LOCAL CABLE COMPANIES WAITING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 2, 1993                   TAG: 9304020320
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Melanie Hatter Note: Above
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
LOCAL CABLE COMPANIES WAITING
Southwest Virginia cable companies are not commenting on Thursday's vote by the Federal Communications Commission to cut the price of basic cable television service by at least 10 percent until they can review the complete report.
"Until we see the rulings and have time to evaluate the content it would be premature to say anything more than that at this time, ' said Phil Ahlschlager, acting general manager of Cox Cable Roanoke.
Cable companies in Southwestern Virginia expected to get a complete report from their corporate headquarters by today.
The cable industry fought the cable act last year, but it was "something expected," Ahlschlager said. The best thing "is to work with the FCC." Anticipating the ruling, Cox changed its limited basic package last month.
Other companies made rate changes.
For example, on Feb. 1, Simmons Cable TV in Radford raised the monthly rate for its standard package $1.30 to $22.75 and reduced the price of its basic cable service from $18.95 to $10. Salem Cable TV Co. added a new limited basic package for $11.28 a month.
In the meantime, "it's really hard to speculate on anything right now," said Stacey Brown, office manager of Bedford Cable Vision Inc. Brown said her company will review its entire rate structure.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB