Report No. CS 97-11              CABLE SERVICES ACTION                   March 14, 1997

          COMMISSION ADOPTS FINAL RATE REGULATION RULES FOR
                  LOW-PRICE CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS
                        (MM Docket No. 92-266)

     The Commission has adopted an order (FCC 97-87) making permanent the transition
relief afforded to "low-price" cable television systems.  As a result, low-price systems will not be
required to reduce their rates by the full competitive differential previously implemented by the
Commission.

     Under the Commission's rules, low-price systems are defined as (i) systems whose March
31, 1994 rates were at or below the revised benchmark and (ii) systems whose March 31, 1994
rates were above the benchmark but whose permitted rates were at or below the benchmark. 
Low-price systems, because of their already lower rates,  were granted relief from the two 1994
Commission orders rolling back cable rates by a total of 17 percent.  During the transition period,
low-price systems with March 31, 1994 rates below the new benchmark were not required to
reduce their rates at all.  Low-price systems with March 31, 1994 rates above the new benchmark
and permitted rates at or below the new benchmark were only required to reduce their rates to the
new benchmark.

     This order, based on data received from a Fall 1995 cost survey, notifies low-price
systems that they will not be required to reduce their rates by the full competitive differential or
any lesser amount.  Commission analysis of the cost and revenue data received from the cost
survey indicates that low-price system operators have lower cash flow ratios and receive lower
profit margins for their low-price systems than operators of systems already regulated under the
Commission's revised benchmark approach.  It is therefore unnecessary for these systems to
reduce their rates any further.

     Action by the Commission March 13, by Report and Order  (FCC 97-87).  Chairman
Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Ness and Chong.

                                -FCC-

News Media Contact: Morgan Broman at 202-418-2358
Cable Services Bureau Contact: Rodney McDonald at 202-418-7200