IRVINE : Hearing Scheduled on Cable TV Pact

The City Council this week said it intends to renew the city’s contract with Community Cablevision and will conduct a public hearing on April 28 to listen to comments and opposition.

The proposed agreement would grant the Irvine Co. subsidiary a 13-year contract to provide cable-television service to city residents. The company’s current 15-year contract with the city expires in August.

Under proposed terms of the renewal, Community Cablevision will improve picture quality and reliability and increase the number of channels from 38 to 60. The company will also commit to providing at least 80 channels by 2002.

The improvements called for by the proposed contract include replacing signal boosters needed along current transmission lines with a modern fiber-optic line and converting to a more modern technique of scrambling the pay channels.

The boosters and current scrambling technique are said to be the main reasons some customers receive fuzzy pictures, one of the chief complaints from customers.

The proposed contract also calls for the company to give the city $650,000 during the first few years of the contract for the purchase of equipment or facilities needed to produce public education and government programs.

Community Cablevision also would donate another $200,000, adjusted for inflation over the length of the contract, in 10 years for the replacement of aging public education equipment.

The hearing on the cable agreement will be held during the council’s 6:30 p.m. session on April 28 at City Hall.