Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!chinacat!balkan!dogface!bei
From: bei@dogface.austin.tx.us (Bob Izenberg)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Cable Censorship
Keywords: MTV GONE!
Message-ID: <6as041w164w@dogface.austin.tx.us>
Date: 28 Jun 91 21:02:40 GMT
References: <2153@tamsun.TAMU.EDU>
Distribution: na
Lines: 49

dmq6899@tamsun.TAMU.EDU (Dave Querin) writes:

> TCA Cable Company, based in Tyler, Texas, has announced that
> they are dropping the MTV network from their cable service.
> Anyone
> have any suggestions about how to make an impact in this unruly
> decision?  Thank you much.

Dropping a satellite (as opposed to a DE broadcast) channel doesn't need
to be run past most public utility comissions, unless it would affect the
cable company's rate structure.  If you only get twenty channels and one
is dropped (and isn't replaced with a service of similar stripe) then a
rate challenge may be possible.
Your town council may have had a separate committee that evaluated the
cable company's franchise agreement, or it may have formed one later.  In
some cases, (like mine!) expressing interest in participating in its work
can get you on the comittee.  If there isn't one, raise the issue at the
next town council meeting, and start a referendum to form one if necessary.
Petitions in front of supermarkets (permits applied for if necessary) and in
the library, and in a public area near the cable company's main and/or
billing office.  If the cable company inserts local commercials into ESPN
or other programming, produce a commercial and buy time for it.  Make it akin to
a public interest issue, not a rant at the company.  When they turn it down
for air, or schedule it at 3 in the morning, tell the local paper.  A
quick call to Austin's cable sales line shows that a spot can air in prime
time on one of ten channels (CNN, ESPN, CNN2, MTV, TNN, USA, Lifetime, The Home
Shopping Channel or Nickelodeon) for $35, with a fifteen percent discount if
you get them a ready-to-air tape.  (Cost-of-living note:  I caught the traffic
manager instead of an ad taker, and she said that a fourth-quarter rate increase
of $10 to $20 is in the wind.  Whether this is an across the board increase,
she didn't say.)  The cheapest rate she gave was $10 for a pre-emptible
spot running between 6 PM and midnight.  I'm awaiting a call back that'll
tell me whether the rates that they gave are for single or multiple plays
of the spot.  TCA's rates, depending upon the number of homes served (there
are no Arbitrons or Nielsens for all cable companies, not yet,) may be lower.
When is TCA's franchise up for renewal in Tyler, anyway?  That can be a nervous
time for a cable company, particularly if increased operating expenses (like a
local access channel for the town and/or community college or high school) are
demands put on the table.
Anyway, there's lots of things that a creative public-interest guerilla could
think of to do...
Good luck!
-- Bob

     Opinions expressed in this message are those of its author, except where
              messages by others are included with attribution.

                       Bob Izenberg [ ] bei@dogface.austin.tx.us
                 home: 512 346 7019 [ ] CIS: 76615.1413@compuserve.com