Charter explains new services

Charter Communications isn't forcing its 14,500 cable subscribers in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Mo., to pay the extra $5.95 a month for a digital box -- only those who get premium pay channels and want to keep getting them.

That plus the fact subscribers must fork over an additional $5.95 a month for each additional box they want and a $3.95 January rate hike for those who get expanded basic cable have some customers griping.

"I don't particularly like the idea of having to pay for a digital box in order to receive premium channels that I was already paying for," Cape Girardeau resident David Allen said Monday. "I don't think it's necessary. I think it's Charter's way of getting more money."

Others agreed, but Charter's local general manager, Roger Harms, says that isn't the case. He said digital boxes are a national trend intended to help Charter keep up with competitors like satellite TV and pay-per-view by offering more movie channels and pay-per-view events plus intricate remote control and music stations.

He also said the boxes help prevent cable theft, which costs the industry billions of dollars a year. The boxes allow premium channels to be sent to subscribers instead of the cable company having to scramble the signal to those who don't pay for them.

"We used to send all of the premium channels through every cable, but we tapped them off from those who didn't pay for them," he said. "It wasn't too long until anybody who wanted to could figure out how to unscramble them."

Channels charge more

Harms said the price hike was necessitated by channel providers such as ESPN, Fox Sports Network and the news networks raising their prices to cable providers.

Charter also plans to add new channels later this month to the expanded basic cable package. They include Oxygen, a woman's-oriented network comparable to Lifetime; the religious-based Inspirational Channel; and the Outdoor Life Channel.

Harms said the company receives some negative comments when changes are made.

"It's like when a grocery store changes the food aisles around," he said. "There are always going to be people who say they like it the old way until they get used to it. This is just the cost of doing business."

He also points to $22 million in Charter upgrades.

Basic cable costs about $12.92 and comes with 24 channels. Add another $27.16 for the expanded basic, which includes January's $3.95 hike, and subscribers get another 39 channels for a total of $40.08. The digital package costs $53.92 for another 65 channels, including several HBOs, Show Times and other movie channels. The charge for one box is included in the price for the digital package.

"I'm real sensitive to rates," Harms said. "This seems reasonable for what people are getting. We feel we have to do this in order to keep up with new technologies and offer these sorts of services."

But that doesn't satisfy some customers, who say they're tired of seeing rates go up on a regular basis.

Cape Girardeau resident Georgia Burgfeld said she recently took her digital box back to the company.

"We used to have it, but it got to be too much," she said of the digital package.

Subscriber Jeff Choate agreed.

"Overall, the rates are high," he said. "It's sort of frustrating to hear that the price is going up."

'It's convenient'

Not all customers are upset, however.

"It's convenient," said Nichole Rowett of Cape Girardeau. "I have access to everything. I don't have a problem with any of it."

The topic came up at a Cape Girardeau City Council work session Monday night before the council's regular meeting. Councilmen Matt Hopkins and Frank Stoffregen said they believe the price has gotten too high.

"Forty dollars for expanded basic? That seems awful high for what I consider a basic service," Hopkins said.

Stoffregen took a pragmatic view.

"I've heard 10, 11 people say it's satellite time," he said.

No city control

The council said it is basically helpless in the matter, despite the fact that the city has a Cable Television Advisory Committee that helps negotiate the franchise agreement with the cable providers. The chairman of that committee, Jim Dufek, a Southeast Missouri State University mass communications professor, acknowledged there was nothing the committee could do.

"We don't have any control in selecting the programming, pricing or the distribution," he said.

The committee makes sure that the city has access to a cable channel or two to air public meetings or educational programming. It also helps make sure that the cable provider is adequately updating its service, such as Charter's promise to bring cable modem service to give subscribers Internet service through the cable. That will cost about $30 more a month when it is offered next year.

"I think people are frustrated," Dufek said. "People get used to the channel lineup. When you disrupt that, people get aggravated. Then when you have to buy a box, you can see their frustration. But does the potential outweigh the frustration? That's up to the individual."

Dufek said most cable companies nationwide are requiring a digital box to get premium channels.

"Was I shocked? No, I was surprised it took this long," he said. "I've seen this coming for quite some time."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137