MEDIA : Cable TV Turns Onto Local Stations to Meet the Future

Cable television magnate Ted Turner drew a big laugh last week at a press conference to announce KGTV’s (Channel 10) agreement to provide local news briefs on CNN’s Headline News, when he was asked how the deal benefited Turner’s interests.

“Doing good is reward enough,” he replied, breaking up the crowd. Perhaps it was just the lighting, but a slight smirk could be detected on his face.

The cable industry has never been noted for its altruistic instincts.

The deal calls for KGTV to provide local news briefs throughout the day on Headline News broadcast on the local Cox and Southwestern Cable systems, beginning April 2. It is a good deal for both the local cable systems and Channel 10, which will sell commercial time during each news brief to recoup its costs.

It will be a golden opportunity for Channel 10 to expose its news product to more viewers, while teasing its regular newscasts in the process.

For the cable systems, it is a chance to address some of the new realities of their industry, to integrate themselves into the public psyche while generating a little revenue. (Channel 10 pays for the time.) It is an opportunity for cable systems--often perceived as monopolies with no public agenda--to become more of a community service, a source of local information akin to radio.

More than 35 cable systems nationwide have worked similar deals with local news operations, although not to the extent of the local arrangement. Beyond a few token talk shows, national cable programming has not been able to compete on a local basis with local broadcasting interests.

“We have no intention of going into the local news business,” Turner said of CNN. “The network affiliates is the most efficient way of doing it.”

A lot of words can describe cable executives, but they are not dummies. In contrast, they appear to be bright, forward-thinking individuals who can see the proverbial writing on the wall.

Competition looms in several different forms. Cable executives realize they have to do more to keep the customers happy because soon that customer is going to have more choices than just cable, a VCR or an expensive satellite dish.

Just last week, an oft-discussed new venture was announced that will allow customers to receive more than 100 channels in their home for a monthly fee and the cost of a small satellite dish. People with such a system wouldn’t need a cable company.

At the same time, the Federal Communications Commission and Congress have discussed the possibility of again regulating the cable industry, which has been almost completely deregulated in the last 10 years, to give the public more control of fees and programming.

Currently, cable systems as large and powerful as Cox and Southwestern with long-term franchise agreements are really answerable to no earthly power, short of a mass revolt of subscribers willing to give up their cable service. If the public is given other options in the future, the large cable operators may be faced with just that type of revolt, if they don’t take steps to address their communities.

“We’re not sitting on our laurels because we have a 20-year franchise,” said Ann Burr, president of Southwestern Cable. “There is still lot’s of competition for the discretionary entertainment dollar. We take that very seriously.”

More than 200 irate “Jeopardy” fans called KNSD-TV (Channel 39) last week to complain when this month’s edition of “Third Thursday” preempted their favorite show during the teen championship tournament.

In the past, during “Third Thursday” weeks the station aired the Thursday “Jeopardy” episode on Friday and the Friday show on Monday. But this time, the Friday show, the climatic final day of the tournament, was aired on Saturday, and most fans apparently missed it.

The switch was announced at the end of the shows on Wednesday and Friday, according to program director Penny Martin. Next time the station will run a written announcement across the screen, she said. But that doesn’t do the fans who missed the final show of the teen tournament any good.

The whole tournament will be rerun sometime in the future, Martin said.

“They didn’t make an (announcement); we were watching,” said one angry “Jeopardy” fan. “It’s all well and good about the future, and I’m glad they acknowledged their mistake. But in this instance they simply made a mistake.”

The hot rumor of the week suggested that Channel 39 anchorman Marty Levin was talking to Channel 10 about replacing Michael Tuck, who has already announced his intention to head to Los Angeles no later than September. Definitely not true, says Levin. Asked about his contract status with Channel 39, though, Levin declined to comment, although sources at the station say he still has a long way to go on his current deal. . . .

Channel 10 has been using newsroom staffers to review tapes of candidates for Tuck’s anchor job. The field has been narrowed to about a dozen candidates, and interviews are expected to begin within the week, according to news director Paul Sands . . . .

Although he is still working without a contract, Kevin Hunt’s position as Channel 39’s No. 2 sports guy appears to be more secure, thanks to the support of sports director Jim Laslavic and Neil Derrough, the station’s general manager. . . .

A San Diego Gas & Electric power outage caused a 40-minute interruption of Cox Cable service downtown beginning at 6:43 p.m. Thursday, according to a Cox spokeswoman. The top of a fire hydrant was knocked off by some unknown force, sending water shooting dozens of feet into the air and shorting out power lines, an SDG&E; spokesman said . . . .

Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s relationship with KSDO-AM (1130) apparently has taken a turn for the better. Although she still avoids arch-enemy Roger Hedgecock’s show, she apparently has found a friend in new afternoon host Michael Reagan. She has done at least three interviews with him. . . .

A spokesman for producer Stockton Briggle said a planned television docu-drama on the Sagon Penn case is still “in development,” an industry euphemism for “we’re working on it, leave us alone.” There has been no real progress on the project in the last few months, he said, and there are still no writers assigned to put together a script. “There is no specific block, just time,” the spokesman said. “We’re still very interested and the network (NBC) is as commited as ever.”. . .

Sometime Friday, San Diego commuters will be joined on the roads by one of the National Guards’ M68A3 tanks. It will be driven north for KGMG-FM’s (Magic 102) Big Boys Toy Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, March 3 and 4. The Guard had to get special permission from the cities of San Diego and Del Mar to take the tank on the roads. In its third year, the toy show has almost doubled in size, featuring an array of toys for adults. . . .

Phil Flowers just can’t stay away from KCBQ. Once known as Flyin’ Phil Flower, the disc jockey is back for his third stint with the station. He’ll be handling disc jockey chores on weekends. . . .

“Mala Noche,” the 1986 debut film by Gus Van Sant, director of last year’s critically acclaimed “Drugstore Cowboy,” screens through Wednesday night at the Ken Cinema. It tells the story of a skid row store clerk in love with a Mexican migrant.