Mediacom Offers Free Basic Cable Until June 12
Pitch To Non-Subscribers Pegged To Digital TV Transition
by Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 2/12/2009 5:16:19 PM
Mediacom Communications is offering non-subscribers in its franchised areas basic cable -- including local broadcast and public-access channels -- for free until June 12 "to reduce the confusion that consumers may have regarding the broadcast digital transition."
Mediacom won't charge an installation fee for the hookup, it said in a release. It typically charges less than $20 per month for a basic-cable package, which few subscribers buy separately. The basic package typically contains fewer than 20 channels.
When analog-TV broadcast outlets convert to digital, people who don't have cable or satellite TV subscriptions or who haven't obtained a digital-TV converter won't be able to watch those stations on their analog TV sets.
The conversion deadline has been pushed back to June 12 from the original date of Feb. 17, partly because of a backlog in delivery of government-issued $40 coupons intended to offset the cost of acquiring digital-TV converters.
Hundreds of local broadcasters, though, plan to convert on Feb. 17 as originally planned, and others have converted already or will do so before Feb. 17. That could create situations in markets where some or all TV stations won't be viewable on analog sets long before June 12.
Thomas Larsen, Mediacom's vice president of legal and public affairs, said that in Mediacom markets, 124 broadcasters have been given permission to terminate analog service before June 12, and another 44 asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to do so but were told not to do so until the FCC is convinced significant risk of public harm won't occur in those areas.
"These are in major markets for us" where stations are converting before June 12, Larsen said, including Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Springfield, Mo., and Mobile Ala.
Mediacom will "downconvert" the digital transmissions to analog so people taking the service won't need a special antenna or converter.
The Mediacom offer has gotten "a pretty wide response" in local media, especially by local broadcasters, using it as part of their public-education efforts about the transition, Larsen said. The cabler set up a toll-free number to order the free service: 1-800-332-0245.
He said it was too early to tell how many people had called for the service, made this week, but said activity would likely pick up on or after Tuesday, Feb. 17.
Anecdotally, he said he was told one non-subscriber called to order the service because the installation fee was waived.
Other cable and satellite-TV providers have low-cost offers in the marketplace to entice non-subscribers, including Comcast's offer of limited basic for $10 per month for 12 months.
Based in Middletown, N.Y., Mediacom is the eighth-biggest U.S. cable operator with about 1.3 million basic video subscribers.
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