Santa Ana Cable Firm Warns Enforcement Will Raise Rates

Cable TV service rates in Santa Ana will go up if the city insists that Comcast Corp. spend “multimillions of dollars” on items “that would not benefit subscribers,” a company vice president said Tuesday.

City Manager David N. Ream sent a letter to Comcast on Monday, saying the company is violating four sections of its franchise agreement with the city and will be fined $1,000 per day beginning Dec. 1 as long as it remained in violation.

The city wants the company to build a cable TV studio and set a timetable for linking Santa Ana with other cable systems in Orange County. Santa Ana also wants Comcast to continue funding local programming, company Vice President Jim Bequette said, “far in excess . . . of other systems.”

The City Council discussed the matter in closed session Monday, catching the cable company by surprise.

“They gave us no notification it would be discussed,” Bequette said. “We’ve been in discussion with them for over a year . . . trying to have the franchise amended to take out some very costly items . . . that would not benefit the customer.”

Bequette said Comcast has been negotiating with Santa Ana since it took over management of Group W Cable’s franchise in 1986. When it bought the franchise last summer, he said, the company did not accept the provisions of the franchise that the city is trying to enforce.

But the city never approved Comcast’s agreement with Group W, Ream said.

“We renegotiated (the franchise) agreement with Group W in good faith . . . in December, 1984, Ream said. “They (Comcast) assumed the obligations of that agreement, . . . and we see no reason to negotiate it again.”

Bequette said that if Comcast complies with the city’s demands, “the costs would certainly have to be passed on to the customers. We have the lowest rates in Orange County for all major operators, . . . but we won’t be able to keep it up.”

Comcast subscribers pay $13.50 for basic monthly service and $8.50 for each additional pay channel. Bequette would not say how much the rates might increase because of the city’s demands.