CABLE SPAT: WITHOUT AGREEMENT, TCI MAY DROP KFVS

Cable TV subscribers in the Cape Girardeau and Carbondale, Ill., areas could find themselves in the dark when it comes to CBS television next year.

Under a 1992 federal law, cable companies can't carry over-the-air channels without the permission of those stations.

A dispute between cable operator TCI and Cape Girardeau television station KFVS-TV threatens to leave subscribers with no CBS channel on their cable systems as of Jan. 1.

Both sides insist the ball is in the other's court; neither is backing down.

Denver-based Tele-Communications Inc. said Monday it will drop KFVS from its cable systems unless a retransmission agreement can be reached.

The cable company will notify area subscribers of that possibility within the next two weeks as required by law.

TCI may notify viewers by running a message that would run at the bottom of the screen over KFVS programming.

Under a 1992 federal law, cable companies can't carry over-the-air channels without the permission of those stations. Since the law was enacted, many of the nation's over-the-air stations have argued that cable companies should pay them a fee or some monetary compensation in exchange for the right to carry their signals.

In 1993, cable operators in the region threatened to drop commercial broadcast stations from their lineups rather than pay retransmission fees.

But TCI ultimately reached three-year agreements with the stations.

TCI's agreement with KFVS runs through the end of this year. Under the agreement, the cable firm is required to advertise on KFVS, said TCI official Tom Cantrell. From his Bloomington, Ind., office, Cantrell oversees the company's 35 cable systems in the Midwest region.

Cantrell said TCI wants to carry the CBS station, but at no charge.

He said TCI had offered to keep the station on channel 7, its current position on the cable system. But Howard Meagle, general manager of KFVS, said TCI hasn't bargained in good faith. "They want no accountability for anything," said Meagle.

He said KFVS offered a six-year extension last summer on existing terms, but TCI has rejected it.

Meagle said the station wasn't asking for per-subscriber fees like those paid to cable channels. He said the station once again wants the cable system to run promotional announcements for KFVS on its cable system.

Meagle said the station has agreed to continue the negotiations until next March, if necessary, to reach an agreement.

He said TCI doesn't have to take KFVS off the cable systems Jan. 1. But Cantrell said it won't continue with the current arrangement past Jan. 1.

TCI has reached or is nearing agreements with the other over-the-air commercial stations in the region, Cantrell said.

Meagle said KFVS hasn't asked for any terms that would increase the cost to cable subscribers.

But Cantrell disagreed. He said the arrangement proposed by KFVS would carry a cost to the cable company. Such a cost would be passed on to its cable customers, he said.

Federal law won't allow the cable operator to carry a CBS affiliate from another city.

Both KFVS and TCI officials agree on one thing: Removing the broadcast station from the cable lineup will upset subscribers.