By Tory Hernandez
Arizona Summer Wildcat
August 26, 1997

Cable coming soon to residence halls

It took nearly a year of negotiations, appeals and dead ends, but the 15 campus residence halls will finally have cable television stations available in each room, said a residence hall official.

Third year Kaibab-Huachuca resident Stacey Cohen, a marketing junior, said she would believe the good news when she saw it.

"But I do believe they are working hard on it, and it will be great if it finally happens," she said.

After installing cable connections in all rooms last summer at a cost of more than $800,000, Residence Life directors came to a standstill with TCI cable, a local cable provider, while trying to create a contract that did not violate state law, said Steve Gilmore, the assistant director of Residence Life.

According to the law, TCI could obtain perpetual rights to the residence hall cable system, but as a public institution, the university is not able to enter into a perpetual rights contract.

Since the university already owns KUAT television, operating a cable system as well would violate Federal Communications Committee laws governing ownership, Gilmore said.

"What really stopped us cold was the fact that our television broadcast licenses would be at risk as soon as we turned the cable system on," he said.

Instead, Residence Life directors filed a petition with the FCC last spring to either rule the university was not a cable system or waive the cross-ownership rules. The FCC did waive the cross-ownership rule, but did not rule on whether or not the university was a cable system.

The ruling, released July 30, allowed the university to enter into a contract with Satellite Management Services of Tempe.

"We are darned excited around here and pleased to get this finally going," Gilmore said.

SMS will install three satellite dishes, setting up a video system instead of a cable system. The dishes will be placed on the south side of Arizona-Sonora residence hall, at no cost to the university. An antennae also will be placed on top of the hall to receive off-the-air broadcasts of local stations.

Tom Waite, president of Satellite Management Services, said the company tailored the programs to reflect the ethnic variations at the university.

"We looked up information about the university from their Internet site so the stations would appeal to all the different types of students," he said.

Students will be able to connect their televisions to cable boxes in their room and receive off-the-air programs with better reception at no charge, Gilmore said.

Subscriptions and two premium stations, HBO and Showtime, will also be available in monthly or prepayment options.

Gilmore said the contractor has already begun preliminary work to get the system operational.

The last step in the process is approval from the university's antennae committee. Al Tarcola, director of Facilities Management and member of the antennae committee, said he anticipated a response in the near future.

"Right now we are looking into the request by Residence Life and assessing their proposal," he said.

Waite said it should take three weeks to get the system operational after approval from the university antennae committee.

Satellite Management Services has a three-year contract to provide service, with two additional years available. After the initial contract expires, Residence Life directors will entertain bids from other contractors.

"We have been most interested in the vendor who gives us a proposal that best serves students. We take care of the students interests first, then take care of what concerns us (the directors), Gilmore said.

Residents have not been formally notified Gilmore said, but the hall directors have been informed of the developments.

"We want to wait until we know what the timing is going to be," Residence Life Director Jim Van Arsdel said.

Gilmore said he hoped to have a letter out to residents this week.

"I want to make sure this will work. Until I see cable on my television screen, I won't really believe it," he said.

Residence Hall Video System Fees

(Monthly)

• Basic subscription: $26.70
• Basic subscription, one premium channel: $37.34
• Basic subscription, two premium channels: $45.85 (additional $21.40 to install all of the above)
• Pre-Payment options
• Basic subscription, one semester: $107.00
• Basic subscription, academic year: $192.60
• Basic subscription, one premium channel, one semester: $147.13
• Basic subscription, one premium channel, academic year: $264.83
• Basic subscription, two premium channels, one semester: $171.20
• Basic subscription, two premium channels, academic year: $308.16