TCI RATES TO GO UP ABOUT 4.3%

While local Tele-Communication Inc. customers will be paying more for cable television service, the rate increase will be lower than the average hike the company plans to impose nationally.

Effective June 1, the cost TCI's customers in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson areas will pay for the most popular packages of channels will tentatively go up $1.07 a month -- about a 4.3 percent increase. That increase does not include other possible fee changes.

Roger Harms, general manager of the local TCI system, said the rate hike is due to the increased cost of programming.

TCI, the nation's biggest cable company, announced Thursday that it will raise rates an average of 7 percent nationally. About 11 million of the company's 14 million customers will be affected.

TCI's Cape Girardeau-Jackson system serves 14,500 households.

According to forms filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the monthly cost of its main package will increase from $24.97 to a proposed $26.04. That total package includes basic service, expanded basic and a three-channel package of USA Network, The Disney Channel and American Movie Classics.

"Those rates are not firm; they may go down," Harms said. "They won't go up, but they may go down."

Harms said the exact rate increase will be announced next week.

Local customers currently pay $11.05 for basic service, $11.45 for expanded basic and $2.47 for the three-channel pack. The proposed new prices would be $11.84 for basic, $11.51 for expanded basic and $2.69 for the three-channel pack.

Those prices include FCC regulatory fees but not franchise fees paid to the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

The cities do not have the authority to prevent the rate increases.

Harms said the company is also examining the fees it charges for converter boxes, installation and other equipment.

The increase will be less than the maximum the company would be allowed to charge under a formula set by the FCC.

TCI also raised local rates last June.

Harms said programmers such as ESPN, USA, MTV and VH-1 continue to charge cable providers more to carry their channels, forcing cable companies to pass the added expense on to customers.

"We like to try to keep rates as low as possible," Harms said. "Programmers need to realize we are not a collection agency for them."

Sports programming in particular is becoming more expensive, Harms said.

Changes in the local channel lineup that took effect at the beginning of the year -- and proved widely unpopular -- were an attempt to keep programming expenses down, Harms said.

The company dropped Comedy Central and VH-1, which shared channel space, and WGN. They were replaced with The Cartoon Network and Animal Planet. However, Animal Planet was soon dropped and VH-1 restored.

The impending arrival of a new broadcast station in the region could mean more changes in the channel lineup.

WDKA-TV will begin over-the-air broadcasts on channel 49 this month. The station will be a United Paramount Network affiliate and also carry syndicated programming and St. Louis Cardinals baseball games.

Although federal law allows broadcast stations to demand that local cable providers pick up their signal, Harms said it isn't yet definite that TCI will do so with WDKA. If the quality of the station's signal is poor, TCI may not be able to retransmit it, he said.

If TCI does pick up WDKA, it won't be on the system right away. Harms said it would take time to determine what type of equipment would be needed to pick up the station's signal and to put the equipment in place.

If WDKA is added to the channel lineup, something will have to be dropped. Harms said several channels are being looked at, but one hasn't yet been chosen.

"Whatever channel we do drop will be someone's favorite," Harms said.

Changes in the must-carry rules could also lead to some shuffling of the channel lineup.

Harms said the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a case this spring that would decide if cable providers can be forced to carry all broadcast channels -- even ones unpopular with viewers.

If the court throws out the rule, that could free up space on the local system for other channels.

MDUL