SOME CITIES CRITICAL OF FCC CABLE RULING

Many cities and consumer groups are critical of a new Federal Communications Commission ruling that will allow some local governments to regulate cable television prices.

Cape Girardeau officials have called the new cable TV rules "encouraging" because they will allow the city to regulate basic cable subscription rates.

Cable systems are exempt from the rate regulation if they compete with at least six over-the-air TV stations or with multichannel video service such as wireless cable TV or satellite services. Cable service for 60 to 70 percent of all cable subscribers does not fall under the new FCC rules.

Cape Girardeau City Attorney Warren Wells provided articles critical of the FCC rules Monday to the city's Cable TV Citizens Committee. Wells is the city's liaison to the committee.

The June issue of the Municipal Attorney's Newsletter reported that although the rule will apply to a majority of cable systems, only a "third or less" of the nation's cable subscribers will be affected because large cities generally will escape rate regulation.

The new regulation will be muted further because it will apply only to rates charged for basic service, which generally excludes popular cable channels such as CNN and ESPN.

Also, companies subject to regulations will be allowed to increase rates by as much as 5 percent annually without approval of municipal authorities.

The National League of Cities, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Administrators, and the Consumer Federation of America all have denounced the FCC ruling as "weak and ineffective," said the June 17 Nation's Cities Weekly.

The National League of Cities reportedly was "dismayed" at the FCC ruling because it will not protect the majority of citizens from "arbitrary and unchallenged rate increases."

U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth of Missouri, who sponsored a bill earlier this year that would allow municipalities to have some regulatory authority over non-competing cable systems, also released a statement last week that opposed the FCC ruling.

"Cable rates must be held in check either through regulation or real competition," the statement said. "Real competition is the presence of another multichannel provider. It is just that simple.

"The availability of broadcast signals is not `effective' competition. That is why nearly 60 percent of all American households subscribe to cable and why they spend $13.5 billion per year on cable subscriptions instead of merely watching free TV. The FCC's action today does not adequately protect the consumer."

Wells has said he would welcome any re-regulation of the cable TV industry. The FCC decision will overhaul the rules under which about 97 percent of the nation's 9,600 cable systems had been exempt from rate regulation.

Under the 1984 Cable Act, cable systems were exempt from local price regulation, beginning in 1987, if they were found to have "effective competition" as determined by the FCC. In the 1984 act, the FCC defined effective competition as three broadcast stations in a cable system's market.

But consumer groups and city officials nationwide have since complained about rapidly increasing cable fees and have called for a return to rate regulation.

Wells said Monday he has yet to see a copy of the ruling and is uncertain as to the extent or regulatory powers the rules will give the city over TCI Cablevision of Missouri Inc., the local cable TV system.

The city attorney has called the cable company an "unregulated monopoly."

Wells said the FCC ruling could have an impact regarding the drafting of any new cable TV franchise agreement. The current agreement with the cable operator expires in December 1992.

The Cable TV Citizens Committee is gathering information to recommend whether the franchise should be renewed.

Roger Harms, manager of TCI's Cape Girardeau and Jackson offices, has maintained that rate regulation is a bad idea because it would limit customer service and programming quality.