She did, pausing long enough to introduce Mr. Stein's wife, Lynn, a communications lawyer.

Ms. Hamburg and her husband, Mort, a communications lawyer who is known as Skip, have lived in the Hamptons on and off for 25 years.

"There has come to be something of a consensus about what constitutes good policy," Philip Verveer, a communications lawyer and longtime Democrat, said.

Several communications lawyers said yesterday that the city's request could run afoul of Federal law.

Until he was nominated by President Clinton, however, Mr. Hundt was relatively unknown among communications lawyers.

Other communications lawyers say the relationship between communications law and regulation is not so clear.

The companies are not identified in the videos as corporate sponsors; such sponsorship would have to be disclosed under the regulations that cover public broadcasting, according to communications lawyers.

"That's really great," said Richard E. Wiley, a communications lawyer in Washington who represents CBS Inc. on this and other issues.

According to communications lawyers, it is the first time that the Government has mandated that a cable company carry a particular type of programming on a broad national scale.

"It's a sham and a shambles," said David Tillotson, a communications lawyer who represented Ms. Rienstra.