Fourteen of the 20 FCC staffers now handling the remaining cable rate complaints would be melded into the Cable Services Bureau's consumer protection and competition division, under a restructuring plan unveiled last week by Deborah Lathen, chief of the bureau.(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, April, 1999

The revamping was expected because regulation of upper-tier rates' sunset on March 31. The six other staffers who now make up the financial analysis division would be transferred to the common carrier bureau to handle "slamming" cases against companies charged with illegally switching customers' long-distance servicers.

Lathen has made the recommendation to the agency's five commissioners, who must approve the changes. With rate regulation out of the way, she said the bureau's top priorities now include a review of the cable industry's ownership rules, working with Congress to settle the fight over satellite broadcasters' network signals, and resolving disputes over wiring and antenna rules for multiple dwellings. "The sun has set, the sun has risen an d we are...

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