Saratoga News

City officials say there's not much they can do about TCI

By Sarah Lombardo

It appears there might not be anything the city of Saratoga can do to make TCI Cablevision bring back FM radio broadcasts.

City officials have combed the city's cable ordinance and the city's franchise agreement with TCI in an effort to require the cable company to continue offering such FM stations as KDFC, KSAN and KQED. TCI discontinued offering the stations through cable hook-up in May, much to the chagrin of Saratoga, Monte Sereno and Los Gatos residents; instead cable subscribers are now offered a new cable digital music service.

But officials' efforts have come up short.

"It seems like right now, there is nothing we can do about what they are doing," said Pete Gonda, an administrative assistant in the city manager's office, said.

According to City Manager Larry Perlin, the city's franchise agreement with TCI--an agreement originally forged with South Bay CableVision and then inherited by TCI on 1996--contains a clause which states that TCI must provide FM audio service, "or some similar audio-only services," Perlin said.

"When I read this clause, it looks to me that [TCI officials] have opted to provide this other digital audio-only service," Perlin said. "It's not clear to me that they are in violation of the [franchise] agreement."

Residents who listen to the now-unavailable FM stations have been appealing to City Hall to help make TCI bring them back. With Saratoga's location, nestled against the Santa Cruz Mountains, the stations are often difficult, if not impossible, to tune in via radio--leaving the special cable hook-up as the only other way to hear the stations. TCI officials have said the company needs the bandwidth from the stations for future high-speed digital cable service.

"I think for a city like Saratoga, where FM reception is not very good in the first place, it's understandable why residents would want to continue this service," Perlin said. "But it's just not clear to me at this point that the city can do anything."

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