Cable Television

Comcast Cablevision plans to complete its Baltimore County system this summer, when cable television service to the Parkton area in northern Baltimore County is expected to be turned on.The addition of Parkton will complete the requirements of Comcast's franchise agreement with the county, which was granted in 1978. That agreement requires Comcast to provide cable services to the county's populated areas.With the addition of Parkton, Comcast said, cable will be available to 98 percent of county residents.

AT&T Corp. is close to forming a wide-ranging partnership with Microsoft Corp. as part of an intricate web of deals that has put AT&T on the verge of winning the battle against Comcast Corp. for MediaOne Group Inc., the big cable television company, executives close to the negotiations said last night.Comcast, whose initial $53 billion bid for MediaOne was topped by an AT&T offer of $58 billion, has agreed to accept a two-part consolation settlement in which it will end up with as many as 2 million of AT&T's existing cable subscribers, mostly on the East Coast, for up to $9 billion, the executives said.

In a move that could signal an end to the difficulties gripping the cable television industry, Times Mirror Co. said yesterday that it has reached a tentative agreement to sell its cable properties to Cox Enterprises Inc. for $2.3 billion.The merger would vault Atlanta-based Cox Cable Communications to No. 3 among the nation's cable television companies in terms of subscribers, behind Tele-Communications Inc. and Times-Warner Cable.For Los Angeles-based Times Mirror, publisher of The Sun and The Evening Sun, the deal could bring an infusion of cash to invest in its core publishing business and recent acquisitions in the growing multimedia industry.

Dorothy Tucker-Houk gave a French lesson yesterday, and her students weren't the only ones who learned something.Gov. William Donald Schaefer and Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. President Frederick D'Alessio basked in triomphe as the Towson High School teacher demonstrated their latest coup -- an "information highway" with the potential to connect all the state's high schools and colleges in a vast interactive television and computer network.Connected by that technology, students at Northwestern High and Polytechnic Institute in Baltimore, and Chesapeake and Towson high schools in Baltimore County, watched one another as they discussed the meaning of joie de vivre.

A day after calling for an end to the cable monopoly in Baltimore, the City Council has begun readying a bill to grant a franchise to an upstart local cable television company.The swift move by the council to propose a franchise agreement for UltraVision LLC signals a growing dissatisfaction with United Artists Cable's stronghold in the city."I strongly feel we need to have some competition here with service, cost and selection," City Council President Mary Pat Clarke said.Mrs. Clarke intends to introduce a bill as early as tomorrow night to grant UltraVision a franchise to become the second major cable provider in Baltimore.

Howard Cable Television will increase rates for basic service by 5 percent Jan. 1 and for the first time will charge customers for its programming guide.The company will raise its basic service charge, which includes 40 channels, by $1.15 monthly, from $22.25 to $23.40. The guide will cost 99 cents a month for customers who choose to subscribe. Customers who get the premium movie channel, Home Box Office, will pay 3 percent more beginning next month, from $12.95 to $13.35.The company serves about 43,000 subscribers in the Ellicott City, Columbia, Laurel, Savage and Elkridge areas.

NEW YORK -- The nation's largest cable television operators will announce today that they intend to buy about $2 billion worth of equipment that will allow them to carry telephone service.The companies, which include cable giants Tele-Communications Inc. and Cox Cable Communications, are expected to outline initial strategies for getting into the telephone business at the Plaza Hotel in New York, according to analysts. No further details have been made available. The move will change the way cable companies view the regional Bell operating companies -- as competitors, not as allies.

WHETHER YOU LIKE the show or not, weekly telecasts of Baltimore City Council meetings on the cable-access channel have served the public's interest. It's good that a way has been found to continue the programs.True, city viewers will have to put up with more self-serving speeches and long-winded recitations of irrelevant resolutions. But they also will get a chance to see how their local government officials handle the issues that affect their daily lives.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke chose not to include the city's Cable and Communications Office in this year's budget, saying the city couldn't afford the more than $500,000 cost.

WASHINGTON -- Deciding that it would be smarter to run and fight again some other day, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 31-12 yesterday in favor of a bill that would impose tough new rate regulations on most cable television systems.But it is a much weaker bill than a measure passed by the Senate in January.The thrust-and-parry strategy marked an attempt by the panel's chairman, Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., to sidestep the deadlocks and jurisdictional squabbles that have stalled House action on the bill for months.

WASHINGTON -- In the face of a lobbying blitzkrieg by the cable television industry, the head of the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday evening that he had scaled back his proposal to more tightly regulate the industry to salvage the effort. The chairman, Kevin J. Martin, and some consumer groups said the agreement could help to make programming more diverse and ultimately reduce cable costs. The compromise was a significant, though not total, victory for the cable industry, whose executives and lobbyists had worked to erode support on the commission for Martin's agenda.