IRVINE : Cable TV Rate Hike Sparks Complaints

City Council members and residents vented frustration with Dimension Cable Services this week after the company raised rates and cut channels such as Nickelodeon and CNN Headline News from its least expensive cable service package.

“I’m quite disturbed at the size of the cost increase,” Councilman William A. (Art) Bloomer said.

The council unanimously voted to form a committee to explore ways the city can help create cable TV service competition for Irvine.

A Dimension official said the increase, which began March 1, was the first in more than two years and was needed to cover operating costs. The new rates raised the price of the popular “2-Star” package--which includes such non-premium stations as CNN, A&E; and Bravo--from $8.20 to $9.90 a month, a 21% increase.

Bloomer said the city should take advantage of its non-exclusive contract with Dimension and invite other cable companies to compete for the franchise. Dimension, a subsidiary of Times Mirror Co., took over the city’s 13-year cable franchise from the Irvine Co. last September.

Under federal law, the city cannot set cable television rates. New rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission would give cities more power to regulate cable rates, but those rules are still under review.

Dimension’s rate increase was “poorly timed,” Mayor Michael Ward told Mark Stucky, Dimension’s general manager, at the meeting. “If we had noticed an improvement in the quality of the product, we would have accepted the rate increase without kicking and screaming,” Ward said.

“You all have a PR problem,” Councilman Barry J. Hammond told Stucky.

Stucky acknowledged that the company has received numerous complaints. “You’re right,” he said, “we have to work on the image.” But cable rates had not gone up in the past 2 1/2 years, Stucky explained, and Dimension faced increased employee costs and other expenditures needed to provide service. Some channels were eliminated from basic service to keep the price low, Stucky said.

While raising service rates, the company decreased charges for customers with multiple converter boxes, Stucky said.