Stearns proposed amendment to lift restrictions on
cross-ownership will be delayed until next week when the full
Commerce Committee meets to consider the bill.

CITS has gone on record, with the Telecommunications Policy
Roundtable NE, as being opposed to cross-ownership, for the
reasons cited in the article below.

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****************************Advertisement********************************
Subscriptions to the Boston Globe can be received by calling 617-929-2000
****************************Advertisement********************************
MAY 18, 1995

House subcommittee OKs
telecommunications bill

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - A bill that would de-
regulate cable television rates and reform tele-
communications laws cleared a key House pan-
el yesterday.

But the House Commerce telecommunica-
tions subcommittee, which approved the bill
24-5, sidestepped considering two contentious
proposals: One would give cable customers
better protections against excessive rate in-
creases and another would substantially de-
regulate the TV and radio industries and re-
move decades-old restrictions on media cross-
ownership.

Instead, Reps. Edward Markey (D.-Mass.),
architect of the rate increase protection pro-
posal, and Cliff Stearns (R.-Fla.), author of the
broadcast deregulation package, agreed to
hold off on their amendments until next week
when the full Commerce Committee meets to
vote on the measure.

Between then, Markey and Stearns each
hope to work out a compromise to get their
provisions in the bill.

The measure approved by the subcommit-
tee would reform 61-year-old telecommunica-
tions laws, freeing cable, local and long-dis-
tance companies into each others' businesses.

"This is the beginning of the development
of landmark, historic, watershed legislation
that will propel us into the 21st century," said
Rep. Jack Fields (R-Texas), chairman of the
subcommittee. The legislation, he said, will
move the country "from an industrial society
to an information society."

A similar measure is awaiting a floor vote
in the Senate.

Markey, ranking Democrat on the subcom-
mittee, must win over some GOP members -
many of whom were against cable rate regula-
tion in 1992. Stearns needs to persuade Demo-
crats, who are worried that his proposal will
create local media giants that will have a
stranglehold on public opinion and editorial di-
versity.

Markey's amendment, among other things,
would permit cable rates at all but small sys-
tems to be deregulated only when another
competitor with "comparable video program-
ming" is authorized to compete against the lo-
cal cable company.

Under the current bill, small systems
would be deregulated immediately and larger
systems would be deregulated within 15
months after the bill's enactment - even if they
don't compete against another system.

Stearns' proposal would repeal national
limits on the number of TV and radio stations
one company can own and do away with host
of local cross-ownership restrictions.


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