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r FEB 23 19 3 <br />BOOK 88 PAGE 993 <br />Mr. Foody explained that it was named Florida Cablevision but <br />was owned by United Artists. The majority stockholder in United <br />Artists for the last 6 or 7 years was TCI, and when United Artists <br />grew and wanted to go into other markets on their own, the Vero <br />Beach firm came under the TCI name. <br />Sloan O'Donnell, resident of Village Green, noted that he has <br />been a subscriber to the cable system for 10 years. As a former <br />department head of journalism and broadcasting at a small college <br />in Pennsylvania, he remembered the wonderful visions they had for <br />cable TV back then. First, however, Mr. O'Donnell wanted to talk <br />about the lobbying that TCI has done recently. He held up a one- <br />page ad that ran 6 times in the newspaper urging people to write <br />their congressman about aspects of the proposed legislation that <br />they may or may not want. That was before the government changed <br />the law and brought the cable companies under regulation. <br />Mr. O'Donnell read the following letter into the record: <br />1 I y• <br />DATES February 22, 1993 ._ -M , <br />T0: Ron. Dick Bird, Chairman"' <br />Rte"— c ac�ssioners . <br />,�isirator —'� <br />Indian River County Commssi rs �� ., 'fit•"'''may <br />FROM: Sloan 0' Donnell ,� .7. <br />'" "' = v, `'er= annel <br />arance Before the Board, Feb.993%"� 'u�:iC <br />SUBJECT: Appe c WorksRe: Board Meeting with TCI, Inc: 27993 <br />�,y��� �•C''1,'rlU —�_ <br />ni tY Dev. <br />Utilities �----- <br />rina:ice <br />Ifhar <br />I am writing to inform you that I plan to appear before the informs <br />tional meeting between Indian River County Commissioners and Mr. Foody, <br />Systems Manager of TCI, Inc., operator of a franchised television <br />cable system serving residents of the City of Vero Beach and nearby <br />areas scheduled for your 9 a.m. meeting, Feb. 23, 1993. I propose to <br />seek information on these matters if Mr. Foody does not cover them in <br />his preliminary presentation: <br />1) TCI offers subsribers with limited means its Basic Service with a <br />menu of 13 channels. If indeed TCI is truly trying to serve patrons <br />with only limited resources, why does it deliberately tantalize them <br />with the Home Shopping Network with its easy access and dazzling array <br />of expensive merchandise? Why does it reserve a channel for HBO that <br />costs $9.45 monthly extra for patrons who presumably must scrimp to get <br />just the basic cable? Does TCI participate in the sales of merchandise <br />on the Home Shopping Network?- I understand from another cable company <br />that there is a "carriage" fee of approximately five percent. If indeed <br />there is income for TCI from the Home Shopping Network; how much is it? <br />Why does the menu include two NBC and two ABC outlets? Cutting <br />this needless duplication would provide access to other channels such <br />as the highly regarded Cable News Network (CNN) in which, according to <br />USA Today, TCI.is a "major investor," or one of Ted Turner's outlets such <br />as Turner Network Television (TNT) or highly regarded WTBS originating <br />in Atlanta? <br />Why not combine TCI's Local Origination channel with the Local <br />Government Access Channel where currently the only local coverage comes <br />from Vero Beach Council meetings?? And why doesn't TCI encourage <br />26 <br />