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Show . X" r , - amp; i , - ' ' ! " ' ' '' ' " ! it' j "iJrw ' ; " I rv' .1 J""'" ,1- '2, . - -'"" -i X ' ' I ' T. i . . U , - . . ' " i" ... V , i: i ( S V -X - ' ; . -",-.., . . . "is , , " .-.",, ' . ": M' s t a , ,"'"' s it. I CHELE TV COMING lyTOM BUSSELBERG - : BTIFUL - If city of-- of-- s act quickly on a new ' TV ordinance and t . companies cooperate, i"ifu! could have cable TV 'ember, as originally "ed. a cable TV official ad EOSGE LEE, district f tor Utah, Idaho and Ic, part-owners of Community . ",!sn, holders of a ""(ul cable franchise, vare "waiting on a J' v from Boun- it; lathers and "are in i I r.'r,Ks of getting con-I con-I tJfnJm utilities ' -f 'eall the original :'J, fne and are trying -'; arrangement ls' said. If the ; move fast, then cable atlfi r.S'oveatafast f . uts include deter-j deter-j 1re cable must be MC 'applied tor a tv , tlh Mountain Bell I get that signed, lqOSN'.;rd'"ance gets ,9.9Jr II be able to contact :i , power) about ,.'ten wait until the ampanycan clear r an bunding," WCTV was granted a nonexclusive non-exclusive franchise in 1966 for 50 years. And up to now, not much exists to show for that franchise, City Manager Grant Petersen said. "Up to now they've never done anything except keep in touch." He said the new ordinance or-dinance would "bring things up to date. We're now in the process of reviewing cable TV and getting pretty close to where we can present the ordinance to the council for consideration." CITY ATTORNEY Layne Forbes said he hopes for completion of the ordinance within two or three weeks. It will be far more specific than the present ordinance. "The old ordinance just simply grants the franchise and establishes es-tablishes a rate. The new one will be much more specific, including how many channels are available and how many of those have to be for public service, will specify some technical standards, require that they maintain an office in the city and establish a customer cus-tomer complaint procedure. "It will also specify that they have to have repair people available in case something goes wrong in the system, establish es-tablish a pole rental fee and royalties to go to the city between three and five percent," per-cent," he added. "The existing exist-ing ordinance sets a two per- No one is saying for sure, but depending on city officials and utility companies, Bountiful residents could be watching cable TV late this year. Some programs will be received from satelites using equipment such as this in Ogden. cent rate but the Federal Communications Commission has been approving between three and five percent. "HOPEFULLY there'll be some provision that they won't show any kind of ob- scene movies and hopefully that will have them (cable operators) aware of what they're showing," Mr. Forbes said, although he made it clear that didn't mean the city wanted a censory board. Three other cable companies com-panies have expressed interest in serving Bountiful, Mr. Petersen said, although all offer about the same options. op-tions. They are Community TV, Cable Communications, Inc. and an operation headed 1 by Arden Coombs, an Ogden attorney. "THEY'RE ALL about the same. 1 don't think anyone would go in (any other company) com-pany) if one had the okay," he said. "Back in December the companies said they could be operating before the end of 1979 and all said they were willing to put up a performance perfor-mance bond. My guess is we'll probalby have WCTV, everything being equal." In literature prepared by WCTV for its Davis County franchises, including Bountiful, Boun-tiful, North Salt Lake, Kays-ville, Kays-ville, Layton, Clearfield and Sunset, "in excess of 30 channels" were noted for potential po-tential use along with eventual even-tual two-way communication between cities. IN THAT report, dated Nov. 8, 1978, a construction start was projected for from 150 to 180 days from that time, or by early this month. That, of course, did not forsee the ordinance or-dinance delay presently holding hold-ing things up. Some 371 miles of cable are projected for Davis County including 280 overhead and 91 underground. Cost is set at $6,000 a mile overhead and $15 000 a mile underground. Some 30,000 homes will receive service with a central distribution point to be built probably in or near Kays-ville, Kays-ville, the literature said. LINES WOULD be laid' from north to south in the county. Installation would cost $14.95 with a $7.55 monthly fee for regular cable service and an added rate of $9 for Home Box Office, providing recent full-length movies, sporting events and special programming. But residents and city officials of-ficials alike may wonder why, as City Manager Petersen said, WCTV officials haven't done much more than "keep in touch" since 1966. OFFERING SOME reasons was WCTV manager Allen Sharp. "We obtained a franchise and have been sitting sit-ting on it ever since. At the time, (1966) broadcasters could see a threat. They were heavily regulated and could see a problem of takeover (in viewership by cable companies). com-panies). They went to the FCC, and the FCC said in major markets, (Salt Lake City is among the top 50 markets) to sit back and look at the situation. "The FCC didn't allow any development between 1966-67 and 1972," he continued. "We hear some from others that we've just been sitting but it hasn't been all voluntary. In 1973 we did build here (Salt Lake City) and Ogden and at that point examined whether it was good financially. "YOU LOOK at any big city and people don't really need it (cable)," Mr. Sharp said. "It was started to serve areas that didn't have local TV or good reception. We now have 30-35 percent saturation in the three areas (Salt Lake, Ogden and Provo)." Not only did the FCC hold the company up, but when the tabs were pulled by that agency, financing was a definite consideration, he said. "With costs involved it was very borderline. And the payback wouldn't be for seven to nine years, and could be considerably longer (on initial ini-tial investment)." WCTV AND other cable systems across the country got an economic shot in the arm when federal authorities allowed satellite transmission - less than two years ago. Formerly, For-merly, and still to a large degree for WCTV and others, signals from distant stations were relayed by microwave stations placed at intervals from the station to the market area. Stations in Denver and Northern California are relayed to Utah customers in that way. "Now, the whole industry is in a goldrush-type situation," he said. "There are lots of new companies and they all say they'll jump in and get the service going. Now it's economical for others to come into Davis County and Ogden. It's a matter of economics." |
