ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 11, 1997 TAG: 9702110072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Cox Communications Inc. wants the Federal Communications Commission to quit regulating its cable television rates in the Roanoke Valley.
Local governments oppose the request.
Cox says it has a competitor for cable TV customers in R&B Cable, a wireless cable television service in Daleville.
Under the year-old Telecommunications Act of 1996, the FCC can deregulate cable TV providers who face competition from local telephone companies. R&B Wireless, which began operation a year ago, is a subsidiary of R&B Communications Inc., parent of Roanoke & Botetourt Telephone Co.
If the FCC grants Cox's request, Cox will be able to raise its rates without waiting for FCC approval.
"We'll be able to run our business in a much more expedient manner," Cox spokeswoman Sharon Davies said Monday. As her company begins to face competitors such as R&B and direct broadcast satellites, it needs to be able to react quickly to the marketplace, Davies said.
She cited as an example Cox's most recent rate increase, which goes into effect March 1. The company began the legal process of raising the rates in November.
Cox will be able to raise its rates at will if the FCC grants its petition, but other regulations for customer service remain in effect.
Cox petitioned the FCC for deregulation in October. Cox argued that R&B Wireless meets the FCC's three-part test for a competitor: that R&B is a local phone company affiliate, that it offers video programming directly to subscribers and that its programming is comparable to what Cox offers its customers.
Roanoke, Roanoke County and Vinton - where Cox holds franchises - jointly opposed Cox's deregulation attempt in November. The three jurisdictions argued that Cox intends to significantly raise its rates after it is deregulated, and they will be powerless to protect cable subscribers.
Gary Tegenkamp, an assistant city attorney in Roanoke, said the governments are opposing Cox, in part, because not all of Cox's customers have a choice of cable TV company. R&B Cable's wireless service is carried by microwave signals from an antenna on Tinker Mountain and those valley residents who don't have a direct line of sight to the antenna can't get the service.
Tegenkamp said there was enough question about the effectiveness of R&B's competition with Cox to raise the issue with the FCC. If the local governments had not opposed Cox's petition, the FCC probably would approve it routinely, he said.
The three governments pointed out that R&B has said it would be satisfied to sign up 5,000 to 10,000 customers, only 5 percent to 10 percent of the cable customers in the Roanoke Valley. They said the 12 channels (now 21) that R&B was offering were not comparable in any way to the services offered by Cox.
The local governments told the commission that R&B Cable had signed up only 20 customers; but that figure was nearly a year old and Allen Layman, president of R&B Communications, said his cable company has signed up significantly more than that. However, he wouldn't say how many.
Cox's Davies said R&B has become a formidable competitor for commercial cable accounts in the valley such as those at motels. R&B, too, is under consideration for a contract to provide cable services to public housing in Roanoke.
Layman said he was not taking a position on Cox's efforts to shed federal price regulation. As a competitor, he said he has no problem with Cox wanting to be deregulated so it can raise its rates.
Morgan Broman, an FCC spokesman, said if the agency agrees that Cox has competition, then only its rates will be deregulated. Other regulations, such as those requiring hookups within seven days, service calls within 24 hours and minimum 30-day notices to customers of rate changes, will stay in place, he said.
Broman said Cox's expectation of a ruling from the FCC by May was reasonable.
So far, fewer than 50 cable television companies nationwide have filed FCC petitions for rate deregulation, Broman said. The most recent petition that was granted involved five communities in Michigan where Ameritech, a baby Bell telephone company, is building a video system.
A cable television company in Dover Township, N.J., was granted deregulation last year because of competition from Bell Atlantic, which has wired the community for interactive video services.
Bell Atlantic had announced plans to offer cable television and movies on demand in certain communities, including Roanoke. However, those plans are on hold as Bell Atlantic concentrates on entering the long-distance telephone business, said company spokesman Paul Miller.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Cable television competition. color. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB