CABLE SYSTEM OFFERS ITS FIRST PAY-PER-VIEW

As if fighting the couch potato mode isn't hard enough for some television viewers, cable TV companies are making it even easier to spend hours in front of the TV.

Beaming live sporting events into living rooms on a pay-per-view format is the wave of the future, said Roger Harms, general manager of TCI Cable of Cape Girardeau, whose company plans to begin offering pay-per-view events to subscribers later this month.

"It's in the experimental stages right now, but it's being demanded by the customers," said Harms. "It's already offered in larger cities, and we hope to have it going on a regular basis here in a year or so."

The first pay-per-view event offered by TCI will be a closed-circuit boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes June 19.

The Show Me Center is also broadcasting the fight.

Future pay-per-view events via cable television include a World Wrestling Federation special in July and the Summer Olympics in late July and early August.

Pay-per-view events will likely be expanded in the coming years, said Harms. Movies and concerts will someday be able to be seen in Cape Girardeau via the format. He said, "As long as it's being televised and we can pick it up."

It's being offered because more and more people want to be able to watch those types of events in their homes, he said.

"When people ask for something, you try to accommodate them," he said.

To receive pay-per-view events, viewers must be cable TV customers who subscribe to more than basic cable, which in Cape Girardeau includes channels 3-13. Harms said pay-per-view is available only with a "full-service" cable package that includes channels 2-36.

Customers must also pick up a specially-programed convertor from the cable company before the event, and pay a fee. For the Holyfield-Holmes fight, the cost is $35.95.

But those preparations aside, viewers are able to watch the events live with no commercial interruptions.

"It takes a little bit of advance planning," Harms said, "but if someone's really interested in a particular event, say the Summer Olympics, it's worth it to them."

At the Show Me Center, the Holyfield-Holmes fight will also be shown live. Tickets are $25 for table seats and $20 for general admission.

The Summer Olympics can be seen on three channels on TCI. The cost for two weeks, pay-per-view, is $125. As with other events, the Olympics can be seen live without interruptions.

The fees for such events are set by promoters, Harms said. Because pay-per-view is a new concept in Cape Girardeau, it's not expected to be very profitable for the cable company, he said.

"We don't see it as a big money-making thing right off the bat," he said. "But eventually it will be a source of extra income.

"We're basically responding to the wants of our customers," he added. "Pay-per-view has been around for several years in other cities but this is the first time we've dabbled in it."

Harms said TCI has just one pay-per-view channel available. He said it's a goal of the company to offer six or seven such channels, which will expand the possibilities of offering live events simultaneously.

Another aspect of pay-per-view is that it's yet another way promoters can make money from athletic and other events.

"Events are getting more and more expensive. The promoters are having to pay huge salaries to athletes and they have to think of more ways to raise that money," Harms said, "ways other than raising the ticket prices."