Stand Firm on Cable Rates

Back in the B.C. era--before cable--television brought the nation Lily Tomlin’s obnoxious telephone operator, sneering, “We’re the phone company. We don’t care--we don’t have to.”

But it took a cable TV company to bring that attitude right into the living rooms of thousands of Ventura customers.

A quick rerun:

Beginning last fall, as Ventura began considering whether to renew Century Communications’ 15-year franchise to provide cable television, the company ignored three letters from the city to file Federal Communications Commission forms justifying its rates--the highest in Ventura County.

Instead, the company announced in March that it would raise rates by 6%--and filed a petition with the FCC challenging the city’s authority to question its rates.

The City Council soon ordered Century to scale back its basic rates, after an analysis by city-hired consultants concluded that for months Century had been significantly overcharging. After filing an appeal, Century promised to comply with the ordered rollback and to begin monthly refunds to make up for past overcharging.

Then, last week, the company struck again. It announced plans to raise its premium rates by as much as 453% beginning Aug. 1.

Although federal law prevents the city from regulating rates charged for premium channels, the city can appeal this hike too if any of the 15,800 Century subscribers in Ventura complain. Dozens of them promptly did.

For years, subscribers have been complaining that Century is an unresponsive corporate giant operating with no competition that offers poor service and bloated rates, charges that the company has repeatedly denied. Yet other cities have challenged Century’s lofty rates--and won. Last fall the FCC ordered Century to refund nearly $4.6 million it overcharged 177,000 subscribers in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Santa Monica and West Hollywood.

With all the challenges vying for the time and money of Ventura city officials, it’s a shame public resources have to be expended on this. But Congress has given cities the authority to monitor cable rates, and Ventura officials are to be commended for standing firm.