GTE launches digital
wireless TV on Oahu
It hopes to cover about 90%
By Rob Perez
of the island by June in a bid to
compete with Oceanic Cable
Star-BulletinGTE Corp. today launched its digital wireless television service on Oahu, marking the beginning of a marketing battle with Oceanic Cable, the island's dominant cable TV provider.
GTE Media Ventures is offering a standard package of 68 video channels and 32 music channels for $39.95 a month. The installation fee of nearly $150 has been cut to $49.95 during a promotion period.
GTE is rolling out the service in Hawaii Kai and expects to offer it to about 90 percent of Oahu by the end of May, according to GTE spokesman Keith Kamisugi.
"For the first time, Oahu residents have a meaningful choice in video services providers," said Alain Louchez, GTE Media's Hawaii general manager. "We do not intend to start a pricing war, but we will compete on the basis of value and service quality."
Oceanic, which has more than 240,000 customers statewide, charges about $27.50 a month for a standard package that includes more than 40 channels.
The new GTE service is delivered via a transmitting system that beams signals from a master antenna on Oahu to the home's roof-mounted receiver or to a reflector that relays the signal to the home.
Because it is a line-of-sight system, not all areas of Oahu will be able to receive the service, Kamisugi said.
GTE entered the market through the purchase last May of Oahu Wireless Cable Co. For the past year, it has upgraded the analog system to digital, hiring more than 85 workers to develop the service, the company said. The programming previously provided by Oahu Wireless was discontinued in February.
GTE is offering more than 150 channels of video and music programming to subscribers. Additional fees are charged to get more than the standard service.
Hawaii is the third state after Florida and California in which GTE Media has launched video services.
