roundtable: White House Statement on Passage of S. 652

roundtable: White House Statement on Passage of S. 652

White House Statement on Passage of S. 652

DGARDNER@ntia.doc.gov
Fri, 16 Jun 1995 13:05:52 -0400 

Message-Id: <sfe18248.053@ntia.doc.gov>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 13:05:52 -0400
From: DGARDNER@ntia.doc.gov
To: roundtable@cni.org
Subject:  White House Statement on Passage of S. 652


TPR,

I just wanted to pass on to all of you the Administration's statement
released late last night on the passage of S. 652.  If you have any
questions about this, please give me a call at (202) 482-1835 or e-mail
me at dgardner@ntia.doc.gov.

Thanks,

David Gardner
NTIA/ Office of the Assistant Secretary


                                  THE WHITE HOUSE
                        OFFICE OF THE PRESS SECRETARY
 
__________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, June 15, 1995
CONTACT:     202-456-2580,  202-456-7035


      ADMINISTRATION STATEMENT ON SENATE PASSAGE OF S. 652
  
Although the Administration still has serious concerns that need to be
addressed, important improvements were made in S.652 on the Senate
floor.  The Administration commends the hard work of the Senate and its
leadership and looks forward to working with both houses of Congress
to produce pro-competitive and pro-consumer final legislation that will
bring greater choice and lower prices in communications for all
Americans.

Important improvements made to the committee-reported version include:

  .    a prohibition on mergers between cable companies and telephone
       companies in places with more than 50,000 residents and in all          
       urban areas.  Preventing mergers between cable and telephone        
       companies in urban and suburban communities is fundamental to       
       promoting broad competition in both these industries.

  .    some restraint on rate increases for cable programming received by
       most consumers.  Cable companies will have some limits on their
       ability to continuously raise their rates.

  .    further opening our markets to investments in U.S.
       telecommunications firms by foreign corporations while providing for
       the President to reject certain applications based on  national
       security concerns.

  .    requiring all new televisions to contain technology that will allow
       parents to block out programs with violent or objectionable content.

  .    a strong reaffirmation of the bill's provision to ensure that
       schools, hospitals and libraries have access to new, emerging
       telecommunications technologies.

Despite this progress, it is very important that the legislation be
improved further.  For instance, the provisions allowing waiver of the
cable-telco buyout provision are overly broad and the rural exemption is
too high, thereby precluding competition in some rural areas where
competition could be expected to develop.  In addition, the
Administration opposes deregulating cable rates on the date of
enactment in those markets where competition has not yet arrived and
supports meaningful protections for consumers served by monopoly
systems.  The foreign ownership provision does not provide authority to
grant most-favored nation status for telecommunications, which is
crucial to our success in multilateral negotiations.

There are other important areas where no improvements at all were
made by the Senate.  The Administration continues to have the following
serious concerns that need to be addressed:

  .    S. 652 does not continue any meaningful role for the Justice
       Department in safeguarding competition before local telephone
       companies are allowed to enter new markets.  If monopolies are
       unleashed under the wrong circumstances, competition will be          
       harmed.

  .    S. 652 allows dramatic concentration within the broadcast industry
       which could reduce the diversity of news and information available
       to the public.

Many steps remain in the process before the telecommunications
legislation can become law.  Although we are encouraged that some
progress has been made, more needs to be done to improve the
legislation so that it will truly promote competition, benefit consumers and
protect universal service.  The Administration will continue to take every
opportunity to work with Congress to make such improvements.  The
Administration's position on the final legislation will depend on the
extent to which the Administration's concerns have been addressed
satisfactorily during the course of the entire legislative process.

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