Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 4, 1995 TAG: 9504050033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The company, parent of Roanoke & Botetourt Telephone Co., said it would activate its wireless cable system in September or October. The company, which several months ago announced it intended to enter the business, said its decision to move ahead with the service follows a Feb. 10 ruling by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., that telephone companies can legally use the wireless channels.
The company will use a microwave transmitter on Tinker Mountain to broadcast cable television signals to receivers of homes and businesses throughout the valley wherever line-of-sight transmission permits.
Satellite dishes at the company's operations center in Troutville will pick up cable signals, which will be carried via fiber-optic cable to the microwave transmitter on the mountain.
Customers must have an 18-inch, grill-like antenna that incorporates the cable converter box. That eliminates the need for a converter box on top of the television, said Bob Nay, the company's vice president for marketing.
The service costs about $70 for installation of the system, Nay said, or between 60 percent and 90 percent of the up-front charge for the new digital satellite dish systems. Monthly charge for the service, he said, will be approximately $18 for 12 cable channels and five off-the-air local network channels.
The proposed cable-channel line-up is: ESPN, TBS, the Learning Channel, Arts & Entertainment, TNT, USA, Discovery, the Nashville Network, Showtime, CNN-Headline News and Nickelodeon. Off-the-air channels in the line-up are: Fox, WDBJ (Channel 7), WSLS (Channel 10), WSET (Channel 13) and WBRA (Channel 15).
Nay said HBO will be offered for an additional charge.
Where it is necessary, an additional antenna will be installed along with the microwave antenna to pick up the off-air channels. The wiring into the home from the two antennas will not be complicated, though, Nay said.
Industry projections indicate that about 10 percent of the existing cable market in the valley are potential customers for the wireless customers as are 40 percent of non-cable subscribers, Nay said.
Some people, whose homes are blocked from the Tinker Mountain transmitter by trees, buildings or other structures, will not be able to get the wireless service.
Roanoke & Botetourt had been in a legal dispute with a New River Valley company, Microwave Television Inc., over whether it had the right to use the frequencies, which were originally allotted for educational television.
Steve Davie, the owner of Microwave Television, could not be reached Monday to determine if he plans further appeals.
Nay said Roanoke & Botetourt is ordering the microwave transmitters and expects to receive them in about 90 days. A trial period will follow to ensure the system is operating properly before the service is offered to the public, he said.
by CNB