Spanish Language Channel Eliminated : Latinos Irate as Southwestern Cable Drops SIN

Southwestern Cable TV’s decision to drop the Spanish International Network, SIN, from its lineup has generated more than 200 letters of protest from unhappy San Diego County Hispanics and other subscribers.

On July 1, Southwestern stopped carrying SIN, a 24-hour channel headquartered in New York that broadcasts movies, serials and news in Spanish. Tom Rackerby, president of the cable company, said the decision was reached “after some heavy-duty research.” But members of the Hispanic community are saying Southwestern, the second-largest cable company in the county, has made a programming mistake.

“When you disrupt what people watch, they are going to write you letters,” Rackerby said. “We don’t do it too often or arbitrarily.”

Paul Espinosa, president of the San Diego chapter of the California Chicano News Media Assn., said he believes Southwestern has lost a potential audience. “Their argument is it’s not commercially viable to put on Spanish-language programs. I think that’s an opinion, not a fact,” he said.

“Major companies, such as McDonald’s and Sears, now have advertisements wholly in Spanish. These companies have a sense that somebody’s out there.”

Last year Southwestern, which serves 89,000 viewers in the area north of Interstate 8 and west of Interstate 15, sent a questionnaire to 90% of its subscribers asking them what they wanted to watch, Rackerby said. The company then conducted a random telephone survey in the area. Based on the questionnaire and survey, the company decided to drop SIN as well as two Los Angeles stations, he said.

Espinosa said cable television has a responsibility to provide Spanish-language programs even if the market is small. “Part of cable TV’s mandate is to provide a certain amount of public service, whether it’s commercially viable or not.”

“SIN is the only Spanish-language programming that, at least in a some minimal way, deals with the issues that affect Hispanics,” said Hector Molina, program producer of ‘Contacto,’ a Spanish-language radio program aired on KPBS-FM.

Molina said listeners have called KPBS to complain that Southwestern dropped SIN. Such SIN programs as ‘Noticiero Nacional’ broadcast from Miami, and ‘Mundo Latino,’ from Los Angeles, are among the few Spanish-language programs that address problems for Hispanics in the United States, he said.

Irma Castro, director of the Chicano Federation, a community advocacy group for Latino concerns, said she regrets Southwestern’s decision to cancel SIN. “I think there’s a real need for the Latino community to have access to Spanish-language programs,” she said.

“That kind of quality programming is usually not available in Spanish. I know people who can capture news, discussions, a whole lot of things, that they would miss if the shows were not in Spanish.”

“San Diego County has one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the country,” Castro said.

The National Hispanic Policy Research Development Project, a research group based in Washington, estimates 450,000 Hispanics live in San Diego County today. The 1980 U.S. Census recorded 275,000 people of Spanish origin in the county.

But Rackerby said he provides cable television to few Spanish-speakers. When 1980 census figures are broken down according to zip codes, it appears only 1 to 2% of the population speaks Spanish in the area Southwestern serves, he said.

“As a cable operator, I have to serve the potential customers within my geographic area. There are a lot of Hispanics in San Diego County. I don’t serve the county,” Rackerby said.

Southwestern carries 25 channels within its basic service, 13 of which are small, independent stations that must be carried because of Federal Communication Commission rules, Rackerby said. “That leaves 12 channels we can choose programming on. SIN was tying up one full 24-hour channel.”

Some Spanish-language programming can still be seen on Southwestern Cable, Rackerby said. A community channel broad

casts a Spanish-language program, ‘Panorama,’ once a week. KSCI, a San Bernardino station, airs programs in Persian, Korean, Japanese and Spanish.

“The number of Asians in our area is equal to the number of Spanish-speakers,” Rackerby said. “Customers say KSCI programming . . . is not as good as SIN. We had to find a middle ground.”

Many of those opposed to dropping SIN are Spanish teachers or students, Rackerby said.

“I used to watch SIN continuously to help me learn Spanish and to familiarize myself with the culture,” Anne Sullivan, a Rancho Bernardo resident, said. “I feel they ought to give us a fair shake. It would be nice to choose some other cable company so we can get what we want.”

Cox Cable, the largest cable company in the county with 258,000 subscribers, carries KMEX, an independent Los Angeles station that shows SIN programs, said Moya Gollaher, the programming director. Cox broadcasts mostly south of Interstate 8, she said.

Paul Espinosa labeled the decision to drop SIN “a chicken-and-egg-type question.”

“You have to ask how many Hispanics and Spanish-language users have cable in the first place,” he said. “How well-publicized is a channel to the specific audience that is going to use it?”