BEVERLY HILLS : Council to Review Changes in Cable TV Rates

The City Council on Tuesday will seek public comment on changes to the basic cable service rates and channel lineups established by Century Cable.

The city was authorized in October by the Federal Communications Commission to set local basic cable rates by March. A staff report, presented to the council earlier this month, recommends a monthly fee of $22.40 for the lowest tier of basic service, which includes a 42-channel package of local broadcast channels as well as government and public access channels.

That is $1.68 less than the $24.08 that Century instituted Sept. 1 for the city’s 9,209 basic service subscribers.

The city also plans to take up changes made by Century Cable in its channel lineup last September.

The cable company introduced Century Select, a 12-channel tier that includes many channels that were previously available on a 53-channel basic tier, said Fred Cunningham, the city’s executive director of public affairs and information.

Customers must now pay for channels usually provided as part of basic service such as CNN, TBS, MTV and Nickelodeon or get them through the Century Select package, Cunningham said.

The city has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, protesting the pricing of those channels.

The city has until March 17 to establish rates or the rates now charged will remain in effect.

The city may approve Century Cable’s current rates, or if it determines the rates are unreasonable, it has the choice of rejecting the rates and asking the operator to return with a lower rate, or the city may prescribe a rate using FCC guidelines. The city may also order Century Cable to give refunds to subscribers back to Sept. 1.