United Cable

New positions* Maryland Port Administration has selected Craig Zabierowsky as regional manager of the MPA office in Pittsburgh.* Fila USA appointed Lee Turlington senior vice president, outdoor & winter sports.* United Artist Cable of Baltimore named Lucinda Peters as advertising sales manager.* Tristate Electric, headquartered in Hagerstown, has chosen Scott McDowell western regional vice president.Advertising and PR* Eisner & Associates appointed Tom Crowder vice president, management supervisor; Linda Rinaldi senior account executive and Rich Weinstein account executive.

United Artists Cable of Baltimore is adding six channels to its Expanded Basic Service, or Plus Service, as of today.The new channels will mean a rise of $1.52 in the monthly service charge as of February.The previous addition of the America's Talking and FX channels means the Plus Service rate will first rise to $13.21 in January before climbing to $14.73 in February.The new channels being added today are Court TV, Television Food Network, Cable Heath Club, Prime Sports Showcase (featuring women's sports, classic sports and sports news)

THE INTERNET is full of messages from cable television viewers who do not like their local provider's program line-up or rates. One web page even claims that a local cable company "hates my guts" and urges: "Go bombard them with e-mail!"Hold the messages!Judge Gary I. Strausberg has ordered United Artists Cable Television to reimburse tens of thousands of Baltimore City subscribers nearly $6 million that he says the company wrongfully collected as late-payment penalties."With its $5 late fee, the cable company has taken undue advantage of consumers," he wrote, ordering the company to reduce the late fee to 50 cents.

The head of the Mayor's Office of Cable and Communications said she's proud of the $7.59 million cable late-fees settlement her office helped win, but she asked the cable companies to help keep settlement details quiet. In a letter dated May 31, MOCC Director Marilyn Harris-Davis reminded Michael Hewitt, area director of Tele-Communications Inc. of Baltimore, that June 5 was the deadline for consumers to submit requests for their refunds. But Harris-Davis also wrote: "Obviously, we would like to settle this matter quickly and quietly.

A Maryland Court of Appeals judge said yesterday that he is sure Comcast Cablevision was "not only astounded but quite shocked" in July 1999 when the high court ordered a cable provider in Baltimore to repay more than $7 million in late fees, finding them unconstitutional. But Judge Alan M. Wilner told a lawyer for Comcast that he is not sure why, because other businesses seeking to charge more than the legal rate of interest "came down and got a statute." Wilner made his remarks during oral arguments before the Maryland Court of Appeals in a case brought by Comcast customers who are challenging a law that allows cable television companies to avoid refunding late-fee payments to customers.

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."

Gay activists and evangelical preachers. Rock 'n' roll and baby showers.All could be part of the lineup when Baltimore's public access cable television channel opens for business on Sept. 6."It's going to be a potpourri," predicted Phil Sibley, a local producer who plans to air two rock 'n' roll variety programs. He is among a disparate group of would-be producers who want air time for their shows.Public-access cable television -- which allows citizens to air programs that commercial stations can't produce or aren't interested in producing -- has been a staple in other cities for years.

A Maryland Court of Appeals judge said yesterday that he is sure Comcast Cablevision was "not only astounded but quite shocked" in July 1999 when the high court ordered a cable provider in Baltimore to repay more than $7 million in late fees, finding them unconstitutional. But Judge Alan M. Wilner told a lawyer for Comcast that he is not sure why, because other businesses seeking to charge more than the legal rate of interest "came down and got a statute." Wilner made his remarks during oral arguments before the Maryland Court of Appeals in a case brought by Comcast customers who are challenging a law that allows cable television companies to avoid refunding late-fee payments to customers.

Dr. H. Garland Chissell Jr., a leader in the development of Provident Hospital and of the first black health maintenance organization in Baltimore, died Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a heart attack. He was 68.Private services for Chissell were being held today.Born in Petersburg, Va., Chissell received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Virginia State College in Petersburg in 1942, and a doctorate in medicine in 1946 from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. He practiced family medicine in West Baltimore for 40 years.

A 1993 incident in which more than 20 black employees of Baltimore's cable television system were herded into a room for interrogation by white investigators in the presence of armed guards is at the center of a series of lawsuits filed yesterday against Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable operator.The incident took place on the same day the black president of United Artists Cable of Baltimore was at TCI's office in Bethesda being fired by his white supervisor.These two incidents, coupled with other recent dismissals or demotions of blacks at other TCI properties, led to the filing yesterday of three lawsuits against the giant cable television operator seeking damages estimated at more than $1 billion.