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from: Grand Rapids Press

Comcast Switch May Limit Grand Rapids’ Election Coverage
January 14, 2008

Jon Koeze, administrator of the city’s cable television access Channel 26, does not score big ratings on most evenings.

Now he is afraid a switch by Comcast cable will ruin one of his biggest nights of the year Tuesday.

City cable subscribers who look for city results from Tuesday’s presidential primary election will not find them on Channel 26. That is because Comcast is moving its public, educational and government channels to Channel 915 that same day.

Unless viewers have a converter box from Comcast or own the latest digital-compatible television, they will not be able to tune into Channel 915, Koeze said.

“People are going to tune into our channel, and it won’t be there,” said Koeze, who has been cable-casting election results on Channel 26 since 1998.

City Clerk Terri Hegarty said she is bracing for Comcast complaints once voters find out they cannot see the city results Tuesday night.

“I’m very concerned,” she said, adding she rarely sees an election night party where the city’s cable channel is not being watched.

Also disappointed is Jose Capeles, a junior at Central High School and student producer of television shows on Grand Rapids Public School’s educational station.

Capeles, who is working on an issues-oriented program that appears on Channel 27, said his parents and many of his friends will not be able to see his work when Comcast moves the programming to Channel 902.

“Our TV is an older model. It’s as old as me,” said the 17-year-old.

John Helmholdt, a spokesman for Grand Rapids Public Schools, said dozens of parents and students will miss out on viewing student programming, school board meetings and other programs the school system sends out over Channel 27.

Comcast is supposed to be partnering with the school’s public access channels, but most school officials learned of the switch by reading the newspaper, Helmholdt said.

The switch also is affecting the schools’ and city’s ability to use public access channels in their own facilities.

Though the city and schools have numerous televisions that are tuned to the public access channels for internal use, Comcast is offering them only one converter box per building.

Koeze said Comcast officials have told him the city will need to pay more than $80 a month for additional cable hookups.

Helmholdt said Comcast’s one-free-box-per-school promise won’t give educators enough access to educational channels.

“What’s getting lost is the true intent of public access,” he said.

Patrick Paterno, a spokesman for Comcast, said cable subscribers have had plenty of time to acquire their converter boxes. Comcast announced the switch to its customers on Nov. 15, he said.

Until the end of the month, Comcast is offering one box per household for free to customers for the first year, Paterno said. Customers can pick up the box at Comcast offices, or call (877) 824-2984 for shipment or delivery, he said.

As for the schools, Paterno said they can avail themselves of technology that will allow them to distribute their one free “video drop” to all of the televisions in their facilities.

“Most schools have IT departments, and they can figure out what to do,” he said.