ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on Jan. 6.
Correction
A chart listing prices for expanded basic cable television service
that ran Friday did not include franchise fees or other taxes for some
of the jurisdictions listed.
The total billing prices are: Salem, $21.89; Botetourt, $28.30;
Blacksburg, $27.54; Montgomery County, $26.91; Radford, $27.79;
Christiansburg, $27.50; Pulaski, $25.89.
Most Roanoke Valley cable television customers are going to pay a little bit more this year.
After raising prices twice in 1995, Cox Communications is planning a 6.8 percent price increase in its most popular level of service, beginning March 1.
When it goes into effect, Roanoke cable customers with expanded basic service, which cost about $21 monthly a year ago, likely will be paying more than $25 a month. The monthly cost is likely to be more than $26 for customers in Roanoke County and Vinton.
The increase will be the third handed down by the cable company in 13 months.
Gretchen Shine, general manager of Cox's local franchise, declined to detail the proposed price increases or say why they are necessary.
"At this point, we are not settled on what that rate increase will be," Shine said.
Cox will announce the new rates Jan. 29, she said. Final numbers depend on the company's interpretation of several recent Federal Communications Commission rulings.
But Shine outlined proposed "rate adjustments" to the Roanoke Valley Cable Television Committee during a Nov. 1 meeting, saying final rate increases might vary by "a penny, or two, or three," depending on FCC rate formulas.
At that time, Shine justified the increases as a combination of inflation, adding channels to the line-up and increased "programming costs.''
Cox recently added Bravo, a movie and arts channel, E!, an entertainment channel, and Outdoor Life, a sporting channel, to its expanded basic lineup. It plans to add Speedvision, a racing channel, to the expanded basic package later this year. Some other channels are being previewed for a time, but will become part of a more expensive level of service than expanded basic.
The company has 55,706 customers in the valley. About 59 percent live in the city, 34 percent live in the county, and 7 percent live in Vinton. The vast majority subscribe to the expanded basic service.
Cable systems in Salem, Botetourt County, Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Pulaski, Radford and Christiansburg are run by other cable television companies. Spokespersons for those companies said they had no plans for price increases in the near future.
Exclusive of its premium channels such as HBO, Cox has a three-tiered rate system:
Basic service, which provides 14 channels.
Expanded basic, or Cox Preferred Service, which includes the 14 basic channels plus 31 others and is the most popular service.
Packages of six or seven additional channels known as "Star" or "Star Plus" cost an additional $4.25 or $5.95 monthly, respectively. Shine told the committee that Cox plans to expand the Star package to a total of nine channels at a cost of $6.95 per month.
A consultant for the cable committee found the proposed increase in basic rates in line with FCC rules, City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said.
The committee has the power to regulate price increases for basic rates, but only if they exceed federal guidelines.
Under federal law enacted a few years ago, the FCC assumed regulatory oversight for cable television pricing across the country. Nevertheless, said an industry watchdog, that hasn't stopped companies from overcharging customers.
"I'm quite confident that part of [the recent increases] ... is overcharges, but not illegal ones, unfortunately," said Bradley Stillman, telecommunication policy director for the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer Federation of America. "It's overcharges that the FCC has allowed it to do."
He noted that in typical cable companies, the cost of providing cable services actually goes down as time goes on, relative to inflation.
"I think it's a thing people should be concerned about," said Audrey Guthrie, a Cox customer who lives in Southwest Roanoke. "I don't know what return Cox Cable gets on its investment, and I'm all for a fair rate of return. But it seems to me Cox's rates are rising higher than the cost of other things."
Guthrie recalled one of the increases last year, in which "they said, 'we're giving you three more stations.' ... Well, I didn't want those three additional stations in the first place."
The company raised rates last February when it added the Disney Channel, Home Team Sports, the Home and Garden Channel and a religious channel to its expanded basic lineup.
Rates jumped again in August, when the FCC allowed cable companies to recoup costs from inflation in 1993 and 1994.
Cox also agreed to issue $1.20 rebates to about 18,000 customers in the county after the FCC ruled the company overcharged subscribers for Mind Extension University, a feature it runs late at night on public access Channel 9.
The refund went only to county subscribers because nobody from Roanoke or Vinton complained to the FCC about the charge, Shine said in September.
Staff Writer Ken Singletary contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Charts by staff. 1. Expanded cable rates. 2. Basicby CNBcable rates. color.