CABLE RATE HIKE PROTESTED ON AIR.Byline: Jennifer Hamm Staff Writer GLENDALE - Armenian television producers began airing a pre-taped cable show Wednesday evening, contending in the broadcast that Charter Communications Charter Communications NASDAQ: CHTR is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 5.7 million customers in 29 states. It is the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the U.S. has raised its cost in an effort to push them off the air. The producers who broadcast their programming on Channel 17 claim the cable company is attempting to price them out of business because it does not agree with their political views. ``Members of Armenian television media are coming forward for the first time (on television) to express their unhappiness with the way Charter Cable treats the Armenian media,'' said Allan Silliphant, president of Wallis/Silliphant Communications Inc., which runs Channel 17. The costs to run the Armenian and other foreign programming the company airs on Channel 17, including news and cultural shows, has skyrocketed in recent months, Silliphant said. Between 1995 and 1998, Channel 17 was billed $12,000 a year to stay on the air, but now the cost is around $220,000 a year, Silliphant said. That has forced Silliphant to pass along the increased costs to the producers of the station's programs. Charter Communications executives said they are executing the contract Silliphant signed. The low rate was given to the leased access Leased Access airtime is airtime that the Federal Communications Commission mandates must be provided by cable operators (i.e. companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable) for use by cable programmers, i.e., those who make cable programming, who are not owned by the operators. station in the mid- mid- pref. Middle: midbrain. 1990s so the station could get on its feet. When the contract was renegotiated in 1998, both parties agreed to increase costs, said Berdj Karapetian, manager of local origination In broadcasting, local origination may refer to:
Charter Communications has in recent months raised hourly rates for its leased access channels because there has been more of a demand, said Karapetian. But they have not violated vi·o·late tr.v. vi·o·lat·ed, vi·o·lat·ing, vi·o·lates 1. To break or disregard (a law or promise, for example). 2. To assault (a person) sexually. 3. regulations mandated by the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. . ``It was not done because of Wallis/Silliphant. It was done because of what we are doing with leased access in our area,'' Karapetian said. ``We need to have a price structure that reflects the demand.'' Armenian journalists say it's political, not economic. They believe Karapetian is attempting to run them off the air because he does not subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day" subscribe, take buy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; the political views espoused on Channel 17. Vache Mangassarian, producer and host for Armenian National Network, is among the panel of local Armenian broadcast journalists who appears on the show that will air nightly night·ly adj. 1. Of or occurring during the night; nocturnal: the cat's nightly prowl. 2. Happening or done every night: the physician's nightly rounds. at 6 p.m. Mangassarian worries that if the costs get too high, the thousands of Armenian families in Glendale and Burbank who watch the cable stations will lose their access to open discussion about Armenian issues. ``That's what I'm fighting for, to have the free media and press work in this town,'' he said. Karapetian flatly denies the allegation The assertion, claim, declaration, or statement of a party to an action, setting out what he or she expects to prove. If the allegations in a plaintiff's complaint are insufficient to establish that the person's legal rights have been violated, the defendant can make a , saying he and Charter Communications know that the diverse programming on Channel 17 is valued by viewers. ``We're not trying to control or influence the editorial content,'' Karapetian said. ``The more diverse programming, the better for Charter Cable.'' |
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