'Baby Bells' win entry to cable

NEW YORK - The US 'Baby Bell' regional telephone companies - many of which are investors in UK cable - were celebrating a separate victory that will allow them into the US cable business, writes Larry Black.

A 1984 ruling that broke up the old AT&T conglomerate into eight companies excluded them from using their networks to carry their own video products, but a district court in Virginia has found the ban unconstitutional.

The challenge was brought by Bell Atlantic, the east coast utility that has been acquiring small cable companies outside the region where it enjoys a monopoly on telephone service. Bell Atlantic recently announced plans to build a cable system in the Washington DC suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, which would be delivered over its residential telephone network in Washington.