Cox Slips a Holiday Goodie to Subscribers--a Rate Hike

Cox Cable will be slipping a little something extra into the holiday stockings of its 300,000 subscribers--a notice that the price of basic cable service will increase by $2 a month starting Jan. 1.

The cable system notified the city of San Diego last week of the increase, from $17.95 to $19.95. In effect, the notice was just a courtesy: With the powerful cable industry lobby having once again stalled efforts to re-regulate cable franchises earlier this year, the city is basically powerless to do anything about the new charge. The City Council is exploring ways to assert some control over local cable companies, perhaps by creating “zones” open to competition, but at this point the city remains just an agitated bystander.

The new rate is the result of a 24% increase in the cost of programming, according to Sandy Murphy, a Cox spokeswoman. Cox advised the city about the increase as something of a formality, primarily in an effort to keep the cable system’s relationship with the city as warm and friendly as possible, she said.

In general, Cox and the other cable systems try hard to come across as nice folks, to dispel the image that some people have of cable companies as the black hat characters of media. Inviting reporters to the Cox Cable box for Padres and Chargers games, press releases showing cable executives hugging small furry animals, and polite chats with local government are all part of the game.

“We have not done a good enough job of letting people know what they get for their money,” Murphy said.

All in all, it was a busy week in the Cox public relations department. On Wednesday, Cox went into damage control mode after a story appeared in the San Diego Union about the decision to add Chicago “superstation” WGN and drop Los Angeles’ KTTV (Channel 11).

The story, which appeared in the Union’s sports section, suggested that the Cox decision would be a winner for fans of the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, whose games are carried on WGN, but a loser for Dodgers fans, who will lose out on Channel 11’s Dodgers coverage.

The article was accurate in assuming Cubs fans will be happy and Dodgers fans upset. It didn’t even mention how the move would crush the three or four San Diegans who love to watch Bill Ritter’s nightly newscasts.

But after the Union article came out, Cox officials called the local media to “clarify” the story. No, no, they said, Dodger games will still be found on ESPN, WTBS, KUSI-TV (Channel 51) and WGN. There probably will be only 25 fewer Dodger games on television next year, they pointed out.

Their argument makes sense, to a degree. But to Dodger fans the loss of 25 games and the ability to hear Vin Scully call those games makes them feel the way Los Angeles Laker fans feel every time KUSI-TV (Channel 51) decides not to air a Lakers game carried by Channel 9 in Los Angeles. It happens only a few times a year, but it drives Lakers fans crazy.

Dodger fans are not going to be pleased, regardless of what Cox says. But who cares? WGN is a great channel, including Bulls and DePaul basketball games as well as dozens of baseball games. The vast majority of subscribers will certainly appreciate it.

Of course, the press release announcing the move didn’t mention the upcoming rate increase. Trumpeting the addition of a popular channel a week before announcing a rate increase is known as shrewd strategy in the cable industry.

With Cox, it always takes a little time to sift through the rhetoric.

For example, in explaining the decision to drop Channel 11, Cox pointed out that Channel 11’s programs are often blacked out under syndicated exclusivity guidelines, since much of its programming is carried by XETV (Channel 6). Under Syndex, which went into effect last year, programs that are carried by local channels are blacked out by the local cable systems when the programs air on certain Los Angeles stations, like KCOP (Channel 13).

In fact, Cox doesn’t have to give Syndex protection to Channel 6. Channel 6 is based in Mexico, and, most agree, cable systems don’t have to honor its Syndex requests. As a courtesy, most San Diego cable systems give it only “simultaneous” protection, which means when a Channel 6 program airs at the same time on another channel, the cable system will black out the other channel. But that’s it.

Cox, however, voluntarily gives Channel 6 full Syndex protection whenever Channel 6 asks for it. Which means only a few more shows and movies are blacked out than with other systems, but this is the same Cox Cable that directed customer complaints about Syndex to the federal government.

The decision to give Channel 6 Syndex protection benefits Channel 6, but not Cox subscribers, who get either a half-hour paid commercial or a video bulletin board, for example, on Channel 13 when “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is scheduled to air on Channel 6, even when it is at different times.

Initially, Cox general manager Bob McRann said Cox honors Channel 6’s Syndex requests more than the other systems because Cox feared that Channel 6 would challenge the legality of not giving it Syndex rights.

“We thought it was a good business decision not to get involved in anything that may get into litigation,” McRann said.

But Channel 6 general manager Martin Colby said Channel 6 has never threatened any legal action, that Cox is simply being the corporate equivalent of a nice guy by honoring Channel 6’s requests for Syndex protection.

“Legally, they don’t have to,” Colby said.

Informed of Colby’s comments, McRann sidestepped a bit, and agreed that, beyond any legal complications, Cox primarily was acknowledging that Channel 6 has been part of the San Diego broadcasting community for many years. Cox officials simply thought it was the fair thing to do.

Nothing too dastardly there, but why didn’t they say that in the first place?

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