Cypress to Export Cable TV Across County Line

Residents of a tiny Lakewood-area neighborhood tucked between Coyote Creek and the Orange County line will soon become the last on their blocks--literally--to get MTV and “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.”

The Board of Supervisors last week approved an unusual franchise application from Copley/Colony Cablevision of Cypress Inc. to extend its cables a few feet out of Orange County and into Los Angeles County, providing the area with its first cable television service. A final ordinance permitting the franchise is expected to be approved by the board shortly.

The move will bring cable to 30 homes clustered just inside the Los Angeles County line on the dead-ends of six Orange County streets--Emerald Circle, Pearl Circle and Fontainbleau, Garnet, Jade and Opal avenues.

Melinda Shapiro, of the county’s Facilities Management Department, said the county sought Copley/Colony’s help because geographical and political boundaries had isolated the unincorporated county territory, leaving it without cable service when the neighboring cities of Lakewood and Cypress installed their systems.

Lakewood’s cable system, which began operating in 1982, was constructed to the eastern edge of the city, ending at Coyote Creek, she said. And, although Cypress’ dead-end streets cross into Los Angeles County and create the tiny neighborhood, the City of Cypress in 1985 built its cable system inside its city limits, stopping at the Orange County line within feet of the homes.

Shapiro said there are other small pockets in county territory that are still not served by cable, including some in remote canyon areas, but “this one was one of those once-in-a-lifetime situations, with the river getting in the way on one side, and the Orange County line on the other. As it turns out, we’re going to have Los Angeles County residents being served by an Orange County cable system.”

Copley/Colony will offer basic cable service for $9.95 a month.