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DAVID CONNELL
As the Congressional session winds down, it appears that two bills relating to the cable industry may suffer different legislative fates as lawmakers attempt to attach the measures to appropriations bills.
AT&T's attempts to attach a rider to an appropriations bill that would amend the Federal Communications Commission's 30% ownership cap for cable operators will likely not pass this session, Hill staffers say, due to opposition from several senators, such as Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. AT&T was hoping to convince Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, to push the measure through the Senate.
Meanwhile, it appears a bill providing multichannel video operators who promise to deliver local signals to rural satellite TV subscribers with low-interest government guaranteed loans still has a shot at getting through the Hill over McCain's objections.
According to staffers and lobbyists following the bill, language drafted by House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, R-Texas, could come up in the House under a suspension calendar, which means it would need a two-thirds majority to pass.
It could then be brought up in the Senate under unanimous consent rules, which would mean just one Senator could scuttle the measure by putting a hold on the bill.
However, Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, said in a speech on the House floor that the Republican version of the rural loan legislation was different from a measure drafted by Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and John Dingell, D-Mich.
Still, those following the legislation are hopeful it will pass before the session is out.
"I would say there's a good chance it will pass, only because so many parties have been working hard on this," American Cable Association president Matt Polka says.
He adds that he is hopeful the loan guarantees would be extended to cable companies as well as satellite TV providers.
Although lawmakers' opinions on both measures appeared to be solidifying, Congress was still in session at press-time, and positions on the legislation could change, House staffers and lobbyists say.
Frost warns that the session could extend into the opening days of November.
Both the AT&T measure and the rural loan guarantee bill have caught the ire of McCain, who sent a blistering letter to Stevens expressing dismay that the bills could be passed without being brought before his committee for approval.
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