Charter moving Cape's public access channels

People who watch Cape Girardeau City Council or Cape Girardeau School Board meetings on cable television must remember to tune in different channels soon -- a change that could make viewing the programs more expensive.

Charter Communications established what it calls a "public affairs neighborhood" on its digital system, which will become the new home for city programs currently available on Channel 5 or Cape Girardeau school programs aired on Channel 23. On March 16, the programming moved to a block of channels from 980 to 998, where viewers will also find other area and national public affairs channels.

The programs will continue to be available on the old channels until June 3, Charter told the city in a letter.

The difficulty, city spokeswoman Nicolette Brennan said, is that many cable television subscribers don't use digital service and must have a newer television or upgrade their service at a cost of $5 per month.

"Are we happy with the change? No," Brennan said. "Are they violating any rules? No."

Randy McWilson of the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center, who puts together programming for Channel 23, could not be reached for comment.

The service charge won't increase. But unless the television is equipped with "CableCard" technology or a digital tuner, a subscriber must rent a digital converter box from Charter. In a statement announcing the change, Charter said the converters will be offered at no charge for the first six months.

The discount will only be available to people who specifically request the upgrade so they can view public affairs programming, said Neal Gilb, government affairs manager for Charter in St. Louis.

"They need to call and say 'I don't know where my government access channel is," Gilb said. "That is how we determine that they qualify for six months free on a box."

Cape Girardeau and Jackson city meetings will now be on Channel 993. Cape Girardeau School Board meetings and other education programs will move to Channel 989. Anyone with a television made after March 2006 will not need a converter box, Gilb said. By using the television remote and searching for active channels, the television will find the Cape Girardeau broadcasts at Channel 118.1.

"It is basically a business decision to make our network more efficient," Gilb said.

Another reason for the switch, Gilb said, is that customers like channels with similar programming to be clustered together. Other channels that will be nearby the new spot for finding city and school programming include C-SPAN 2, the newly added C-SPAN 3, and public channels from Sikeston and Scott City.

The city's issue with the new channels is that the public is used to finding the programming at its current spot, Brennan said. And while the city realizes that Channel 5 isn't a channel most people watch regularly, it is in a spot where channel surfers might find it while switching among network programming.

"Channel 993 is not necessarily where people are browsing," she said.

Charter is not trying to discourage viewing or stop providing the service, Gilb said. "There is a little bit of pain that goes along with any change. We are a strong advocate of local programming."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO