CABLE PROVIDER TO HIKE RATE.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

One of the city's three cable-television providers will raise its rates by nearly $12 a year beginning in June, officials said Wednesday.

The 17,430 households who subscribe to TCI will pay an additional 95 cents a month for the ``expanded basic'' cable package, which offers specialty news and sports channels in addition to regular network television.

About two-thirds of the rate hike will cover rising programming costs, with the rest going to equipment, employee salaries and training, TCI officials said.

``Our 1998 price adjustment is related to the increase in programming costs passed on to us. Most of it will go toward the spiraling costs of professional sports programming,'' said Andrew Johnson, spokesman for Denver-based TCI.

TCI began operating in Thousand Oaks in 1996, after taking over the franchise agreement the city had worked out with Ventura County Cablevision, which had been serving most of the city for 10 years.

Later this year, TCI plans to turn over its local operation to Century Communications Corp. in exchange for holdings in Northern California, a swap designed to allow the companies to geographically consolidate their franchises.

``The goal of clustering is to improve service and to make the transfer as seamless and transparent as possible,'' Johnson said. ``The only thing the customer should notice is different is that when they call for service or for information, the name of the company is changed.''

TCI currently faces competition in Thousand Oaks from Falcon Cable, which serves 7 percent of the city's residents, and GTE Media Ventures, also known as Americast, which has invested millions of dollars to lay fiber-optic cable under local streets.

Since 1996, GTE has won over 15,000 subscribers from TCI even though it was charging about 65 cents more a month.

``Over a 15-month period, TCI basically lost half of its market share to GTE,'' said Caroline Milton, media services coordinator for the city.

GTE also drew more than 1,000 Falcon customers, though its monthly bill is more than $3 higher.

TCI's new rate will put its monthly bill for expanded basic cable service about 30 cents higher than the rate GTE currently charges - a rate Milton said was modest for a company trying to keep up with a competitor's technology and amenities - from digital channels to package deals.

``Because we have competition here now, the cable operators have been very responsive in terms of trying to take care of the customers,'' she said. ``They are really trying to offer as many new services as possible to keep customers interested and loyal.''

Still, some city officials and members of the Cable TV Issues Citizens Committee have been receiving telephone calls from residents frustrated with the fee hikes. But the city has taken no official posture toward the increase.

``We have not really discussed the implications of this yet. I assume it will come up in one of our next meetings,'' said Tom Emma, chair of the cable issues committee and a TCI subscriber.

``Our committee is an advisory committee. So when issues like this come up, we hopefully reflect the full range of feelings and responses in the community,'' he said.

CABLE OPERATORS

TCI of Ventura County will offer 56 channels with its expanded basic cable service. A 95-cent increase in June will bring the monthly rate to $27.25. Currently, 42 percent of households in its service area - which covers a majority of the city - subscribe to TCI.

Falcon Cable TV offers 55 channels with its expanded basic cable service for $22.90. It serves the Wildwood neighborhood, the Lynn Road corridor and pockets near Moorpark Road, including Rolling Oaks.

GTE Media Ventures, or GTE Americast, has spent millions of dollars to lay new cable citywide. It has 42 percent of cable subscribers from nearly all neighborhoods in the city. It offers 63 channels for $26.95 a month.

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BOX: CABLE OPERATORS (See text)