MAY 20 IS CABLE TV AMNESTY DEADLINE

Time is running out for viewers of pirated cable-television service to obtain amnesty for the illegal practice, which siphoned more than $4 billion from the industry in 1994.

April 20 to May 20 is a period when "no questions will be asked," said Todd Runkwitz of TCI Cablevision, cable provider to the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area.

After May 20, the company will start a "full-blown audit and walk-through" of its 14,500 subscribing households in the Cape Girardeau area to ferret out theft.

"We're really cracking down on this," said Runkwitz.

He said locally, signal theft by illegal descramblers, decoders, or by tapping into the wiring is estimated at 7 percent. Nationally, cable signal theft ranges from 6-14 percent.

Runkwitz said there are many different situations when people illegally tap cable service. "Each one is different, and we've heard them all," he said.

Cable signal theft is prohibited by both local and state law. Penalties range from a $1,000 fine and a one-year jail term with a Class A misdemeanor to a seven-year prison sentence and a $5,000 fine.

Signal theft costs legitimate customers by degrading the signal, said Runkwitz, resulting in poor video quality and higher maintenance costs.

Morgan Broman, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., said although the amnesty is backed by the cable industry, the FCC helps mostly in technical matters, but sometimes in law enforcement.

"Someone in Missouri could get in trouble if they bought an illegal cable box and took it over to Illinois," Broman said. "Then it would be a violation of interstate commerce and become a federal matter."

Amy Miller, a spokesperson for the National Cable Television Association in Washington, said most of the equipment used for cable signal theft is not built to system specifications, allowing cable signals to leak into other frequencies reserved for aeronautical communications. This causes potential safety problems.

The 1995 effort is the third time since 1993 an amnesty program has been offered, and Runkwitz said each time has been successful.

"We've already had a really good response, and brought a lot of customers on line," he said.