from: Bradenton Herald [1]

Posted on Fri, Sep. 07, 2007
Cable channel change
Bright House switch should be affordable

Government-access TV programming was created in the early days of the cable era as an inexpensive way to provide average citizens easy access to the actions of their governments. Giving viewers a way to watch their county commission or city council in action was considered a small payback by cable companies for the privilege of stringing their cables through public rights of way so they could make big profits off people's love of commercial television programming.

Now Bright House Networks is preparing to limit public access to those channels - in Manatee County, Channel 20 for MGA (Manatee Government Access) and Channel 21 for METV (Manatee Educational Television). On Dec. 11, the cable provider plans to switch those stations throughout its seven-county market in the Tampa Bay region from analog to digital. That means subscribers to Bright House's lowest-priced basic package will have to pay more to rent a converter box to maintain their access to the educational channels. The precise amount of the monthly digital-converter fee has not yet been determined, company officials said.

Nor has the company decided to what numbers the government-access channels will be assigned - whether they will stay in the bottom 24 that currently make up basic service or move far up to the top of the dial. That decision is important to the viewership of stations like MGA and METV. If it stays in the lower tier, more viewers are likely to run across the stations when clicking between popular network and independent channels. If put way up in the 100s or even 300s, there will be far less pass-through traffic to educational fare by channel surfers.

Bright House justifies the change as a means of putting uniformity into its cable channel lineup. If someone moves from Bradenton to, say, St. Petersburg, he or she would find the same set of numbers for favorite programs and networks. With some 80,000 moves per year within the company's market area, that's a substantial service improvement.

Bright House also says the digital mode will give customers a clearer picture than that provided by analog. No quarrel with that. The signal on the two local channels, 20 and 21, are uneven and often of poor quality. A crystal-clear picture would be another benefit to subscribers.

One concern is the monthly pricing of this new service. Company officials say the converter box, valued at $6.95 at full price, will be "very, very" discounted for customers who wish to make the switch. Pressed for exactly how much that discount will be, a company spokesman said it would be "closer to zero than $6.95."

The lower the fee, the better. Of the approximately 40 percent of Bright House customers who do not have digital service, many doubtless have not made the switch for a reason: They can't afford it. For people on very limited incomes, any price increase represents hardship.

We would not object to the change if the company promised to keep the government-access channels in the low tier of numbers and offered it free to low-income customers. That would demonstrate that the change is about public service, not profit.

Is Bright House's plan to switch to MGA and METV to digital service important to you? Share your views in the Opinion section of Bradenton.com.