COUNTYWIDE : Comcast to Resume Program for Gays

Reversing a previous decision, Comcast Cablevision will continue to broadcast Spectrum News Network, a news program geared toward gays and lesbians.

“There will be no interruption of the programming,” Comcast general manager David Barford said Tuesday from his Santa Ana office.

Last week, a Comcast programmer told Spectrum’s executive producer K. Bradley Hudson that Comcast would not renew the show’s current 13-week contract, effective March 1, because it had received several complaints, Hudson said.

At the time, Barford acknowledged that complaints had been received but would not say whether they had caused the cancellation.

Barford said Tuesday, however, that after reviewing federal cable laws, Comcast is reversing its position, and he confirmed that complaints had prompted the initial decision. The Cable Act of 1984 allows cable operators limited ability to reject programs--for instance, if they are obscene or defamatory. But it forbids operators’ exercising editorial control over programming.

“This is the first time we’ve run up against this type of thing, and our local programming department, hearing the complaints, made the erroneous decision to not renew the contract based on (Spectrum’s) content and customer complaints,” Barford said. “Legally that is incorrect. As long as (a program) fits the guidelines, no matter what the content is, we are obligated to run it.”

Hudson, who was considering suing Comcast for canceling Spectrum, said Tuesday that he has officially requested a 13-week contract renewal. He pays Comcast $55 a week to air the program, which it shows on Fridays at 10 p.m. in Newport Beach and Seal Beach over its leased access channel, reaching about 23,000 homes. Spectrum has been shown on the channel since mid-November.

“I feel we have the First Amendment (which protects the freedom of speech) on our side and there was nothing in our show that should prevent it from being aired,” he said.

Barford, who did not say how many complaints Comcast had received about Spectrum, said that if more come in, “we’ll have to tell people it’s beyond our control. They’ll have to write their congressmen.”

Meanwhile, opposition against Spectrum continues in Orange, where several viewers recently complained about the show, aired on a public-access channel carried by Cablevision of Orange.