03-23-1992 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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S 12 Passes 73-18 RUT AITFRNME MEASURE lANDS 35 mS By JEANNINE AVERSA H H H ASHINGTON — B V The cable industry BsBB suffered a blow Iasi ■■ Friday morning Bi when the Senate nissed S 12 in a 73-18 vote and re- tccted a less onerous, stripped- down alternative bill. In the end, the Senate adopted more than a dozen new amend ments to S 12. but key provisions in the bill, notably those covering ate regulation, program access and Mti-discrimination, and rctransmis- Hon consent remained intact. A less onerous alternative pockage that was being peddled by the cable industry, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans and IJk Bush administration was reject ed by the Senate in a 35-54 vote. Broadcasters were rejoicing over their self-proclaimed victory, while cable executives chose to fo cus instead on the silver lining they ■aw in the 35 vole.s the alternative mea.sure attracted. Those 35 volc.s, they concurred, dgnal that lawmakers in the House may be willing to consider a more moderate approach to cable re-reg ulation. But some cable executives pointed fingers of blame, noting IS a ,Ver 0 i I r ' -M-v ' I • f k . * s' that many key M.SO executives were not on the scene doing what they could to drum up more sup port for the allemalivc measure “For the majority of the M.SO executives to be on a boat in the Caribbean jon Home Box Office’s annual junket), shows y«’u how fat this industry has become,” said one MSO executive who did not want to be identified Fingers of blame aside, industry executives agreed that although ca ble had not defeated .S 12. it had gained ground in the battle. "The strength of the substitute means that our mission was ac complished and that we shall live to fight another day.” said James Mooney, president of the National Cable Television As.sociation. Moonev said that while it was unfortunate that the .Senate passed such an “extreme bill," which he called a "strange vision of con sumer protection.” he was more than plea.scd by the .strength of the votes for the substitute — 37 by the N(TA s head count. (Althcnigh 37 senators voted for the substitute, two votes were n<’t counted in the final tallv because they were paired with ottiei .alrscnt senators who voted no.) “This thing has a long way yet to go, including a potential veto, and it’s up to us to redouble our ef- Rate Rebate Bill Will Resurface we* -r ^ H ■ ASHINGTON — A provision that would allow ■lu (he Federal Communicatioitt Cotninission to order mm refunds to cable subscribers of overcharges when rates are deemed “unreasonable ” by the agency will be in cluded in a bill to reauthorize the PCC. • •• * Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) prepared to offer sudi an ameodnicnt to cable bill S 12 last Thursday. But Metzenbaum said he withdrew the item after learning that Senate communications subcommittee chairman Daniel !n- ouye (D-Hawaii), who oversees PCC leautborizatiooleg- isiation, will .stick the refund provision into the PCC budget bill. f-. f ■ • Under S 12. the PCC has the authprity to regulate rates beyond the basic service tier only if, after having received a complaint from a subscriber, the agency detenmnes the Tate to be “unreasonable." .. ’ The bill leaves it to the PCC to decide what constiunes an unreasonable rate. An FCC budget bill will be offered later tliis year. ■ , 1 ' ‘ ; : forts in the House to sec that the extreme bi does not prevail." Mooney reiterated Cable executives, in general, cchoc Mooney's outUxiV.. Falcon Cable TV chai man Marc Nathanson asserted. "If this b is not changed dramatically m the House . conference committee. White Hou.se sourc have assured me it will definitely be vetoed Nathanson added that "the Bush admini iralion, and I say this to you as a Demoer: understands the shallowness of this bill ai liiat it is not a con.sumer bill." John Hendricks, chairman of The Disco erv Channel, noted that S 12 came out committee w ith a 16-3 vote But of those senators, just 12 voted in favor of S 12' the floor Hendricks said that indicates th cable lobbyists have built at least some m mentum Many cable executives said that if S were to become law. new cable prograi ming services would be its first victi: "Revenues that otherwise would be spent cable programming and customer servi [ improvcmenia instead would be expend on broadcast retransmission fees and reg latory proceedings. ” said Robert Sachs, s nior vice president of corporate and legal. fairs for Continental Cablevision. Meanwhile. Wall Street analysts were i pushing the panic button over the passage S 12. "Thirtv-five votes means that the c 0 jcctivc was met, will signal to the Wh House that a veto of any bill rcsemblinj: 12 could be (sustained)/' said Bear. Stei tt Co analyst Ken Goldman “Any ultim. hill that gets enacted into law this year probably going to be a compromise.'" Rut Bob Schmidt, president of the Wir less Cable Association, w as not reading much into the tea leaves The 35 vole Schmid! says, are not cnocai to the real, fii issues 'I don't believe ilieir srrategy to b '^ter a \'*'hiie Hou^ that has thiratencd a vi of this IcLislatmn iropresse*' me. bccau<^ thinV *iu3fe 204! ov '-r realise thr mils a cnnMjm''r issue ’*