United Cable

A locally produced two-hour comedy special to benefit Maryland's homeless will air tomorrow night at 8 on 18 state cable systems from Allegany to Worcester counties."

The 1992 Cable TV Act, intended by Congress to reduce cable television rates, has left area cable television subscribers generally confused and angered by changes in services and rates, judging from dozens of responses telephoned to SUNDIAL, The Sun's information service.The majority of callers responding last Thursday and Friday to a request for comments expressed concerns about rate changes, service deficiencies and uncertainty about what broadcast stations may continue to be carried on cable systems.

Comcast Corp.'s cable television customers in Baltimore will continue to face monthly late fees of $5 - the same as customers in virtually every other part of Maryland - because of a state appeals court decision issued yesterday. An earlier ruling by a lower court had limited Comcast, and predecessor United Cable Television of Baltimore Limited Partnership, to a maximum, monthly late-charge assessment of 50 cents per subscriber. In September, however, the Baltimore City Circuit Court granted a company request to set aside that limitation, and lawyers representing cable subscribers appealed the decision to the Court of Special Appeals.

After years of planning, Baltimore's public access cable channel could become a reality next month.The Board of Estimates took the first step toward that goal yesterday by approving a four-year agreement between the city and the Baltimore Cable Access Corp., as well as $388,000 in funding for the operation, which will be housed at Coppin State College.The $388,000 -- which will go toward hiring an executive director, purchasing equipment and paying for the operation in the coming year -- came from a $1.1 million access grant that the city required of United Cable of Baltimore as part of its 1984 contract with the cable franchisee.

A BIG-SCREEN Sony Trinitron occupies a corner of the lobby of the Mayor's Office of Cable & Communications on East Fayette Street, across the street from City Hall. Any day now it will be hooked up to cable service.Ironically, the city agency responsible for monitoring the long construction of the United Cable of Baltimore system is located in one of the remaining "holes" still not connected to the 67-channel service.The good news is that, six years after the beginning of the wiring process (and in many cases a year or two behind original projections)

Clarence L. Elder fought Baltimore's cable franchise and became a multimillionaire. Now he is ready to take on another Goliath -- Baltimore County government and the residents of Green Spring Valley who want his land for a park.Although county leaders say they are prepared to condemn the 95-acre property at Greenspring Valley and Falls roads, Elder, 62, has never been one to back down from a fight."It's a gross insult," says Elder, whose 1990 battle with United Cable over minority set-asides won him and a partner an out-of-court settlement worth $50 million to $100 million.

It looks more like "The Empire Strikes Back" than "The City Hall Report," but Annapolis officials insist their new cable TV show is no grudge match.The show, which will air for the first time Dec. 10, comes shortly after former Mayor Dennis Callahan started his own cable TV show. Mayor Alfred A.Hopkins defeated Callahan in last year's Democratic primary, and there's been no love lost between Callahan and the Hopkins administration since.Both shows appear on United Cable TV Channel 15 in Annapolis.

In a decision that could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars for equipment and programs for Baltimore schools, a judge has ruled that half of any unclaimed money awarded in a lawsuit over late fees against the city's cable franchise will be used for cable TV education projects.Baltimore Circuit Judge Gary I. Strausberg's latest order, issued in a 12-page "final judgment" last week, is part of an unprecedented decision against United Cable Television of Baltimore.In September, Strausberg ruled that the $5 late-payment fee charged by the cable company is "unlawful and inappropriate."

Cable television subscribers will pay more to stay tuned next year in Baltimore, Baltimore County and parts of Howard County.The 93,500 subscribers to United Cable in Baltimore will see their monthly rates increase Jan. 1 from $16.50 to $18 for the 48-channel service.The company will add three channels, but it also will raise the cost of the monthly Cable Guide magazine from $1.50 to $2, said Marilyn Harriss, a United Cable spokeswoman.Also as of Jan. 1, Comcast Cablevision of Maryland will increase the monthly rate for Baltimore County's 155,000 subscribers to its 37-channel extended basic service from $19.99 to $21.50, said Stephen A. Burch, vice president and area manager.

A supervisor at United Cable of Baltimore motivated his sales staff by telling them "black people would buy cable before they put food and bread on the table," according to testimony yesterday in a discrimination hearing for a former United sales representative.The comments by the supervisor, who is white, contributed to racial tension that permeated the sales force, said Louis Beverly, a former United salesman who is accusing the city's cable television franchisee of racial discrimination.