03-23-1992 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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.aDie's .attention Uflf J 1*0 IIOU 56 of implementing S 12. manuaiury cartlagc uu mi. i—i/**- uy oruaiJca.st service, saiu lorn CuoK. senior coun.sel to l/te 5c system or reuaiismission consent, Commerce Committee. wliercby broadcasters and opera- 3^^ Howard Met/enbaum (D-Ohio) successfully ofTcred a tors would negotiate the terms for amendment making clear that nothing in S 12 alters the applicabilit carriage. of federal and state antitrust laws. Interestingly, of the 35 senators amendment from .Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.) calls on tl who voted for an alternative pro- Communicaijons Commi.ssion to study the economic impa Ore.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) an Sens. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and Dennis DeConcini ’s (1 John Kerry (D-Mass.), 18 tume amendment expre.sses the sense of Uic Senate that TV ne around and voted for S 12 on ina producers should increase their activity to monitor ar passage. remove offensive sexual material from theu broadcast programmin PAHADE OF AMENDMENTS amendment from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) expresses tl Senators used the opportunity to 5;^ase of the Senate that cable, TV networks and local stations shou' toss in pet amendments, many of j;rcatc and follow voluntary guidelines to keep commercials depic which may not make it past a jj^g qj. jj^rcats of violence out of family pmgramming hours House-Senate Conference Cora- Another, offered by Wyche Fowler (D-Ga.), empowers cable o| mitlee. In all, 20 arnendments were orators to prohibit programming of sexually explicit or unlawful cot attached to S 12. They pertam to everytnuig other amendments dealing with sexually explicit prograr from sexually explicit programming to e were offered by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) carriage of home shopping networks. curvpDiMr rriNiri in' As expected, S 12’s controversial re- HOME SHOPPING CONFLICT transmission consent provisions were ThclongestdcbatcovcranamcndmcnUothcrthantheaitcmau- changed through a set of technical amend- bill, was over home shopping stations merits so superstations (in operation May 1, Sen. Bob Graham (D-Ra.), whose stale is the headquarters f 1991) that are retransmitted by satellite car- Home Shopping Network, offered an amendment that m practi nets or cable operators arc exempt. takes away llexibiUty given to cable operators in an amendment fro Also exempt is the retransmission of net- Sen. John Breaux (D-La.). work programming when it is delivered to Breaux’s amendment doesn ’t force operators to carry home sho an area that would be otherwise unscrved ping stations as part of their mandatory carnage obligauons und the bill. Graham’s states that home shopping stations that meet I FCC’s public-interest obligations arc entitled to must-carry stati By licensing home shopping stations, the FCC has already dett mined that these stations meet public-interest obligations. So taki; into account Graliam’s amendment, operators would then have carry home shopping stations. Sen. Daniel Inouyc (D-Hawaii) offered amendments to give l FCC authority to ensure that retransmission consent doesn ’t ”u reasonably ” raise rates and to encourage the carriage of minority pi gramming. Concerned that anyone with a phone number and address can j infomiaiion on someone clse’s account, Sen. Slade Gorton ( Wash ) offered an amendment that would require operators to gi subscribers personal identification numbers to access accounts a to safeguard their privacy. Gorton also offered one amendment that expands the 1984 Cal Act's rural exemption to let telephone companies automatically bu cable systems in areas where there is a population of 10,000 pco] or less and another to prohibit cities from issuing exclusive fianch lyJEANNlNEAVERSA I jm H ASHINGTON - As IM the spotlight on cable IIV ■ legislation shifts to the II ■■ House, lobbyists on ail IB WK sides of the re-regula- M isue, from cable to broadcast to groups will be reassessing id readjusting their strategies. Just the sheer number of lawmak- S — 43S — lobbyists need to reach i the lower chamber makes for a inning task. That combined with the ouse's different constiiut.icics — picsentatives serve districts, not en- re sates like their Senate colleagues > may pose different political chal- nges. IIm action in the House, though, riB begin in the 2S-member telecom- imkations subcommittee, whose ’udrman. Rep. Edward Markey Mass.), has said he would like to begin „vancing a cable bill in the next month. At this point, it is unclear whether the jkMK wiU seek to move a more moderate ^ bill than S 12 or one just as tough. "No ecisions have been made on a date [for urkup] or on the substance” of the bill, ex- lained Larry Irving, chief counsel to the decJinmunications subcommittee. Irving aid Markey will be ulking to Democrats, lapublicans and Commerce Committee lairman Joh^ Dingcll (D-Mich.) to make Mae decisions. Two bills are pending in the House: one authored by Markey, which is considered iaia harsh than S 12, and another by Reps. Eckait (D-Ohio) and Tun d>- Tcnn.), which is more in line with S 12. Opinions on cable’s fate in the House are ■ised. Some feel cable has better relation- Wm there with individual membeis, and. __. t • ^ Ehe House ’s bills historically have been less I? of lainorty pr^rqmmni ; restrictive than the Senate. • Pmybib rngothf-optioh iiiariiiting ' ' But there are otherobstacles in the House. 1 - ... Republicans, who prefer competitive ap proaches to handling consumers ’ complains »v«r cable rates and service, have largely Mated signing onto peiiding cable legisla- ion ’s. That's not the case in the Senate, where OOP wettt along with S 12. The key for ilarkey is to tiy to fashion a bill that Re- UbUcans can accept. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) has talked to UtAty tdxMt putting some sort of ieiq>hone any provisions into a bill, but Markey has 01 showed his hand. The Senate-passed S 12 would, among thcr things, allow for rate regulation be yond the basic tier, restrict exclu- SI AWjEllDMttlTS * -i- - ^ •• • hsiribib rngothf-optioh siorkiting • SAfar^ suiaa^ privacy • bpoadsnirdaxamptXM • fraUiibdtefnm issuing nduavefrondibe ^ finnib sparakirs to Remfajs hnehisa fw1nl olW msb jH! cs. Sen. Ttzni Lott ’s (R-Miss.) amcmlmcnl aUows operators to item franchise fees, taxes and other regulatory costs on subscribers’ hh Cable groups have said that 5>cn. Patrick Leahy ’s (D-Vt) amei mcnl could cost the industry millions of dollars in new ^uipme The amendment requires cable operators to provide notice and c tions to consumers regarding the use of converter boxes and rem< controls and to assure compatibility between cable systems and a sumer electronics. ■ # • latfiim operoion to provkk^n^ ammfigQrifaig boxts and ramotKonlrd tbricef^^ • dm operoton fluibily k ofrytog horn dt • •OmPCCfiAi^lbiasyfit^ Tdin may tte fkxib^lBhcl proab ifie KC to deteniiM.' lhi must^cniry status of hotm shopping stations • Requiras operators to notify substrihers about unsoIicitM ^ \ #1 I * •• toquns DBS systwre to Sit ashh 4-7 percent of tostnidi^ ond educottonoi progroimning • flor&sSI^sOBSproyisiom • Riquns dosHi (Optioning nothing to Sl?ahers or resfrim^ - iappfaih^ofonlilnrtl^ .i *• it^ir« the KC to study the economic 'mpoct of S12 ’ the CDoioge of sexuoBy expTirit molcriol w PtG j octtss (honnels ;; *■.• ■ ~ r- ..»«.<* «• I •