Oxnard OKs Hiring Lawyer to Untangle Cable Rules : Television: City officials join Thousand Oaks in enlisting legal assistance to find out what they can require of their providers under new federal regulations.

The city of Oxnard on Tuesday joined Thousand Oaks in approving the hiring of an attorney specializing in communications law to help officials untangle complex new federal cable television rules.

Under a plan so far agreed to by officials from the two cities, a consortium of at least seven municipal governments would pay the consultant for advice on how best to wield the newly acquired regulatory power over local cable television companies.

Santa Paula, Fillmore and Port Hueneme already have declined to join the consortium. But invitations have been extended to the other five cities in Ventura County, as well as the neighboring Los Angeles County cities of Westlake Village, Calabasas and Agoura Hills.

Los Angeles lawyer Tracy Westen would be paid $1,150 by each participating city to offer legal advice about what local officials can require of cable firms.

“It’s a way of pooling resources and they get some expertise they wouldn’t otherwise have,” Westen said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Westen also would provide officials updates on the industry through a newsletter and he would conduct informational seminars for consortium and city staff members.

When Congress passed the Cable Television Consumer Protection Act of 1992, cities were granted the right to regulate the rates cable firms can charge for their basic service.

Local governments also are allowed sweeping authority to regulate a local cable company’s customer service practices, including how quickly they answer telephones, install cable service and deal with customer complaints, Westen said.

Since the law went into effect Sept. 1, many cable television companies have compensated for the mandated lowering of basic cable rates by raising subscriptions to premium channels and other services, Westen said.

In Oxnard, the rate Jones Intercable charges its customers for basic cable service dropped from $14.75 to $13.89 when the law went into effect.

But at the same time, the firm increased what it charges for its next four levels of service by between $1 and $2.72 per month. It also tacked on an extra $1.83 for the converter boxes needed for pay-per-view events and older television sets.

For many customers, their monthly cable bills increased substantially under the new law, Westen said.

“It’s turned out to have had mixed consequences,” said Westen, who pitched his consultant service to county officials at a meeting earlier this year of the Ventura Council of Governments.

“What many companies have done is reduce rates for basic cable and increased rates for their second tiers,” he said. “So people are reacting with a mixture of pleasure and astonishment.”

Westen said the cable industry’s ever-increasing rates riled up Congress to give local officials more control over their cable television provider.

“I think they deserve it,” he said. “They certainly deserved something. In many instances they were not acting responsibly.”

The Oxnard City Council unanimously approved the plan Tuesday without much discussion. But Councilman Michael Plisky said he is somewhat hesitant about joining the consortium, requesting to review the contract with the lawyer.

“I’m not sure we need this, and the best way for me to decide is to see the contract before we sign it,” Plisky said.