CABLE-TV CUSTOMERS WANT GOOD, AFFORDABLE PROGRAMMING

VH-1 has returned to the Cape Girardeau and Jackson cable TV systems. The Animal Planet is gone. But these changes will do little to appease customers long unhappy with TCI's recent decisions.

TCI has tossed customers a bone by returning VH-1, but it isn't enough. Were customers surveyed? Surely TCI isn't saying that VH-1 was the channel that customers wanted back most.

The cable company, which has a franchise from the city, has promised much but delivered little for years, including the plans to add more channels. Other cable systems, including those in neighboring communities, have more choices.

Now TCI is asking the city to let it renege on a pledge to introduce a fiber optic cable system in 1998. Instead, the company wants to offer a digital compression system, along with a more flexible schedule of services and billing.

The City Council should fully investigate this request -- in the open -- before proceeding. Such a system is in operation in other towns. Customers there should be interviewed along with city officials. Are they happy with the service or the cost? The city should also look at communities that have opted for fiber optics. Is it worth the wait?

The only reason the City Council should consider a compromise now is better programming for a comparable price. The city should avoid trading WGN and the Comedy Channel for the less technology.

The fact that TCI wants to back out of its fiber optic agreement, which is part of the current franchise, gives the city a real bargaining chip. The federal government long ago determined that cities had no control over the two things that matter most to cable customers: the programming and the charges for that programming.

The City Council showed considerable leadership recently in censuring the cable company for its lack of interest in the customers. But then the council discussed its next move behind closed doors. Let's debate the options in open as a way to unite the customers and the city in favor of a better cable system.

With this its bargaining chip in hand, the city may be able to make some headway toward better service at a reasonable price.