Hold that cable

With the exception of a plateau between 1993 and ’95, a chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows cable television rates rising at a 45 degree angle for the last 15 years, far beyond the rate of inflation and undaunted by the supposed restraints brought by the last three years of rules under the Telecommunications Act. Now with the cable industry about to become deregulated, previous rate increases could look downright restrained compared with what is coming next.

The increases in cable rates are an example of Congress listening to lobbyists rather than customers and could result in what Sen. John McCain called, “the worse of all possible worlds, which is an unregulated monopoly.” It did not need to be this way. Rates had started to stabilize in the early ’90s after Congress had heard enough horror stories of high prices and lousy service and imposed broad regulation on the industry. The reform was the only bill ever enacted over the veto of President George Bush.

Unfortunately, it did not last long. The Telecom Act, assembled in 1995, was a lobbyist’s dream — full of loopholes so complicated that an industry could benefit for years without the public figuring out who was responsible for the mess. But despite the density of the legislation, its outcome was simple enough. The Telecom Act was supposed to dampen rates. It didn’t. It was supposed to bring competition. It didn’t. It was supposed to tie rate increases to improved channel choices. It didn’t, unless you count seeing your neighbors on the local access channel an improvement.

All of this is scheduled to get worse after March 31, the date that marks the end of the three-year waiting period under the Telecom Act. Now what?

Potential relief. A small number lawmakers have figured out they had been blinded by the promise of shiny new technology. Sen. McCain, for instance, is a lead sponsor of a bill that would allow satellite broadcasters to compete more effectively against cable, bringing more of the competition that was promised three years ago.

That’s a start. Better, however, would be for Congress to admit it did not know as much as it thought it did and reconsider the Telecom Act in its entirety. First order of business would be to extend the March 31 deadline — for six months, eight months or however long Congress feels is necessary to get a handle on what it has done.

This will, of course, enrage cable lobbyists and threaten to reduce their very generous campaign contributions. Better to have them angry, however, than millions of cable subscribers who may start calling their delegations once the new unregulated rates begin this spring.