Cable Systems

Is there enough sports news for three full-time all-sports news channels? Better yet, will your cable system carry all or any of them?Those are the questions left after ESPN came clean yesterday on one of the worst-kept secrets in sports television when it announced its long-rumored plan to launch such a channel, starting Nov. 1.Dubbed ESPNEWS, the channel will carry scores, highlights, analysis and live coverage of news conferences, but no live broadcasts of...

Because of erroneous information provided by TCI Communications of Baltimore, an article in yesterday's editions of The Sun reported an incorrect figure for the city cable system's June 1 rate increase. In fact, the typical TCI customer will pay an additional $2.32 for a package of basic and expanded basic service. The increase will bring the total rate to $24.39.The Sun regrets the error.The typical Baltimore cable TV subscriber will have to pay more than 10 percent higher rates for service starting in June, TCI Communications of Baltimore said yesterday.

Mid-Atlantic Cable agreed last week to extend cable access to more communities in western Howard County by the end of June, ending a wait of more than 18 months for some communities, said James O'Connor, the county's cable administrator.The company will build cable systems to serve residents of more than 20 communities, including Clearview Estates, Chapel Woods and Ashleigh Knolls in Clarksville; Amberwoods in Sykesville; Timberleigh Village, Foxmoor and Florence Farms in Woodbine; and Maryvale Court in Ellicott City.

TED TURNER'S CNN, which has had the 24-hour cable TV news business in the United States almost entirely to itself, suddenly finds itself with a lot of company.Last week, ABC and NBC both disclosed plans to challenge CNN in its core market, and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch also expressed interest in launching a 24-hour news venture.What wasn't clear at the end of last week was where these new networks might find enough viewers to be successful, or whether they would be able to find clear channels on many cable systems, especially those owned by No. 2 Time-Warner, which has announced plans to acquire Turner Broadcasting.

Discovery Communications Inc., the Bethesda-based parent of the Discovery Channel, will launch five new cable channels in 1996 -- a decisive expression of optimism about prospects for the cable industry.Jim Boyle, the company's vice president for communications, said Discovery will roll out three specialized channels in January. One would carry programs on nature while another would be devoted to children's programming. He said a third would be a lifestyle or "how-to" channel.Mr. Boyle said Discovery envisions these channels as additions to cable systems' "expanded basic" program packages, typically the most popular level of service.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court stepped yesterday into the quarter-century-long constitutional dispute over the government's efforts to keep dirty words and sex scenes off television and radio.After standing on the sidelines for years while lower courts refereed, the justices said they would rule on the constitutionality of Congress' move three years ago against "indecency" on cable television.Congress has declined to censor sexually explicit cable programs on its own. Instead, it gave the nation's cable-TV station operators the power, when they let outsiders use their channels, to ban programs those operators deem indecent.

Baltimore's cable television system, which had been expected to announce by this fall that it would invest millions of dollars to upgrade its network, has pushed its plans into 1996 at the earliest -- a development that left the city's cable administrator "shocked."Instead, United Artists Cable of Baltimore City will announce later this month that it will drop that tarnished name and do business under the name TCI -- the initials of its parent Tele-Communications Inc.Coles Ruff, the cable company's general manager, said the company's Oct. 17 news conference will be a "celebration of going to the TCI name" and a way to thank its employees for improving United Artists' service in recent months.

Tele-TV Systems, the video joint venture of Bell Atlantic and two other regional Bell companies, has struck a deal with Thomson Consumer Electronics under which Thomson will provide it with 3 million "set top boxes" for the partners' planned "wireless cable systems" in Baltimore and other cities.Under the contract, valued at more than $1 billion, Indianapolis-based Thomson will supply the digital devices at a cost of less than $400 per unit -- far lower than earlier versions of the technology.

It's 6:30 p.m. Monday. "That Show With Those Black Guys" is on television in Howard County. Several miles north, a woman is sweating on "Carroll County Aerobics." They've just finished "Sex and Cinema" in Annapolis, and in Harford County, "Live Jesus" is playing on tape.Each season the airwaves fill with new schedules of community access television shows across Maryland. And even though these shows are among the lowest-rated programs on the state's cable systems -- there are few statistics on community channel viewership -- many Marylanders see them as on-air soapboxes and the number of programs continues to grow.

Before too long, you might be able to watch Thursday night's "Seinfeld" on Friday night even if you forgot to program your VCR.In fact, you might be able to watch many of the most popular television shows any time of the week.After three years of testing, Bethesda-based Your Choice TV is rolling out a service that allows users to shift television programs from the time the network airs them to when the viewer wants to see them.Your Choice, a subsidiary of the company that owns the Discovery Channel, signaled its decision by announcing this week that it has signed an agreement with a Tele-Communications Inc. satellite subsidiary for transmission of the service to cable systems and other program providers starting in "the coming weeks."