Unwelcome Signal

Notice to all parents with cable TV:

I recently found out about a situation that I consider disturbing and since I was able to correct it, I would like to share this with other Conejo Valley parents. I found out that it was possible to tune in most of Channel 53 and watch a not-very-scrambled pornographic channel (Spice-1) that runs 24 hours a day. The picture was similar to a photo negative that once in a while had lines which blurred out most of the video but still showed quite a bit of pornographic material. The audio part, however, was completely unscrambled and every moan, groan and curse word was clearly audible.

I called Ventura County Cablevision to lodge a formal complaint, at which time they told me that they have a “trap” they can install (at no cost) to the outside junction box which will block out all audio and video signals of unwanted channels from coming into the house. My trap is now installed and it does work.

Since my son told me he found out about the channel from kids at school, it was obvious to me that a lot of kids are watching this without their parents’ knowledge or consent. My hope is that VCC gets so deluged with requests for traps that they are forced to upgrade their scrambling technology so that if you are not paying for an adult channel, it would be impossible to receive it on a systemwide basis and not on a house-by-house basis.

DON D. BEAN

Thousand Oaks