COUNCIL SHOULD CONSIDER OPTIONS FOR MORE TV CABLE SERVICE

A recommendation by the Cape Girardeau Cable TV Advisory Committee regarding more channels for the TCI Cablevision system deserves the serious consideration of the City Council.

At issue is whether the city will hold TCI to its franchise agreement to upgrade its delivery system using fiber optics. This means a costly rewiring of the entire TCI service area.

Since that agreement was adopted in 1995, new technology makes another delivery method, called digital compression, a more cost-effective way to increase channels without reducing overall signal quality.

TCI would like to use digital compression instead of converting to fiber optics. The company says fiber optics would cost each subscribers an additional $5 to $7 a month. On the other hand, the company says it thinks it can upgrade to digital compression without increasing prices, except for customers who opt for a wider range of viewing.

Two members of the advisory committee visited a suburb of Hartford, Conn., to see how the digital compression works. Their report indicated it is a success, but they expressed fears that some Cape Girardeau customers might wind up with fewer channels, because some existing channels would be needs to send out the additional digitally compressed signals.

However, TCI officials now say they can provide the digital channels without a reduction in the number of channels for subscribers who want to stick with the company's basic package of programming.

As more and more information becomes available about the future of TV cable systems, it appears that forcing TCI to keep its fiber optics pledge might not be in the best interests of local subscribers. And the technology continues to evolve. More and more television fans are opting for direct satellite reception of an array of TV signals, bypassing cable systems.

If the intent of the fiber optics portion of TCI's franchise agreement was to increase the number of channels for local subscribers, the City Council would do well to consider the digital compression option. It appears it would accomplish much the same things and considerably lower cost.