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from: Ruetuers

U.S. House's Barton sees murky future for telco bill

Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:49 AM ET

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - The prospects of passing legislation this year that would help telephone companies more quickly get licenses to offer television service are "murky," a senior Republican U.S. House of Representatives lawmaker said on Thursday.

The House last month approved legislation that would enable telephone carriers like AT&T Inc. and other companies to apply for a national license to offer subscription cable television service.

Currently, new entrants must apply for licenses from local authorities, which the companies argue would take years. The Senate Commerce Committee has approved a measure that would limit the time local authorities can review license requests.

However, the head of the Senate panel, Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, has said he does not yet have the needed 60 votes to get the bill through the Senate. Senate rules require 60 votes to cut off debate and force a vote on legislation.

"The outlook is murky," Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who was a principal author of the House bill, told the Electronic Industries Alliance. Still, he noted "there are over 50 votes for the bill" in the Senate.

Barton also said that lawmakers would return to Washington after the November congressional elections so there would be additional time to work on the legislation. After his speech he said the chances of getting a bill passed were 50-50.

"I think if he (Stevens) can get a bill to the floor, we jump up to 80-20 or even higher that we'll get a bill," Barton, chairman of the House Commerce Committee, told reporters.

Any differences between the House and Senate measures would have to be worked out in a conference of lawmakers and Barton predicted many provisions in the broader Senate legislation would be dropped.

Stevens has said the most difficult issue to resolve among senators is Internet network neutrality, and adding provisions on that subject some want would kill the legislation.

Democrats and some Republicans want to bar high-speed Internet, or broadband, providers like AT&T and Comcast Corp.from charging content providers like Google Inc. to guarantee access and service quality.

Broadband providers argue such a ban is unnecessary and would hobble their efforts to deploy their broadband networks.