Bill Deregulating TV Will Go To Vote

House GOP leaders intend to bring a broad bill deregulating the telecommunications industry to a vote today without changes sought by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.

“I am delighted to announced that the logjam … has now been broken,” Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Va., one of the bill’s primary authors, said Wednesday, adding the bill will move forward “without significant changes.”

Sen. Larry Pressler, R-S.D., another of the bill’s primary authors, said Pressler said the bill would not be rewritten to change a provision opposed by Dole, which would give TV broadcasters free use of extra channels they’ll need to provide higher-quality digital television. Dole has been blocking the bill because of that provision.

Instead, Pressler said he promised Dole he would hold hearings on whether broadcasters should be required to buy the channels and address this in a separate bill.

Pressler also said he would urge the Federal Communications Commission not to issue the extra channels to broadcasters until Congress decides whether they should be auctioned or allocated some other way.

The bill would let local and long-distance telephone companies and cable companies into each others’ businesses, deregulate cable rates and restrict smutty materials on computer networks and on television. It also would make it easier for media companies to expand.

Dole has called the digital TV provision now in the bill “corporate welfare” and a huge giveaway to the TV industry. If the channels were auctioned, they could bring anywhere from $11 billion to $70 billion, according to government estimates.