CABLE TV COMPANY TO FACE CITY FINE; T.O. AWAITS ANSWER ON NOTICE TO FALCON.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

Thousand Oaks officials are waiting to hear a response to a notice of fines assessed against Falcon Cable TV, which has been accused of unresponsiveness to customer complaints.

On Aug. 15, the city sent a letter to Falcon that outlined alleged violations and called for fines totaling $12,300. The Malibu-based company has until Sept. 15 to respond.

Before levying the fines, the city sent Falcon a cautionary letter and then a sterner warning letter, said Dave Peters, a member of the city's advisory committee on cable television issues. Peters said Falcon's promises of better service have gone unfulfilled for more than a year.

``We've given them every advantage,'' he said. ``I think we're done trusting them . . . They need to be slapped, and they need to be corrected.''

Falcon provides cable service to two areas within Thousand Oaks: one north of Arroyo Conejo and west of Lynn Road, the other between Lynn and Moorpark Roads, from Conejo Community Park south to the city limits.

As of July 31, the latest date that figures were available, Falcon had 3,637 customers in Thousand Oaks. As of that date, TCI had 26,285 Thousand Oaks customers and GTE had 10,235.

Customers have complained to the city that they are unable to reach Falcon to report problems because they receive only a busy signal or a machine when trying to call the company, officials said.

Complaints to the city about Falcon have died down to about 12 a week, said Caroline Milton, a media services coordinator for Thousand Oaks.

Milton said she tried to contact the company by telephone on Wednesday, but hung up in frustration after five minutes on hold.

Falcon officials did not return a call from the Daily News requesting comment.

Peters said he doesn't even bother trying to telephone anymore and instead faxes letters to Falcon. He said he has not heard from a representative of the company for more than a month.

Other complaints are about service outages and ``chronic reception problems,'' Milton said.

Peters said he is the only member on the 14-person advisory committee who subscribes to Falcon. He said he subscribes rather than switching to another company, to monitor service.

``Somebody has to do it,'' Peters said.

``I haven't seen any improvement as far as the picture,'' Peters said. ``It's a multitude of things.''

Some channels remain fuzzy, while others have lost their previous stereo sound, he said. Other channels that Falcon touted as adding stereo sound remain in mono, he said.

To earn a franchise license, Falcon had to give Thousand Oaks a $10,000 deposit, so the city already is assured of collecting most of the fines. If the company wants to continue to do business in the city, Falcon would have to provide an additional $10,000, including $2,300 toward the fines, Peters said.