By Mike Mills
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 21, 1995; Page A10

Congressional negotiators and the White House reached accord last night on the biggest rewrite of the nation's telecommunications laws in 61 years. But grumbling from some powerful House Republicans left the deal in doubt.

The White House and leaders of the House and Senate committees handling the bill achieved what they called "final agreement" on the legislation, which would change the way millions of Americans use their telephones, television sets and computers.

In a telephone interview, Vice President Gore also talked as if the 10-year battle over the bill was over. He said President Clinton would sign it, despite an earlier threat of a veto. "This is an early Christmas for consumers," Gore said. "It's a terrific bill. . . . Every concern the president expressed about the initial legislation has been dealt with on a bipartisan basis."

But an aide to House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called talk of final agreement "premature."

Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Republican Conference, cautioned that there still was opposition among House Republicans. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), his chamber's chief Democratic negotiator, received "everything he wanted," Boehner said. "There are a lot of our members who don't think a lot about that."

Boehner said the agreement would be discussed at a meeting of House Republican leaders this morning.

Asked if it would be defeated if brought up in the House, Boehner said: "It needs to pass with the right kind of votes."

The legislation would go far beyond the court-ordered breakup of the AT&T telephone monopoly in 1984. It would tear down regulatory walls that for decades have kept the telephone, cable and long-distance and broadcast industries apart, often providing legally sanctioned monopolies. On the grounds that competition would flower and keep prices low, it gradually would relax price controls on cable TV rates.

The bill also would relax the limits on how many TV stations a single company can own, regulate sexual material on on-line services, and require TV makers to include "V-chips" in their sets that would allow parents to screen out violent programs.

The bill has been controversial from the start, pitting rival industries against each other. In addition, many consumer groups say it would raise prices; some civil liberties groups say the controls on sexual content constitute censorship.

The House and Senate passed different versions of the huge bill over the summer. Final approval of a conference agreement, which is intended to work out those differences, has been stalled for days as Democrats and Republicans tussled over a number of issues.

Most vexing was how much to relax federal rules limiting the number of radio and television stations one company may own. Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns 12 Fox television stations and has financial interests in 17 others, was among network owners pushing hardest for the changes and won support from many Republicans.

Rep. Jack M. Fields Jr. (R-Tex.), a chief sponsor of the bill, was promoting such changes in the media ownership rules. But Hollings and the Clinton administration refused to support a bill that contained much of what Fields had sought.

Last night, the leaders of the Senate and House commerce committees, Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), Hollings, Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.) and Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), announced that a deal had been reached on the media concentration issue, among others, and the long fight was over. Gore later confirmed their account.

Their agreement would raise the limit on the total audience that one network may reach from 25 percent of households to 35 percent, but it does not allow the FCC to waive that rule, as leading Republicans had wanted. It also would include limits on radio station ownership that had been opposed by Republican sponsors. The proposal helping Murdoch also was rejected.

Staff writer John Yang contributed to this report.