W. Hollywood Delays Revoking Cable TV Franchise

Amid signs that a negotiated settlement may be in store, a divided West Hollywood City Council this week put on hold its threat to revoke the cable television franchise of Century Communications Corp.

With Council Member Helen Albert absent, the council on Monday postponed until April 18 considering a resolution that would revoke the franchise unless the cable company’s problems are resolved in six months.

The four remaining council members were evenly split, with John Heilman and Abbe Land pushing to go ahead with revocation, and Steve Schulte and Alan Viterbi voting to wait.

Like Heilman and Land, Albert has been an outspoken critic of the cable company, which provides cable television to 12,000 households in the city.

Recovering Expenses

The council members did agree to draw $10,000 from a bond Century posted before assuming the franchise in January, 1987, to recover expenses they said the city has incurred since its dispute with the company began last year.

Meanwhile, William J. Rosendahl, Century’s vice president, said Wednesday that negotiations between the company and city officials were “progressing well,” adding that there was “reason for hope” that Century could work out its problems with the city before April 18.

A spokesman for West Hollywood was less optimistic.

“We’re continuing to negotiate, but I wouldn’t say that the status of the situation has changed noticeably since Monday,” said Lloyd Long, the city’s director of human services.

Cable subscribers have complained for months about poor picture quality, frequent service interruptions and inefficiency by the company’s customer service representatives.

The complaints intensified last November after the company began installing high-tech converter boxes that impair the remote control and programming features of videocassette recorders and so-called “cable ready” television sets.

The city says Century has violated the terms of its franchise--which industry sources estimate is worth at least $24 million--by failing to meeting technical standards and customer service commitments.

A city-commissioned study of the cable franchise, released two weeks ago, said that Century failed to meet minimum FCC technical standards at 14 of 15 locations tested.

The company has taken issue with the way the study was conducted. Rosendahl told the council that Century is in compliance with “all the obligations” of the franchise agreement and said that any action to revoke the company’s franchise would be “improper, unfair and inequitable.”

Each of the council members had expressed a willingness to go ahead with revocation on March 28, but were persuaded to postpone action until Monday after City Atty. Michael Jenkins told them it would be best if the action were in the form of a resolution.

However, when the matter came up Monday, Schulte and Viterbi expressed second thoughts. Although critical of the cable company, each said he preferred to wait until April 18 before considering the matter, in order to give negotiations another chance.

Strengthening Position

Schulte said his decision was made with a view toward strengthening the city’s negotiating position.

“There’s no question about anyone backing off from revocation,” he said. “We will go ahead with revocation on April 18, barring some dramatic change on the company’s part. Frankly, my feeling was that (by delaying) it might give the city more of a one-two punch in its negotiations.”

Albert, who had been at the council meeting earlier, including a half-hour closed session immediately before the council took up the cable television issue, left to be with a friend who had suffered a death in the family, an aide to the council member said.

“At the time she left she wasn’t aware that a split (vote) would occur,” said Judy Abdo, the aide, who indicated that Albert was in favor of going ahead with revocation.

Rosendahl’s plea to the council seemed to anticipate that revocation would take place.

‘Making a Mistake’

“I think you’re making a mistake,” he said. “. . . I’ll admit we’ve made mistakes, and I’m very sorry for the misunderstandings that have arisen, but I don’t understand why you have to take action tonight when we’ve taken steps to resolve your concerns.”

That argument did not satisfy Heilman and Land.

“Your customers and our constituents are fed up, and I don’t think there is anything we can do but institute proceedings to revoke your franchise,” Heilman said to Rosendahl. “I don’t feel there’s anything worth discussing anymore.”

Land, alluding to Rosendahl’s statement that the cable company had hired 20 additional people to answer the telephones as part of its customer service improvements, indicated that the company’s efforts were too little, too late.

“For a long time you didn’t address any of our concerns, and you seem only to have begun to do so in the last couple of weeks because, basically, we’ve put a gun to your head,” she said.