The latest salvo in the battle between cable operators and the public will be fired Thursday in the offices of the Chicago Cable Commission. That’s when Prime Cable, one of two city franchises, will ask to drop one of its public-access channels in favor of C-SPAN (bumped this year). At the same time, Chicago Access Corp. will try to regain one of the channel slots it had relinquished.
As part of the original agreement between the city and the cable operators, the franchise holder had to set aside 10 percent of its capacity-six channels-for public-access stations. The non-profit CAC, which runs the public-access stations, at the time turned back one of its six channels to the cable operators because it wasn’t being used. CAC relinquished the channel with the understanding that CAC could get it back if needed.
But Prime claims it can’t give it back, saying it needs all the channel space it can muster because of subsequent must-carry provisions and retransmission agreements. In fact, Prime Vice President Warren Rodgers figures his company needs to add a half-dozen channels.
“This won’t resolve the problem,” Rodgers said. “It just gives us a little breathing room. We’re not asking for permanent use of the channel.”
Although Prime, unlike TCI-owned Chicago Cable, has multiple tiers of HBO and Showtime, Rodgers said it needs “revenue-producing programming” to offset non-commercial channels such as C-SPAN.
According to CAC executive director Barbara Popovic, Prime at first requested the change because it said the public-access channel was “underutilized.” But, she said, “a lot of the support material Prime supplied the city (last week) speaks to . . . (Prime’s) economic circumstances.”
CAC, meanwhile, is petitioning the cable commission to regain the channel it lost in order to add the Chicago Education Network, a coalition of groups that includes the Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union.
The two sides tried to work out their differences Friday, but they couldn’t come to an agreement.
“Our position is not to harm services we’ve worked so hard to establish,” Popovic said. “Prime’s solution would require either time sharing or a split screen, where you couldn’t even read the words.”
“We were not trying to get them to agree to our approach,” Rodgers said. “The commission’s going to be the final arbiter. We were just discussing our options with (CAC officials).”
Numbers game: Since replacing “The People’s Court” last month, WBBM-Ch. 2’s 4 p.m. newscast has averaged a 4.1 rating with an 11 share, down 30.5 percent from the 5.9/16 for the last month of “Court” reruns. “For an initial launch of a telecast, I’m pleased,” said Bob McGann, Channel 2 vice president/general manager. “You can’t really compare it to `People’s Court,’ an established program that won that time period for years. And the `Hard Copy’ situation with O.J. (Simpson) has been driving some pretty good numbers (at 4 p.m. on WMAQ-Ch. 5).”
Hear and there: WCEV-AM (1450) celebrates its 15th anniversary Saturday as “Chicagoland’s Ethnic Voice.” Broadcasting in 10 languages, the station is operated by the Joseph Migala family in Cicero. . . . WLS-Ch. 7 tapes a special Saturday morning featuring Gov. Jim Edgar and Democratic opponent Dawn Clark Netsch answering schoolchildren’s questions. Diann Burns and Alan Krashesky host “Kids Viewpoint: Race for Governor,” which airs at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 15. . . . WGN-Ch. 9 adds a weekly “Ask the Doctor” segment, with pediatrician Alita Clark, to its “Morning News” starting Wednesday. . . . Dave Mayber, a local sales manager since 1991, has been named director of sales at WMAQ-Ch. 5.
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