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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DiViT who wrote (28111)	1/14/1998 11:03:00 PM
From: CPAMarty	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Cable TV Firms Still Face Little Competition, FCC Says washingtonpost.com By Paul Farhi Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 14, 1998; Page D11 Despite federal deregulation, cable TV companies still face little direct competition, according to a government study released yesterday. The report led the top federal cable regulator to renew calls for new regulations. In an annual report to Congress on the state of video competition, the Federal Communications Commission said cable companies hold 87 percent of the market for subscription-based TV services, down from 89 percent of all subscribers last year. The rate of decline is about the same as it was before Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in an effort to spur competition. Satellite TV companies have gained more than 5 million subscribers in recent years, but their growth is slowing, the FCC found, and other competitors -- such as telephone companies and microwave-TV firms -- have been slow to develop. Meanwhile, cable rates on average have risen 8.5 percent in the past year, compared with the general inflation rate of 1.7 percent. "The loser is the American public," said William E. Kennard, the FCC's chairman. "They must pay the higher cable prices yet they have few competitive choices." Kennard again said the FCC should explore "targeted adjustments" of its cable price regulations, although he ruled out a blanket freeze on rates, a step suggested by consumer groups. Kennard questioned FCC rules that allow cable companies to pass on their increased costs of programming, noting that cable companies have several sources of income, including advertising, to offset those costs. Congress has mandated an end to the FCC's price regulations in March 1999, indicating that anything the FCC does to re-regulated rates will be short-lived. "What everyone needs to remember is that the cost of programming is just one factor" in price increases, said Torie Clarke, a spokeswoman for the National Cable Television Association. A major factor in the price spiral, she said, is the cost of upgrading cable systems to carry more programming and new electronic services. c Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company