TELECOMMUNICATIONS

FCC Favors Phone Firms’ Stake in TV Programs: FCC Chairman Alfred C. Sikes in hearings on Capitol Hill said telephone companies should be allowed to transmit TV shows over phone lines and be allowed to own up to 25% of the programming. The hearings were being held in regard to legislation pending in the Senate that would allow telephone companies to provide cable TV services. The statement goes beyond an earlier proposal by the FCC to allow telephone companies to provide a “video dial tone” over their lines for TV shows owned by outside suppliers.