Hearing Set on United Cable’s Request to Extend Franchise

East San Fernando Valley residents will have an opportunity to ask officials of United Cable Television of Los Angeles Inc. about delays in the start-up of the cable TV system in their area at a hearing Tuesday night in Van Nuys.

The city’s Board of Telecommunications Commissioners has scheduled the hearing on United’s request for a 10-year extension of its East Valley cable TV franchise. The commission will make a recommendation to the City Council, which will decide the issue.

Normally, such hearings--required by law when a cable TV company seeks a franchise renewal--are held to give the cable system’s customers an opportunity to comment on the quality of service. City officials then decide whether to impose new requirements, perhaps for additional types of programming, on the cable TV operator. The city also can open up the franchise to another firm.

But United has yet to provide cable TV service to a single home in the East Valley. The firm recently received city approval for a 10-month extension to October, 1986, to complete the system, which will serve 165,000 homes east of the San Diego Freeway and north of Ventura Boulevard, excluding Sun Valley and part of Sylmar.

United officials are seeking to extend their franchise now because, they say, the company cannot obtain financing to complete the $60-million system without it. They say no bank will lend money based on the existing franchise because it expires in 1987 and does not give the company enough time to recover its investment.

The hearing will be at 7 p.m. at Fulton Junior High School, Saticoy Street and Kester Avenue.

Residents attending the hearing may question United officials about the delays and comment on the kind of programming they would like to see, according to Ron Hale, an engineer in the city’s Department of Transportation, which regulates cable TV.

United officials have blamed the delays in completion of the system on a number of circumstances, including a tightening financial market that has made it more difficult to borrow money.

The city could deny United’s request for a 10-year extension. But the city’s staff members involved in cable TV regulation have called a denial unlikely because no other firms may be interested in providing the service. The cable TV industry has proved to be less lucrative than once believed, they said.

In another cable TV development, Valley Cable TV, which serves the West Valley, announced plans to reduce local programming, especially high school sports coverage, due to a loss in 1984 of more that $10 million.