Digital is here for Denver
TCI IS NOW DIGITAL AND DOING IT QUIETLY
Probably doing it in Dallas now or very soon.
By Stephen Keating
Denver Post Business Writer
Nov. 15 - Five long years in the making, Tele-Communications Inc. launched digital cable-TV service in metro Denver on Friday, introducing a new way for its customers to view and use their televisions.
At its core, the optional service offers 18 more cable channels, eight movie channels and nine pay-per-view channels, starting at an extra $10 a month.
Viewers can order movies through a new remote control and also pick what to watch by using a new on-screen guide that has parental-control features.
Satellite-TV systems and some other cable systems around the country already have such features, but TCI - the nation's largest cable-TV company - is cautiously embarking on an era in which many of the country's 300 million televisions could have computer-like powers.
"Cautiously" is the key word for a company still struggling with the legacy of chief John Malone's 1992 vision of a "500 channel" future.
"We've been bitten in the past for not fulfilling as strongly as we promised," said LaRae Marsik, a spokeswoman for TCI, based in the Denver Tech Center. "We want to make it real for our customers and then boast about our success."
In Denver, the largest market in which TCI has launched digital cable, orders were already piling up Friday for the new service. Officials said initial orders could be filled within a few days, but if demand grows quickly, installations could take several weeks.
A call Friday night to TCI's customer service number, 930-2000, was answered within one minute. The customer service representative who answered said an installation could be scheduled within "two to three weeks."
Unusual for a splashy new offering, TCI said it will not do much marketing or advertising of digital cable until after Thanksgiving, preferring to let media reports and word-of-mouth sell the service initially.
The cable company faces a tough audience from at least one of its first hookups this morning.
"This brings TCI out of the dark ages," said Tom Kerver, business editor of Cablevision magazine in Denver and a longtime TCI customer who ordered the new service. "First off, I'll be looking for a good explanation of how to use the navigator. It changes the way you watch television."
TCI of Colorado, which serves 430,000 subscribers in the Denver metro area, says field workers will spend up to two hours per customer to install and explain the new TV service and on-screen navigator, called the Prevue guide.
"We want to do it right," said Steven Jon Santamaria, general manager of TCI of Colorado. Santamaria said 50 new people have been hired to bolster his ranks of 600 field installers.
The Prevue guide allows viewers to select programs by category, such as sports, or by program title, such as "Seinfeld," no matter the channel number. With a new remote control and set-top box, viewers can instantly select pay-per-view movies, some with one-hour start times. The $2.99 cost per movie, plus taxes and fees, will appear on subscriber's monthly bills.
A phone line must be connected, though not dedicated, to the new set-top box to transmit billing data. TCI said the new system complies with privacy rules.
One issue is that digital pictures provided may appear sharper than existing analog channels, which will remain.
Santamaria said he has 6,000 new digital boxes in stock. Customers will pay about $3 a month to rent the box, equivalent to prices for current boxes.
A question on many consumers' minds may be how TCI's digital offering stacks up to satellite TV services like EchoStar, DirecTV and PrimeStar, which is owned by cable companies.
The answer is in the eye of the beholder.
Nationwide, TCI's customers pay $37.60 per month, on average, for roughly 55 basic cable channels, premium channels such as HBO and pay-per-view movie choices. Access to TCI's digital cable service, which squeezes more channels down the same coaxial line, costs $10 more a month to start.
The cost of satellite services vary widely but often require an up-front investment of $199 or more for a satellite dish and equipment, plus programming costs. TCI's long-delayed launch of digital TV is intended, in part, to blunt the attraction of satellite-TV.
Already in the works is a new generation of set-top boxes that could provide even more viewing options, retailing services and electronic mail through the television set. TCI President Leo Hindery said Friday that cooperation between cable and software companies was moving quickly and could result in deployment by June.
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