U.S. Firm Will Take Cable-TV to Poland

Viewers in Warsaw and Krakow, Poland, soon may begin watching CNN, ESPN and MTV, a Connecticut company said Thursday in announcing that it will build Poland’s first cable television system.

Poland’s government and Chase Enterprises of Hartford, Conn., announced plans for the $900-million, 20-year joint venture to take cable television to the country’s 8 million homes. More than 90% of Poland’s homes have television sets.

The new system will add 18 stations--including an American 24-hour news show, sports programming and the latest music videos--to Poles’ current sparse diet of two state-run stations broadcasting only a part of the day.

The cost for the service will be from $8.50 in local currency for a basic seven-channel service up to $22.50 a month for full service. Premium channels must be paid for in hard currency, such as dollars.

The 450-megahertz system is expected to deliver programs beamed from satellites, as well as Polish programming of movies, drama and sports.

The first phase of construction will begin within months in Warsaw and Krakow, followed by Gdansk, Katowice and Poznan, serving nearly 2 million households.

David Chase, a Polish Jew who escaped from a Nazi concentration camp at the age of 14, heads the U.S. company that holds 70% of the venture, Polska Telewizja Kablowa.

The remainder is held by Poltelkab SA, a partnership of entities of the Polish government including the Polish postal service, a Polish radio and television production company, and municipal governments of Warsaw and Krakow.

The basic service will carry the Italian RAI UNO, French TV 5, two Polish stations, Russian programming, local programming and perhaps the European Cable News Network.

An additional $8 a month in dollars or another hard currency will buy a movie channel, the Disney channel, the European Eureka channel, the American Arts and Entertainment channel, Music Television and a classical music channel.

A third tier of programming with sports and other channels will cost another $6 a month in hard currency.

Chase told a news conference that he was quite emotional about being able to provide the service because he had just learned that Polish Ambassador to the United States Jan Kinast had been an inmate at Auschwitz at the same time as himself.

Kinast said the venture is “proof that Poland . . . is fully open to cooperation abroad.” He said he was enthusiastic about the joint venture, calling it part of a train that is “going faster and faster and leaving behind those who have doubts.”

Poland is one of several East Bloc nations that is undergoing economic and political reform. Poland’s Solidarity-led government, appointed in September, hopes to begin a complete overhaul of the country’s financial, employment and market sectors early next year.