Proposed Cable Rule Will Have Little Impact in NYS

Oct 30, 06:27 AM

Current Headlines: By Keiko Morris, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Oct. 30--The Federal Communications Commission will consider a proposal to ban exclusive cable television contracts with apartment buildings, a change likely to have little impact in New York State because of existing laws prohibiting such agreements.

But proponents of the new rule said it will increase competition nationally and lower rising cable rates.

FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin has noted in speeches that cable rates have risen 93 percent from 1995 to 2005, while the cost of other communication services has dropped. He has also pointed out that the General Accounting Office and the commission's most recent cable price survey found that prices decrease by almost 20 percent when cable operators have a direct competitor.

"If the other commissioners vote for this order, minorities in particular would benefit," Martin said earlier this month at a media and telecommunications symposium sponsored by Rainbow Push Coalition and the Citizen Education Fund. "That is because a greater percentage of minority-headed households live in apartment buildings."

The change would benefit consumers, according to consumer advocates, as well as companies like Verizon Communications and AT&T, which have made aggressive pushes into markets once dominated by the traditional cable television companies.

"Why shouldn't people who live in apartments and condos have the same choices as everyone else?" asked David Fish, a Verizon spokesman. "And why should any company be able to block those choices?"

But New York State law prohibits such exclusive contracts, according to cable operators and a spokesman for the state Public Service Commission. Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella said the company did not have any such exclusive agreements. Most of Time Warner Cable's customers would be unaffected, but the company doen't feel regulation is needed, said spokesman Alex Dudley.

"Competition is already alive and well in the telecommunications industry," he added.

The National Communications and Telecommunications Association has come out against the proposed ban on exclusive agreements, arguing that the contracts allow building managers to negotiate between multiple providers for the best array of services and benefits.

But consumer groups such as the Consumers Union are pushing for the change. "The cable marketplace is one where we've seen a 93 percent increase in monthly cable rates in 10 years and that's because cable companies have enjoyed regional fiefdoms where they are the only game in town," said Joel Kelsey, a spokesman for the Consumers Union. "This rule is about giving consumer's choice."

-----

To see more of Newsday, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsday.com

Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:VZ, NYSE:T, NYSE:CVC, NYSE:TWX,