As an avid sports fan, I find it extremely frustrating that Hawaii Kai is the only pocket of Oahu not receiving ESPN2 and Fox West. In the last month, instead of adding these channels, our cable company, TCI, added the Nashville Network! How was that decision made and why is it that we are not offered the same level of programming that Oceanic Cable offers its subscribers? Looking at the island
cable television pictureFirst, some background. On Oahu, Oceanic is by far the largest provider, with about 240,000 subscribers. TCI of Hawaii has 42,000 customers, mostly on the neighbor islands, but 8,600 in Hawaii Kai. The military has its own system, and small companies operate on the neighbor islands.
The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs oversees cable operations in the state, but only as far as rates and customer service goes, said Sanford Inouye, staff attorney with the Cable Television Division. Because of the First Amendment, the state cannot regulate programming. "That's left up to the cable companies based on their perception of consumer desires," Inouye said.
On your specific complaints:
The Nashville Network, which includes car racing, was the most requested service in Hawaii Kai, based on written letters to DCCA, said TCI's general manager, Gerrianne Sakamoto.
Although there have been requests for more sports, most requests in recent months have been for family programs. So, Disney, American Movie Classics, the Family Channel, etc., were added to Hawaii Kai's standard service, at no added cost, Sakamoto said.
In general, programming decisions "are based on contracts with programmers, technical availability of service and a mix of programming in the community," she said.
Before 1996, the most requested services in Hawaii Kai were for more pay-per-view channels and movies.
TCI added three home theater channels in 1995 and last month, Starz!, a premium movie channel. More expansion is planned and TCI is "keeping track of requests for additional sports programming," Sakamoto said.
She notes that the sports channels you mention are offered for an extra fee. That brings up the problems of your specific location.
Ordinarily, a cable company relies on earth stations to take feeds from satellites, Sakamoto said.
"But in Hawaii Kai, because of restrictions due to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) installations in Koko Head, we cannot have any earth station there. We have to microwave our programming in from Molokai."
For TCI to add a channel for Hawaii Kai subscribers "is much more expensive than for an average cable company and we have many less subscribers to spread the cost across," she said. "The technical ramifications of added programming in Hawaii Kai are something that other places on Oahu don't have to deal with."
Although there were multiple small cable companies on Oahu in the beginning, Oceanic today services almost every Oahu neighborhood, except Hawaii Kai.
The Hawaii Kai franchise was first obtained by Kaiser Teleprompter of Hawaii Kai Inc. in 1970. McCaw Communications took over in 1985, followed by Cooke Cablevision in 1988.
A day later it was transferred to Western Communications, later known as Chronicle Cablevision. TCI took over last year.
Programming requests can be included in your bill payment.
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