Prime says cable customers aren't clamoring for public access

If Prime Cable were to add a community access channel to its system, an existing commercial station would have to be taken off the air.

And right now, a cable executive said, consumers have several other channels they'd rather see on their cable system than a public access channel devoted to informing the public about programs and activities offered by dozens of community organizations in the Las Vegas Valley.

But Harris Bass, vice president and general manager of Prime Cable, said the company is considering public access in franchise negotiations with Clark County and four municipalities in a new agreement being drawn as a result of Cox Communications Inc.'s $1.3 billion acquisition of Prime Cable.

Presently controlled by the Greenspun family, owners of the Las Vegas Sun, Prime Cable is expected to be sold to Atlanta-based Cox in deal announced in May. The Greenspun family will have a minority interest in the cable operation when the deal is completed in the fall.

It's the negotiations between Cox, Prime and the government entities that a coalition of nonprofit organizations believes should be publicly scrutinized. Negotiators with Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City have been meeting with Prime Cable and Cox to hammer out details of the new franchise agreement.

Public access is one issue among many under consideration and the arrival of Cox at the table is looked upon as an opportunity to develop a franchise pact that is consistent across the Las Vegas Valley.

Among the issues in the negotiations are national customer service concerns, including the amount of late fees paid by subscribers, credits for system outages and notification of neighborhoods when facilities are placed on residential property. Local government officials are also trying to increase their cut of franchise fees from 3 percent to 4 percent.

The coalition pressing for a public access channel, the Citizens for Public Access Television Vegas (CPA-TV), conducted a press conference Tuesday to criticize the county for keeping them out of the process.

Flanked by representatives of several of the more than 35 nonprofit organizations supporting CPA-TV, Tina Schafer, the group's leader, also was critical of Prime Cable for being partially responsible for the delay of implementation of a government access channel. Clark County signed a franchise agreement with Prime Cable in 1981, but Channel 4, the government access station, didn't debut until 1997.

But the county took the brunt of Schafer's criticism. She said the Clark County Commission has ignored her requests for action for more than a year and she says the county violates its own statutes by not having a cable communications advisory board, which she thinks should be a part of the franchise negotiations process.

Jim Spinello, manager of franchise and legislative affairs for Clark County, said an advisory board used to exist, but it quietly disbanded in the late 1980s when the deregulation of the telecommunications industry was picking up steam and there was less emphasis on government-sanctioned oversight groups.

Spinello contends the public's interests are well served in the negotiations with several proposals generated by focus groups and survey responses from about 9,000 Prime Cable customers being taken to the table. Spinello noted Schafer was on one of the focus groups.

In addition, public hearings will be scheduled on the franchise agreement and an accompanying ordinance. Spinello said the first hearing is planned Aug. 31. If the process goes as currently planned, another hearing would be conducted Sept. 15 and commissioners could take a final vote on the ordinance Sept. 29 or 30.

But even if public access is a part of the new agreement, there could be several months of work ahead before a channel could go on the air. Spinello and Schafer separately suggested the formation of nonprofit board of directors to oversee content and logistical issues.

While government officials have concerns about what groups would have access to the cable, Schafer said those issues could be the responsibility of the board overseeing content. That's the way public access television is administered in Reno, she said.

CPA-TV said it envisioned the station as an outlet for organizations to explain their programs and causes on a first come-first served basis. But some officials say they are wary of extremist groups using cable to espouse hate messages and obscene content.

For Prime Cable's Bass, it's also an economic issue.

Bass said new channels are added based on viewer research. Because his company is competing with wireless cable and satellite dishes, which don't have requirements to provide channel access, every new channel added has to be carefully evaluated.

Bass said the need for public access channels would have to be proven.

Because every channel takes up bandwidth, any new channel would result in the deletion of an existing channel -- but that could change.

Prime Cable is in the middle of a vast system upgrade that ultimately will result in additional channel capacity. By the third quarter of 1999, Bass said, Prime will have 18 analog channels and 200 digital channels available.

How the channel would be paid for also is subject to negotiation. Bass said the negotiations revolve around the percentage of Prime gross revenues paid to municipalities. Last year, it amounted to $2.8 million to the five entities, including $1.1 million to the City of Las Vegas.

The municipalities do not consider the fees a revenue source since the money generally pays for street and sidewalk repairs when cable goes into a neighborhood.

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