SANTA ANA : Cable-Scrambling Plan Received Cooly

A cable company’s plan to scramble its signal to thwart illegal reception and lure new subscribers met with a cool response this week from City Council members, who said the change would be bothersome and potentially more expensive.

At Monday’s council meeting, Comcast Cablevision General Manager David Barford announced a plan to scramble the system’s signals, which he said would eliminate about 4,000 illegal hookups and improve reception. He also said that by revising its cable service packages, including a basic $10.95 service to encourage lower-income residents, the company could gain new subscribers and earn as much as $1 million more a year.

“Personally, I see this as a way to redo their whole pricing system, which, of course, we have no control over,” Councilwoman Patricia A. McGuigan said Wednesday. “It could be advantageous, but it could be quite a bit more expensive, depending on one’s choices for channels.”

She also criticized the proposed basic service, called Cable Light, which would provide 24 channels, including 10 over-the-air broadcast channels. It would not include several channels such as CNN and MTV that are now available in the basic package.

Currently, only premium channels and pay-per-view channels are scrambled. Barford said that only about 3,000 paying customers would be affected. Those customers, who make up 13% of the customers in Santa Ana, would need to get decoder boxes, which would be provided free.

Although the council may oppose the change, federal law prohibits the cities from regulating cable companies except in terms of quality control.

Comcast Cable, which serves Santa Ana and other cities including Newport Beach, Seal Beach and Fullerton, plans to start scrambling the signal as early as this month, Barford said in a recent letter to McGuigan.

He said scrambling will have “no effect on the majority” of customers and is necessary due to the “tremendous theft of service problems in Santa Ana.” Comcast estimates that 10% of its viewers have illegal hookups, double the county average.

Several council members criticized the change Monday because it would also hamper customers who now have decoders and cable-ready televisions. For example, McGuigan and Councilman Robert L. Richardson said they would be unable to videotape one channel while watching another once the signal is scrambled.

“If they want to discourage me (from going) out and renting videos, it would be to their benefit to not scramble the whole mess,” McGuigan said.