Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 4, 1993 TAG: 9311050313
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV14 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Adelphia's franchise with Pulaski County expires this year, and the towns of Dublin and Pulaski have joined in negotiations with the cable company to see if uniform cable conditions can be set countywide.
But Pulaski Town Attorney Frank Terwilliger told members of council's Finance Committee on Wednesday that council had control only over basic rates - those governing the channels that viewers could get over the air without cable.
The intermediate tier of cable channels such as USA and CNN can be regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, he said, but not unless the FCC gets a request to do so on a complaint form. The governing body has no control at all over premium channels such as HBO or Pay-Per-View.
The FCC is re-evaluating all this, Terwilliger said, ``so the rules we talk about today may not be effective six months from now.''
It might be better to reach agreement in the franchise over rates rather than having the town govern them directly, he said.
``If you take over regulation, the only thing you're going to be regulating is basic rates and it may not be worth your trouble to do that,'' he said. ``It sounds great to say `We're going to jump on and regulate basic rates' but you may not have a whole lot of leeway on what you can regulate.''
New River Community College also has been involved in the negotiations with Adelphia. The college wants use of a public access channel, which the cable company is supposed to provide to the governing body giving the franchise.
Terwilliger pointed out that the town's franchise is nonexclusive. Council could grant franchises to other cable firms if they wanted to compete.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***