Cable Companies

CONSIDERABLE CONFUSION surrounds Baltimore County's new franchise agreement with Comcast Cablevision. More than a few cable TV subscribers assume, wrongly, that a recent 6-percent cable television rate hike was Comcast's way of passing on costs of the new agreement, which hasn't even been voted on yet.If the County Council does approve it, the county would get 5 percent of Comcast profits from any service offered through its new fiber optic network....

Cable companies and Baltimore-area network television stations have stepped up talks about what local cable subscribers will see when they turn on their TV sets in two weeks. Proposals include everything from new cable channels for the owners of local stations to sharing some business costs.Baltimore's situation is among the worst in the country for programming agreements between the four major network stations -- ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox -- and cable companies, according to the National Association of Broadcasters.

Teleport Communications Group, which has already won the right to compete with Bell Atlantic Corp. for business customers, said yesterday that it has asked the state Public Service Commission for permission to offer residential phone service in Maryland.If approval is granted, Teleport would then launch a test of the technology for transmitting calls through Comcast Corp.'s Baltimore-area cable network.Larry Bugden, general manager of Teleport's Baltimore network, said that the company has not yet selected the precise area where it will conduct the test but that it would involve both company employees and selected volunteers.

A new video technology on the horizon promises to revolutionize the cable television industry, opening the door to cable systems capable of carrying up to 500 separate channels.Cable companies hope to vastly expand the number of different programs their customers can receive through a technique called digital compression, which increases the available number of channels by squeezing more information through the same conduit.The technology involves transforming the analog signal of pulsating electronic wave forms on which conventional TV XTC pictures are transmitted into a stream of digital ones and zeros that can be read by a computer.

Comcast Corp. will ask the state Public Service Commission next week for permission to enter the local and long-distance telephone service business in Maryland, the company announced yesterday.The Philadelphia-based cable television company, which serves most of Baltimore, Howard and Harford counties, had made no secret that it eventually planned to expand into the phone business, where it will compete head-to-head with Bell Atlantic Corp. and other phone companies.However, telephone carriers have professed to be unimpressed with the technical capabilities cable companies bring to the table.

In today's cable television industry, you either get big or get out. With its weekend agreement to acquire the cable properties of the E. W. Scripps Co., Comcast Corp. has reaffirmed its belief that bigger is better.The $1.58 billion deal, which will bring Comcast's subscriber base to 4.3 million, will make the company the nation's third-largest cable TV operator.Comcast, which owns cable TV systems serving Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties, will still lag far behind the twin titans of the industry, Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI)

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Leading members of the cable television industry, voicing fears of being swallowed by the country's telephone companies, yesterday announced a joint venture that would enable the cable companies to compete directly with the phone companies for a variety of local telecommunications services."

Public hearing set about cable TVThe Annapolis City Council's Economic Matters Committee has scheduled a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. today on two cable television issues.Members will discuss a proposed city ordinance to allow cable customers to buy, rather than rent, cable TV remote control units and converter boxes from cable companies.The committee also will discuss the quality of services provided by TCI Cablevision of Annapolis, formerly United Cable Television. The franchise agreement between TCI and the city expires on April 19, 1994.

NEW YORK -- Changes in the telephone and cable television industries are gaining a critical momentum that could soon see the two businesses offering consumers everything from ordinary telephone services to dial-up football games.The rate of change quickened Tuesday when the Southwestern Bell Corp. announced it was buying two Washington-area cable television systems. For the first time, a telephone company will be operatinga television company, a move that analysts believe will hasten the union of industries.

A live concert Sunday night featuring singer Whitney Houston welcoming American sailors home from the Persian Gulf can be seen by most cable subscribers, following a decision by the HBO premium service carrying the concert to open its signal to non- subscribers."