THOUSAND OAKS : Scrambling of Porn Channel Improves

Responding to concerns about a scantily scrambled pornography channel, Ventura County Cablevision officials have installed better technology that covers up the sex shows with a lurid-hued herringbone pattern.

They also continue to offer free “traps” to Thousand Oaks residents who want to block the station altogether.

But despite some subscribers’ complaints, the soft-core Spice Channel will stay on the air.

“Different modes of scrambling are available and we’ve upped ours to the highest level,” VCC Vice President Dan Deutsch said. Several customers have told him that the new technique hides the erotic movies better, but its effectiveness depends on the television set, Deutsch said.

A dozen Thousand Oaks residents have filed complaints with the city about the Spice Channel, which they say often comes over the airwaves accompanied by a fully audible, sexually explicit soundtrack.

To address residents’ concerns, the city invited VCC President David LaRue to a meeting of the Cable TV Issues Advisory Committee on Thursday night. He told the group that VCC will try to acquire better scrambling technology, perhaps devices to garble the audio track.

VCC will also teach residents how to install the station-blocking traps themselves if they do not want to wait up to three days for an employee of the firm to hook up the channel-blockers.

In the past, the cable company has charged $20.50 for each trap but now offers them free of charge. For information about the traps, call VCC at (800) 427-3731.