Which Cable AIDS Telethon Will Air? Both : Fund-raisers: Dimension had decided to forgo the Sunday event in favor of a later one, but after receiving a lot of calls, it changed its plans late Friday.

It was shaping up as a battle of the AIDS telethons.

Some subscribers and AIDS activists were upset that Dimension Cable Services, which covers South Orange County, had decided not to run an “AIDS Cablethon” scheduled for Sunday. The cable company countered that it was already planning to carry and promote a national AIDS telethon on the Bravo cable network in December.

Dimension came up with a late compromise Friday afternoon: It will carry both programs.

Sunday’s three-hour event is being produced by the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation--with 25% of the money raised in Orange County earmarked for the Irvine-based AIDS Services Foundation, a countywide support organization.

Cable companies serving most of the county had already agreed to air the program, but Dimension originally declined because the company was already planning to carry and promote the Bravo cable network’s annual AIDS telethon, according to Yvette Welch, community programming manager for Dimension.

Welch said the station received “a lot of calls” Friday about the decision not to run Sunday’s live program, and that after consulting with the company’s technicians, decided it will carry the entire “cablethon” live on the company’s public access channel, Channel 3, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Dimension covers all of Orange County south of Irvine, including Laguna Beach, which has the highest annual rate of new cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome in the county.

That statistic was cited Friday morning by Joseph Amster of the Orange County branch of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) when he argued that Dimension should carry both programs. “You can’t do enough for AIDS awareness,” Amster told The Times.

Later, he praised Dimension’s decision to air the Sunday program, saying, “I think that it’s great that they’re doing that.”

Laguna Beach resident Dennis Zambrosky, also of ACT-UP, also commended Dimension for its decision, although he said he wishes the company had “taken the initiative” to carry the program without being prompted to.

“I’m really happy to hear that,” said Michael Weinstein, the producer of Sunday’s telethon, when told of Dimension’s decision. “It’s very much appreciated by those of us on the front line.”

Al Roberts, president of the board of directors of the AIDS Services Foundation, praised the decision too, although he said it is hard to guess how much money will be raised. “If nothing else,” he said, “it will certainly be informational.”

In addition to carrying Sunday’s program, Welch said, Dimension will continue to promote the Bravo telethon airing Dec. 1, which has been designated World AIDS Day. From 2 p.m. to 3 a.m., Bravo will showcase “Unfinished Stories,” a series of films, documentaries and music specials by and about people with AIDS. Fund-raising segments hosted by celebrities such as Geena Davis and Cybill Shepherd will be shown throughout the broadcast.

Other broadcasts of “Unfinished Stories” will air from 6 to 10 p.m. on subsequent Sundays in December. Dimension is the only Orange County cable company to carry Bravo, a non-commercial arts channel, as part of its basic service. It is available as a pay channel in Irvine, Costa Mesa and parts of Newport Beach.

With the Bravo telethon, 100% of the money donated is given to a local organization. Dimension wanted to donate the funds generated to a group within its service area, and it chose Laguna Shanti, a nonprofit organization providing free support services for people with AIDS or who are infected by the HIV virus, which causes AIDS.