Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 2, 1993 TAG: 9310020135
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The station that held out longest in the region to get cash from cable operators on Friday gave up the fight, saying it was in the interest of its viewers.
Channel 7 said it would permit the 15 cable systems in Southwest Virginia to rebroadcast its signals. The cable systems include Cox Cable Roanoke Inc. and Salem Cable TV Co., serving the Roanoke Valley.
Under the terms, the Roanoke station will get a secure position on each cable system's dial until renegotiation of the contracts begins in 1996. The station reserved the right to reopen talks before then, however.
The station's president and general manager, Bob Lee, said offers from cable systems had not been "useful to the station."
But this isn't a defeat, he said.
"Obviously, a lot of thought and consideration went into how best to bring it to a conclusion." It seemed best to put the viewers ahead of the immediate interests of the station, he said.
"It's really that having heard from so many people who wanted us to get this cleared up and get on with reality, and knowing the number of people dependent on us for news and weather," Lee said.
He said there's no resentment toward the cable companies, he said. There's too many other things on which to focus.
Among those, Lee confirmed, is WDBJ's 5 p.m. newscast, to begin Nov. 1, and plans to open a Danville news bureau.
Lee said cable companies will probably raise their rates again and blame the increase on the local television stations.
But Gretchen Shine, vice president and general manager at Cox Cable, said that's not likely. Cox would have to get approval from the Roanoke, Roanoke County and Vinton governments before any increases could be made.
Shine said she's pleased the negotiations are over. She said it's not so much a victory for Cox as it is a victory for consumers.
She expressed concern that WDBJ could open talks again. But Lee said that was merely to keep the door open if an opportunity arose that would suit both parties. "I had no specific use in mind," he said.
The station, a CBS affiliate, reaches about 261,000 cable-connected homes each week.
"We have this old-fashioned notion that whatever success WDBJ-7 has enjoyed over the last 38 years has been because we put the viewer's interests first," Lee said. "It is not in the viewer's interests, or ours, for us to be dropped by cable systems. . . . Unlike the cable monopolies, we must serve the viewer first or lose the viewer to a competitor."
WDBJ's announcement comes four days after CBS Inc. in New York made a similar announcement. The network had struggled to create a new cable channel, but no deals were made.
Lee said CBS' decision did not affect WDBJ. "Although had there been some sort of new channel arrangement from CBS, we certainly would've wanted to hear about it before coming to this resolution," he said.
In line with the network, WDBJ had announced a proposal to charge cable systems 57 cents per subscriber each month. Negotiation has reduced that amount to as little as 10 cents in some cases, the parties said.
In the Cable Act of 1992, Congress gave ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and their affiliates across the country the freedom to demand money from cable systems in exchange for the right to air their programs. That would be similar to the way cable operators pay to carry channels such as ESPN and Nickelodeon.
But cable systems appeared united in their decision to refuse to pay stations cash, offering instead other forms of payment, such as advertising on cable channels.
CBS led the fight to get the legislation passed last year that allowed compensation for the retransmission of broadcast signals. But CBS' position was weakened when other networks created new channels to offer cable systems instead of cash payment.
Cable negotiations in the region are not yet finished. WSLS of Roanoke, channel 10, has yet to sign with Simmons Cable of Radford.
Fox affiliate WJPR/WVFT is "virtually 100 percent" complete, said the station's spokesman, Drew Pfeiffer. The Fox affiliate is completing the negotiations at the same time it is making management changes. Grant Broadcasting System II Inc. purchased the station in February, and new management took over last month.
by CNB