SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Council Extends Deal With Dimension Cable
The City Council has extended for five more years a franchise agreement with Times Mirror Cable Television, parent company of Dimension Cable.
The council approved the extension Tuesday, and also asked city staff to incorporate into an accompanying ordinance a “fail-safe” method of scrambling audio and video of the adult channel “Spice.” The vote was 3 to 0 with Councilwoman Carolyn Nash and Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer absent.
Councilman Jeff Vasquez said he was disturbed by a recent news account that children from a Laguna Hills family had seen or heard more than they should have on “Spice” while switching channels.
Vasquez said he wanted to ensure that cable subscribers wouldn’t be inadvertently exposed to the channel’s programming.
Mark Stucky, spokesman for Dimension Cable, said Friday that safeguards besides scrambling were in place to allow subscribers the choice of blocking out the channel’s signal.
Stucky said Dimension will be working with the city to “make sure that (Spice) doesn’t go unscrambled.”
“We are sensitive to those concerns,” Stucky said.
Dimension Cable serves about 8,900 customers in the city.
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