ich operate as virtually unchecked local monopolies under the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 (the provisions of which are outlined in Garay, 1988: 97ff). This Act essentially eliminated local franchising authority over cable rates and services. Thus, the future of cable television service is in the hands of Congress. How Congress has dealt with this authority, and how it may be expected to deal with it in the future, is the topic of this study.
The basic technology of cable is as old as television itself. Coaxial cables have always been used to carry signals within TV transmitting stations, and in "closed circuit" television systems. From an early period, some "CCTV" systems were established to provide service in mountainous areas where customers' reception was poor to nonexistent; a centralized receiving antenna would pick up broadcast signals and cables would carry it to subscribers. Discussion of cable as a general purpose means of transmitting TV signals is also as old as broadcast television.
But as recently as the mid 1970s, cable was only a minor feature in the American television scene. Before 1972, save for a few short lived experimental systems, general p
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