Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 16, 1995 TAG: 9506160066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The bill, approved 81-18, would let telephone, long-distance and cable companies get into each other's businesses and free the largest electric utilities to provide an array of telecommunications services.
Sens. Charles Robb, D-Va., and John Warner, R-Va., both voted in favor of the bill.
Sen. Larry Pressler, R-S.D., author of the legislation, predicted it would ``result in lower telephone rates, lower cable rates and more services to the American public.''
The bill would deregulate cable rates and would impose the most sweeping provisions ever to ban smut on computer services. It also would offer people a powerful technological tool to stop violent and other objectionable programs from appearing on their television screens.
The measure would lift long-standing limits on how many TV and radio stations one company may own and would remove an 83-year-old restriction on foreign ownership of telecommunications companies as long other countries remove theirs.
The Clinton administration has serious concerns about the bill, although it said Thursday that there had been some improvements, including the provision that would help parents and others block violent shows from their television sets.
``More needs to be done to improve the legislation so that it will truly promote competition, benefit consumers and protect universal [telephone] service,'' the White House said in a statement.
The administration is worried that the bill could reduce ``diversity of news and information available to the public'' and that it does not adequately protect cable customers, particularly those of small systems.
Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who led the opposition to the bill, said: ``Ultimately, this bill is about power. The bottom line is that in this bill, corporations have it and consumers don't.''
Before voting on final passage, the Senate considered a number of amendments.
One, sponsored by Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., and supported by the Clinton administration, would have replaced a provision in the bill that lets a company own as many radio stations as its wants with a provision limiting ownership to 50 AM stations and 50 FM stations. It was defeated, 64-34.
Another amendment by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., also backed by the administration, would have provided consumers stronger protections against excessive increases in cable rates than they have under the bill. It, too, was defeated, 67-31.
The House has its own telecommunications bill awaiting floor action.
Under the Senate bill, big telecommunications companies would be able to vastly expand their power and wealth. Supporters say consumers will benefit from all the new competition, which, theoretically, should lower telephone and cable prices and spur innovation and new services.
``America's telephone customers and television viewers are the big winners,'' insisted Pressler.
Consumer advocates disagreed.
But Gene Kimmelman, co-director of the Consumers Union, said: ``This bill is fundamentally anti-consumer. It will drive up prices.''
He and other opponents worry that during the years it will take for robust competition to develop, consumers will be vulnerable to big rate increases.
by CNB