THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602140156
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Poor Jack Edwards. Sometimes the beleaguered manager of Falcon Cable TV must wonder what's next.
Just when the complaints seem to be subsiding, along comes a foulup that puts the adult-rated ``Spice'' channel on the screens of children watching Saturday morning cartoons - again. Or television screens by the thousands go snowy when electrical power surges disable equipment.
Then the telephones - at the cable company and at the homes and businesses of City Council members and city officials - are rung off the hook by consumers who say this is the last straw.
Well, ``Spice'' is off the air until all the related problems are fixed. And television service is back after the recent storm.
But the outage and related complaints caused city officials to wonder anew if Falcon has the equipment, skill - and perhaps most pressing, intent - to run a contemporary cable franchise.
Poor Suffolk consumers. Falcon holds the city's cable television franchise, even if the outfit isn't up to providing reliable, satisfactory service.
If consumers want local programming, including School Board and City Council meetings, Falcon is their only choice. And it's expensive to boot.
In Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Newport News, local-programming junkies can pay Cox Cable Hampton Roads about $8.75 a month - taxes account for variations - for limited service that lets them keep a watchful eye on their city councils while reclining in the comforts of home.
In Chesapeake, TCI Cable offers a 19-channel package, including local programming, for $10.36.
Suffolk consumers have no such economical option. To get Falcon's ``basic'' 35-channel package, including local programming, you fork over $21.89.
TCI provides 58 channels for $23.48; Cox, 58 for $26.22.
As Falcon officials so often point out, Suffolk's rural character makes it a bit more challenging to provide service economically. Reliably, too, apparently.
That's as true in other Falcon franchises, including the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, as here.
The complaints aren't entirely economical. Far from it.
Deliver quality service, and customers in such areas will willingly pay a premium. Take them for granted, though, and eventually they'll have the last word, pulling the plug on converter boxes and closing their wallets.
Things are getting to that point in Suffolk. The City Council has demanded improvements, and Falcon has promised them. If you're a Falcon customer, you be the judge: Are you satisfied they've been delivered? Or is it time the city put some effort into enforcing terms of Falcon's contract?
Citizens need to get involved, with a letter-writing campaign to the city manager, demanding that (1) the city look closely at steps to end Falcon's franchise if conditions are not being met; (2) invite competing cable operator(s) to bid on franchises; or (3) negotiate with other carriers to otherwise deliver municipal programming.
Competing companies, including small-satellite operators, are making inroads, but they cannot deliver municipal programming. The city, then, is providing Falcon a monopoly while questioning the quality of its product.
It doesn't have to be this way. If enough people write to the city manager, things will change. They must. by CNB