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Rates beyond basic
cable unregulated

Question: I have digital cable service, which costs approximately $500 per year. When I called Oceanic to inquire about HDTV broadcasts for my new television, I was told I must purchase an HBO and Showtime Package at $9.95 a month plus tax (another $124 per year added to my bill) to be eligible for an HDTV cable box. Does it cost more for Oceanic to provide HDTV broadcasts to their customers and, if not, where do we write to complain?

Answer: You might try complaining to the Federal Communications Commission, but it's unlikely anything will come of it.

Oceanic, and any other cable TV operator, can charge what it wants for services like HDTV -- no matter what it costs them -- and it's up to consumers to decide whether they're willing to pay for those services, according to an official with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' Cable Television Division.

That's because the federal government deregulated cable rates above basic service levels in March 1999.

"Rate regulation is not our basic activity," the official explained.

After deregulation the federal government allowed a cable franchising authority, like the State of Hawaii, to regulate cable rates only for what's called "the basic service tier," he said.

That tier is comprised of only 21 or 22 channels, including the network channels such as NBC, CBS and ABC, and the five 'Olelo Community Television channels.

Even in that case, "all the local franchising authority does is set the maximum permitted rate," the official explained.

That maximum rate is $14.53 for basic services. Oceanic charges $14.49.

(One easy way to determine what level of services you have: If you have ESPN, you have "standard" service, which is one step above basic and, therefore, not regulated by the state.)

Even before deregulation in 1999, it was the Federal Communications Commission, not the state, that regulated the "upper tier" -- the cable programming services tier.

"So you had an environment in which the state was setting the maximum permitted rate for the basic service tier, and the FCC actually (was) doing rate regulation on the upper tier," the state official explained. "Even then there were some services that weren't rate regulated. It was a quilt-work of regulatory structure."

If you are having problems with cable service, then you could complain to the state because the Cable Television Division handles customer service complaints.

It also is involved in "public education government programming," through contracts with 'Olelo and other PEGs (public, educational and government cable access centers) on the neighbor islands, as well as with Inet, the institutional network.

Inet is a franchise requirement in which cable operators have to provide "telecommunication interconnections" between government and educational facilities.

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