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Sunday, Feb. 26,1995Gazette TelegraphBB11fttE lectronic media/Direct broadcast satellite system new in SpringsFrom B89shock when Denver’s ABC, CBS angjNBC affiliates switch in late summer. “Our sister station will now be Channel 4 instead of Channel 7,” Lucas says.Target date for KKTV stereo transmission is 1996._KOAA, Channels 5/30“The television industry had probably its best year since the mid-1980s. If you didn’t do it in ’94, you didn’t do it,” says station President and General Manager John 0. Gilbert. “In *95 we’re looking to do the same amount (advertising sales) as 94, and that’s without the political business.”KOAA expects approval from the FCC this year to switch to channels 8/15, moving PBS station KTSC to channels 5/30, Gilbert said. “This was filed in September 1992 and it’s time the FCC gave us a decision,” said Gilbert, who noted that KOAA will “take 8-and move it to Cheyenne Mountain to better serve the Colorado Springs market.”KOAA, named station of the year by Colorado Broadcasters Association for the seventh straight year, will add a variety of coverage and events in 1995. Included are the Olympic Festival; U.S. Women’s Open; Colorado Rockies baseball with plans to send a crew to Tucson, Ariz., for spring training; special programming from Denver Broncos training camp in Greeley and upto four pre-season Broncogames. --KRDO, Channel 13The station entered a partnership with Colorado Springs Ca-blevision, which includes the addition of a local news edition during CNN Headline News at 25 and 55 minutes past each hour. The companies also teamed for joint programming on Cablevi-sion channel 7.“We look to do many more projects in *95 and look to bring more Colorado College hockey to channel 7,” says KRDO General Manager Neil Klockziem.KRDO-TV added a second live remote capability for the news department enabling news crews to report live from two different locations. Also added were digi-tal-effects equipment, and the station’s format was switched from VHS to beta.KXRM9 Channel 21A Fox affiliate, KXRM added a secondary affiliation with one of two new networks, United Paramount. Its crown jewel is“Star Trek; Voyager,” which premiered in January. (The second network, Warner Bros., is on Denver’s independent KWGN, Channel 2.)KXRM General Manager Larry Douglas also said the station ac-No. 1 sitcom “Home Improvement,” which will be aired five nights each week this fall.During the first quarter of 1995, Fox 21 will complete a nearly $2 million technical facility upgrade including a circularly polarized antenna and stereo transmitter. “This package,” says Douglas, “will allow us to increase our power and primary coverage area by about 40 percent, as well as greatly improve viewers’ reception with very-clean video and high fidelity stereo audio.”Public televisionColorado’s three public-TV stations, like PBS stations nationwide, face the possible reduction or elimination of federal funding. Concrete station contingency plans were unavailable pending the final congressional decision, possibly later this year.A merger of the three Colorado PBS stations is a possibility, according to James Morgese, president and general managerof Denver’s KRMA, Channels 6/63. Morgese and station managers of Pueblo/Colorado Springs’ KTSC, Channels 8/15, and Broomfield/Denver’s KBDI, Channel 68, have discussed a merger for more than a year. Ay studyfunded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is under way.“While it’s premature to say what will occur,” said Morgese, “there is a strong interest in seeking a joint effort. Ultimately, we hope to provide a stronger set of educational telecommunications services as a result of our efforts.”Colorado Springs CablevisionThe sale of the company to Century Communications Corp. should be completed in 1995 but “will not impact subscribers in any fashion because Century has been a 50—percent owner of the system (with Time Warner) since its inception,” says Cablevision general manager Kevin M. Hyman.An estimated 100,000 homes and businesses subscribe to Cablevision, translating to 60 percent of the homes in the metro area, said Hyman. This is up from 65,000 in 1989, when Cablevision merged with CitizensCable.New cable channels are being offered all the time. “There are literally eight or 10 services — from The Golf Channel and The History Channel to The Food Channel — out then ately,” says Hyman With limited channel capacity, “we’re going to be very cautious aboutadding channels,” he says.There is some competition from direct-broadcast (satellite to home) systems. But, according to Hyman, “Cable is the pre-eminent technology. The broad-band system we have already built is what others would love to have.”Hyman says DBS (direct broadcast) has “limited usefulness, and the problem is that people can’t get local programming.” Because of that, he says, DBS is complementary and many cable subscribers who buy the 18-inch DBS dishes are keeping their cable.Cable’s most popular network is USA but the most popular Cablevision services are pay-per-view, says Hyman. “We’re doing 40,000-50,000 buys a month.”American TelecastingThe news in 1995 for the wireless-broadcasting company was the addition of TurnerBroadcasting’s TNT, says President and CEO Brian Gast.Without the 1992 Cable Act, American Telecasting would not have had access to TNT and its NBA playoffs, movies and Sun-“This fills the hole for one of the most-requested channels.”Before the Cable Act, a cable company could demand exclusivity for a channel such as TNT. American Telecasting plans to add four more channels in 1995, probably in the second half.“We re continuing to grow as fast as we can in terms in customers,” Gast says. “We can probably reach 90 percent of the people in El Paso County.”Direct broadcast satelliteNew on the television scene in1994 was direct-broadcast satellite through DirecTv Inc. and Primestar. Nationwide, consumers have scooped up more than 500,000 of the 18-inch satellite dishes that bring them up more than 150 channels. DBS customers buy the $799 dishes and pay $30 per month. At year’s end DBS struck a deal with NFL'football for up to 12 weekend games each week. DirecTv will offer the last five weeks of the football season for $49.95.See ELECTRONIC MEDIA/BB12
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Sun, Feb 26, 1995
Page 182
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 04 Jan 2022
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