NEW CABLE-TV RULES WILL TAKE EFFECT JULY 1

Although parts of last year's cable TV law still are under dispute, several new customer service rules will take effect July 1.

But Roger Harms, manager of TCI Cablevision of Missouri's Cape Girardeau and Jackson offices, said the new regulations won't affect local cable TV service.

One of the rules requires that cable TV companies answer customer calls within 30 seconds, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

"We're already in compliance with that," Harms said. "Of course, during power outages you can't do it, but we answer the telephone within four rings more than 90 percent of the time. We've been monitoring that the last two years."

But speedy telephone response is only one of several customer service rules that will bring cable television back under federal control. The FCC is phasing in the rules as required last year by Congress.

The FCC also ordered that customers be allowed to buy premium channels like HBO or Showtime without purchasing tiers of service beyond the lowest price package.

That rule goes into effect in July for cable companies such as TCI, which has the technology to send programs individually to customers. Other companies have 10 years to phase in this so-called buy-through requirement, the FCC said.

Harms said that since the first of the month TCI has realigned its channels to enable customers of the company's basic tier of programming to subscribe for premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, the Disney Channel, Cinemax and other ancillary services.

Despite TCI's apparent compliance with many of the new rules, the most contentious issues the FCC's "must-carry" and "retransmission rights" provisions apparently are yet to be resolved.

Under the law, cable companies don't have an automatic right to broadcast signals but must reserve at least one-third of their channels for use by the broadcasters.

The cable industry is challenging those provisions in federal court in Washington. The FCC, however, is going ahead with its rule-making and has spelled out conditions for the talks that must take place to implement the two sections.

Harms said the law now is being "hotly contested" in the courts with the cable industry claiming its First Amendment rights would be violated by the provisions.

The law essentially requires cable TV companies to carry and retransmit the signal of qualified broadcast stations in the area.

Harms said the broadcast stations also can negotiate with cable companies to have them pay for retransmitting the broadcast signal.

"If they ask for retransmission consent, I don't have to carry their signal, but I have to pay for it," he said. "I feel like we're doing them a service already. When they start charging for the signals somebody's going to have to pay them for that and usually it's the customers.

"The airwaves are provided to broadcasters free by the public, and I don't think it's fair that cable companies should have to pay to retransmit those signals."

Harms said the situation is a "no-win proposition" if local broadcast stations press the issue. He said if cable TV companies agree to pay for the signals and pass those costs to customers, it could force some subscribers to drop cable TV service. And, if the company elects to pay but not broadcast a signal, it also runs the risk of losing customers.

Harms said cable TV customers would most benefit from legitimate competition.

"Competition is the best factor in anything, and that's the way it's headed," he said. "We're going to be competing against every type of entertainment there is.

"But we need a level playing field, and with regulation you don't always have that. Any time you have new regulations you have to administrate that at a cost and that usually goes back to the customers."

Harms said he hoped retransmission rights wouldn't be an issue in the Cape Girardeau area.

"I like to think I've got a good working relationship with the broadcast stations in this area," he said. "I hope it doesn't change drastically and that we can work together, and they're not going to charge me for carrying their channels.

"I feel we're doing them a service by carrying their signal and giving them a wider area of coverage."

Other customer service standards cable companies must follow include:

Operation of a local, toll-free or collect-call telephone-access line 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Calls must be answered within 30 seconds and a caller should receive a busy signal no more than 3 percent of the time. Harms said TCI contracts with a local answering service during non-business hours.

Customer service and bill-payment locations must be open during normal business hours and conveniently located. TCI has drop boxes at local supermarkets, and its office is open from 8 to 6 daily.

Installations must be within seven days of an order.

Customers must be notified of changes in rates, programming or channel positions at least 30 days before the change.

Bills must be clear, concise and understandable, and refund checks must be issued promptly.

"We've been doing these things for several years, although some of these pertain to a lot of companies that may not have been doing them," Harms said.

"But a lot of these things were instituted based on the recommendations the cable industry gave the FCC for rules that we felt were reasonable to live by."

TCI provides cable TV service in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Its franchise agreement in Cape Girardeau expired in December, and the city council granted a six-month extension while franchise negotiations continue.

(Some information for this article was provided by the Associated Press.)