EXCLUSIVITY RIGHTS STIFLE CAPLE PROGRAMS

A public meeting Monday on the quality of cable television service in Cape Girardeau generated numerous objections to the programming that TCI Cablevision of Missouri offers here.

But cable TV programming choices involve more than the whim of local cable system officials.

At Monday's meeting, officials from local broadcast TV stations explained the complicated matter of exclusivity rights and how they affect programming available to cable systems.

Kim Pruett of Cape Girardeau Monday urged TCI's manager, Roger Harms, to add St. Louis' KPLR to local cable TV service. Pruett said she didn't understand why the independent St. Louis station's programming would duplicate programming offered by Cape Girardeau stations.

Harms has stated before that due to syndicated exclusivity (SYNDEX) laws TCI would have to "black out" 50 to 60 hours each week of KPLR programming of which KBSI owns the broadcast rights.

Pruett said she wanted KPLR offered locally because of its extensive coverage of St. Louis and Missouri sports, namely St. Louis Blues hockey and Cardinal baseball.

She said she didn't understand why the station was offered on cable systems in Scott City, Dexter, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff and Carbondale, Ill., but not Cape Girardeau.

Pruett apparently isn't alone. Cable TV Citizens Committee member James Dufek said that a survey taken by the committee last year showed that one out of every four respondents specifically asked for the addition of the St. Louis station.

But Harms said that to add KPLR would not be cost effective for TCI because of SYNDEX and the cost of installing a microwave receiver for the station.

Although some people at Monday's meeting indicated they weren't satisfied with Harms' answer, officials from the city's two broadcast TV stations explained the matter further.

Mark Culbertson, program director at KBSI-TV, Channel 23, said Tuesday that SYNDEX allows broadcast stations to protect investments they make in broadcast rights to syndicated programming. He said SYNDEX and network exclusivity are used by stations across the nation to affect cable TV programming.

"It's a matter of protecting the investment," he said. "Every television station in this market exercises their right of network exclusivity.

"Let's say KFVS has bought the rights to "M.A.S.H.," which it has, if they weren't showing "M.A.S.H." but a superstation was, it would dilute their audience for when they decided to bring it back on the air."

Culbertson said superstations like WGN from Chicago and WTBS from Atlanta, which have a much larger, national audience than does a local station like KPLR, is able to afford to negotiate exclusivity conflicts out of their contracts with cable TV companies.

"The difference between a WGN and KPLR is that KPLR is a local station that doesn't really care about national coverage," he said. "For them to pay extra to negotiate out of SYNDEX isn't cost effective."

Culbertson said Cape Girardeau is in the Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg market.

He said SYNDEX rules grant broadcast stations exclusivity on programming they own rights to within 35 miles of their city of license. The exclusivity rules also apply in the three "points" of the market, Cape Girardeau, Paducah, Ken., and Harrisburg, Ill.

That's why Dexter, Poplar Bluff and Carbondale can carry KPLR without being subject to SYNDEX. Culbertson said that Sikeston, "from post office to post office," also is more than 35 miles from Cape.

Cable systems with less than 2,000 subscribers, even if they're within the 35-mile radius, also are exempt from the exclusivity rules, which is why Scott City is able to broadcast KPLR, Culbertson said.

"In other words, any station in this city can affect any cable station within 35 miles that is greater than 2,000 subscribers," Culbertson said.

"A station in Cape Girardeau also can affect cable systems in the cities of Harrisburg, Ill., and Paducah, Ken., but not anywhere outside those cities."

Culbertson said the primary difference between SYNDEX and network exclusivity is that networks also are able to affect cable systems in a 35-mile radius of the cities that comprise the market points. There also is the exemption to network exclusivity for systems with less than 2,000 subscribers.

Dan DeLaney, TCI's state manager, said at Monday's meeting that all programming decisions "need to be weighed against the cost of programming.

"It costs a lot of money to set up microwave, and it costs a lot of money to black out programming," he said. "If we do that, the cost is going to be passed on to the community. We can't accommodate every single person in every single situation."