Los Angeles Daily News

Cable TV Shortchanges Many of its Viewers

By Ellen Stern Harris
Guest columnist

Sunday, July 17, 2005 - Quite apart from service problems and not including pay channels or pay-per-view, many in Los Angeles feel we are paying more for cable service and getting less satisfaction than ever before.

Among the imbalances in our locally franchised cable programming, are the following:

	The percentage of paid programming and/or infomercials. We are paying twice: once as subscribers and again by wasting our time by far too many, much too lengthy commercials.
	The frequently simultaneous commercial periods for cable news and commentary channels. Zapping from one to another offers no relief.
	The fact that four-minute commercial "breaks" are becoming more and more common. The Bravo channel recently provided four minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of "West Wing" content.

And this does not include the intermittent, flashing, superimposed promotions for subsequent programming.

The percentage of programming in languages not understood by most in a given franchise area. Among them may be Spanish, Farsi, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Russian.

However, when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attempted to speak in Spanish at the live press conference following the recent terrorist bombing in London, all the local channels — including the Spanish-language ones — cut him off.

	The percentage of programming that is repeated, especially in movies. "Pillow Talk" comes to mind.
	The prevalence of gratuitous sex and violence on cable channels, quite apart from the over-the-air broadcast stations.
	The ratio of sports programming to programming for those uninterested in sports, as well as the prevalence of MTV-type programming for those uninterested in such portrayals.

By now, you may have guessed that I am part of a fast-growing demographic group — those who want what they want at a fair price.

Some of us who are elderly are often more reliant upon in-home entertainment than most viewers. It has become, too often, our window on the world.

Thank heavens for C-SPAN and the California Channel and KLCS. And, for KCET and KOCE. However, more and more lengthy commercials are now intruding into these PBS channels.

To see what our cable TV lineup is missing, in international public policy and cultural programming, go to www.linktv.com This is an invaluable service provided by some of the nation's major foundations.

Yes, I could switch to a satellite dish service but then I couldn't watch my City Council's deliberations or those of the local school board. Or the ever eclectic public access programs.

A former cable TV executive, Bill Rosendahl, recently won election to the Los Angeles City Council. He has said that it is definitely well past time for cable subscribers to be able to pick from an a la carte menu. That means no purchasing expensive packages of channels you don't want, just the few that you do.

It can be done. It is just a matter of letting the city elected officials who grant local cable franchises know that's what the voters want.

Ellen Stern Harris is executive director of Fund for the Environment.