The Florida Public Service Commission is taking aim at gab lines, those pay party lines advertised on late-night television.

Starting next month, Southern Bell will offer customers the opportunity to block calls to 976-prefix “dial-it” phone numbers at no charge. Southern Bell expects the move to be popular with parents and small businesses that don’t want their children or employees making such calls and running up the phone bill. The move, however, may cut revenues for less controversial dial-it services, such as sports lines, horoscopes and lottery numbers.

The move to offer blocking at no charge comes at the request of the Public Service Commission.

“We have heard from parents in particular; kids use it and use it,” commission spokeswoman Jill Herd said. “Parents have been complaining; they can’t block it.”

In July, the commission also will be considering whether the gab-line companies are improperly offering live conversations to customers. The commission could force them to be licensed as phone companies, which would allow the commission to decide fees and profit margins for the gab lines.

But a gab-line company owner says the number of complaints is exaggerated. And a Tampa-based phone company is considering a change that would make it easier for gab lines to operate, a change that would increase its own profits.

“It is a very popular service, and the phone companies don’t want it to go away,” said David Ryder of Ryder Communications, which offers a gab line in Miami.

Dial-it is a booming business, and gab lines are among the most popular. Customers dial 976- and then a number to hear jokes, horoscopes, rock trivia contests, and in some states, sexually oriented conversations. When they call, they are charged anywhere from 30 cents to $49.95 per call.

It makes big bucks for phone companies. Southern Bell grosses about $7.5 million a year from dial-it lines in Dade and Broward counties alone. Last year, Pacific Bell grossed $31 million in California.

Nationwide, the number of dial-it lines grew from 1,749 in October 1986 to 3,600 in March 1988, according to Information Industry Bulletin, a Stamford, Conn., newsletter. More than a quarter of the lines are gab lines, according to senior editor Chris Elwell.

But the move to block calls is part of the backlash against the dial-it companies. Many of the moves are aimed at “dial-a-porn” lines, but also affect other dial-it lines. Last month, Congress passed a bill that would ban dial-a-porn lines, but the bill is being challenged.

In fact, Southern Bell says it does not have any porn lines, because it screens calls for content. So the measures affect the other dial-it services, including gab lines where callers pay $2 to $4 for a few minutes of conversation with other callers.

Southern Bell currently charges a $10 flat fee and then $2.50 per month for a residential customer to block calls to dial-it lines. It costs $10 and $3.75 a month for businesses, and $5.50 a month for private switchboard systems.

Starting in June, the utility will block 976- calls for no charge. After a 90-day grace period, the move will cost a $10 one-time fee.

The Public Service Commission’s request drew some praise last week. “It’s a wonderful thing if Southern Bell does that,” said Larry Kaplan, deputy director of Broward County Consumer Affairs. It would give parents “a peace of mind, a protection,” he said.

“I guarantee we will be blocking those calls,” said Joel Alesi, administration director of Port Everglades. Earlier this year, port officials were irritated by employees calling gab lines and phone sex lines. “We have to put ourselves as parents; we don’t want people making those calls.”

But a Miami-based company that runs a gab line says that although he doesn’t oppose blocking, many of the concerns are misplaced.

The number of complaints has been exaggerated, said Ryder of Ryder Communications. “In most cases, the Public Service Commission assumes there are a large number of complaints, and there aren’t really,” he said.

In fact, commission files show 38 complaints about dial-it services in the last six months of 1987. That compares to 6,000 complaints about utilities overall in the same period.

Southern Bell doesn’t keep records, but “I’d go out on a limb and say the complaint factor is way below 1 percent,” spokesman Mike Branigan said.

The Public Service Commission also plan to rule in July on a gab-line loophole. Dial-it companies are not allowed to provide live conversations to customers. So to connect with a gab line, customers call a 976- number and get a recording that gives them an identification number and another phone number to call. The customer pays a fee for the initial 976- call, but the gab-line call is charged as an ordinary phone call.

“If you do anything that connects people together for a phone conversation, you’re a phone company,” said Herd of the commission. And if the gab companies were declared phone companies, their fees and profits would be regulated by the commission.

In addition, a Tampa-based local phone company is considering asking the commission to change this setup so it can make more money off the gab-line calls. GTE-Florida collects revenue on the one-minute recording in which the customer gets an ID number, spokesman Tony Hamilton said. It would like to collect revenue on the entire conversation, he said.

ON THE RISE

The number of 976 prefix services nationwide and revenues are rising sharply.

Revenue

Numbers (millions)

Oct. 1986 1,749 $199

Oct. 1987 3,218 $276

March 1988 3,600 $330

SOURCE: Information Industry Bulletin, Stamford, Conn.