01-27-1992 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Changing Channels UA Cable learns a hard lesson after jiggling Denver lineup By Kathy Clayton ||NiTED Artists Cable of Coloilado V wanted to add three services to its Bneup, but it failed to anticipate the anger the move generated among customers when Denver's three network affiliates were moved over the Thanksgiving week end to accommodate the additions. In just two days, UA Cable — which counts some 170,000 Denver-area sub scribers — received about 12,000 calls from customers complaining about the switches. “We had a lot of people working over time and working very hard to handle the volume,” said Steve Dougherty, UA Ca ble’s general nuuiager. The intensity of the protest — the calls were double the system’s daily aver- sge — prompted an abrupt about-f^e by UA Cable and provided a valuable lesson in customer relations. For some time, UA Cable had duplicat ed three off^ir stations on three channels higher on the lineup. The action was tak en because ingress tends to occur on the VHF band on that system and interferes with signal quality. So when the system wanted to add the three basic cable networks, it removed KCNC (channel 4), KMGH (channel 7). and KUSA (channel 9' from, their VHF band positions, shifting the off-air signals to channels 34,37 and 39, respectively. In turn, E! Entertainment Television, Vision Interfaith Satellite Network and ' Comedy Central were added as fuU-dme services. Each had shared a chajinel slot with another network in the past, accord ing to Steve Dougherty. UA Cable s gen eral manage. The switch of the off-air stations wasn ’t noticeable for about 90 percent of the company ’s customers — or those with ad- “It was a strategic decision on my part and I messed up." Stevo Doughorty general manager UA Cable dressable converters. I -ougherty said. Addressable converters let UA Cable map the numbers so that on the convert er LED readouL the numbers stayed on the VHF band even though they were placed higher on the dial technically. But customers using cable-ready sets and those with non-addressable boxes weren't afforded the electronic mapping feature. Instead, they were forced to search for the sutions on die high-num bered channel slots, and they didn’t like iL ■^ere were some angry customers calling," Dougherty said. *1 didn't do any one any favors, but I just didn’t anticipate the reaction from them. "We had been getting feedback from that most of our customers were watch ing the stations on channels 44, 47 and 49. I thought the switch would be better since we were moving them down to 34, 37 and 39. Boy, was I wrong." UA Cable also sent bill stuffers to all its customers for two consecutive months to explain the switches. The large number of customers who appar ently didn’t understand or know about the changes "n.iy say something about the bill stuffers. But we felt it wa« an ef fective way to notify everyone," Dougherty said. Dougherty said once the system real ized the misuke’s magnitude. UA Cable corrected the problem right away: “We scrambled to get back some space." UA Cable did away with a pay-per-view barker channel and a leased-access chan nel and used its last remaining empty slot to again duplicate the off-air channels. So now. the channels are back on their respective VHF spots — 4. 7 and 9 — as well as on 34.37 and 39. "It was a strategic decision on my part and I messed up." Dougherty said, noting that the move didn’t do anything to help UA Cable ’s image in the communities it serves. "I certainly didn’t do ourselves any favors. But we have fixed the prob lem by doing the right thing I should never have removed those channels in the first place." Sikes: Relax Rules On Cross*0wnership By Matt Stump Pn>EtAL COMMUNICATIOKS COMMISSION ■ ebainnan Alfred Sikes said last week that he "favor* some relaxation of the broadcast network-cable cross-owner- a^ rules,” but added that it was "pre mature ” to Hi^i— sdiat safeguards the commission may put in place if the rules aredianged. Sikes also outlined some possible scenarios for telephone companies to get involved in cable programming as a result of the FCC’s notice of inquiry into its cabletelco rules. The commission is scheduled to open a rule-making procedure Dec. 12 on scaling back the broadcast-cable rules and it’s believed that there is sub stantial support within the commission for some relaxation. ABC and NBC re- cendy petitioned for a repeal of the rules in their comments on the FCC’s reveiw of television regulations. The networks dted their falling audience shares and "rhe National Cable Television Asso ciation doesn’t oppose lifting the restric tions that would let broadcast networks own cable systems. The issue has divided broadcasters. Network affiliates oppose aoy relax ation because they feel they would be at a competitive disadvantage in their mar kets if a competing broadcaster owned a local cable system. Sikes said the cable-telco inquiry would address telco participation in pro- g ^ming ventures, such as their mi nority ownership of program networks or the right to program several channels as a video dial tone provider. FCC general counsel Robert Pepper pointed out that the inquiry also would ask if telcos could enter into lender/debtor relationships with pro grammers. That could be a boon to would-be cable programmers looking for financing. But it might prove problematic once they seek cable syrttem affiliation. FCC action on telco ownership of ca ble systems likely would come in recom mendations to Congress, Pepper said, and not through FCC action. ^ Sikes said those two inquiries were two of the three areas the commission would concentrate on’m the next year in order to bring more competition to cable. The third area, Sikes said, is the commission’s efforts to advance MMDS serrices.