Our freedom of speech is being infringed is one of the most emotive cries one can raise in the US, and two subsidiaries of Bell Atlantic Corp, Philadelphia have filed a lawsuit against the US Federal Communications Commission alleging that restrictions preventing them from offering television and video services are unconstitutional. The move has been made despite regulatory relaxations last year which allow the Regional Bell Operating Companies to carry television and video signals, and to have a very limited ownership of programming – a move that is currently spawning agreements between the Baby Bells and cable television companies. The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co of Virginia and the newly-formed Bell Atlantic Video Services Co have made their challenge under the First Amendment of the American Constitution, which protects the right to free speech. They are arguing that since video has been categorised as a form of protected free speech in previous rulings, the 1984 Cable Communications Policy Act – preventing them from providing video services – infringes their rights. As well as the Federal Communications Commission, they are naming the US and outgone Attorney General William Barr (ex officio responsible for enforcing the Act) as defendants. Last year the Commission eased the rules slightly for the Baby Bells, saying that they could provide a video dial tone to carry video services over their common carrier networks. It stipulated, however, that they could not own more than 5% of the programming, effectively forcing those wanting to offer services into partnerships with cable television companies. Indeed, while the two contest the constitutionality of the situation, other subsidiaries of Bell Atlantic have already bitten the bullet and signed agreements with cable companies. Its New Jersey Bell unit has announced two agreements – with FutureVision of America Corp in Dover Township and with the incumbent cable operator Sammons Communications Inc in Morris County – and Bell Atlantic itself has an agreement with FutureVision to explore the development of new services. Similarly, New York Telephone Co, a Nynex Corp company, has signed up with Liberty Cable Television of Manhattan.
