Immediate cable entry for telcos urged. (telephone companies, includes related article cable television competition)

Cable suffered a setback last week when administration officials signaled their support for immediately allowing telephone companies to enter the cable business.

Last Wednesday, at a Senate hearing on S. 1822, the "information superhighway bill," administration witnesses called for revisions to the legislation that would permit telcos into cable "simultaneous" with cable's entry into local telephone markets. They also stated their opposition to a cable-backed provision that would permit cable-telco joint ventures or mergers in communities with 50,000 or fewer residents.

That exemption to the bill's ban on telco buyouts of cable systems is especially important to small-system cable operators that want the option of selling to a telco.

Administration officials have told the regional Bell operating companies that they support simultaneous entry for telcos. Now, "they've gone public," one industry source said. The RBOCs say …