C-22r.:crta:nmentTh3 Dully Tar HeeSMonday, August 25, 10GO
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. Chapel Hill ' has always cozed
with seductive alternatives to
dazzling element in its
cntcrtair.rr.5n,t; jsmorgasbord than
r.ny t:er jclzt; theater group cr
V- t r-1 ' TV
Cable': television offers its
subscribers diversified and typically
commercial-free programming.
Theee programs are geared for
pleasant change from commercial
TV's shows, which sometimes bore
even the lowest common
denominator for. which they are
Copper wires for cable systems
already cross most of the United
States. CATV (community antenna
television) is the newest American
success story and fad; a fad that is
here to stay and has the networks
shiverins in their Gucci shoes.'
CATV has its origins in the late
19 'Os, when the newest craze then,
network TV, was just beginning to
prosper. Many homes in rural or
mountainous areas had difficulty
receiving signals on their small
'Student involvement would seem to
boa natural outgro wth. . . we would cer
teinly welcome that. '
To facilitate reception,
communities erected large antennas
on high terrain and piped the signals
to individual subscribers. In 1950,
cable television was in operation for
70 communities and served 14,000
subscribers.
Now, transmissions from all over
the world, are bounced off a
satellite hovering 22,500 miles above
the equator and are received in large
community discs.
Today, 16 million out of the 76
million American TV homes are
hooked into cable. That's a little
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more than 20 percent. Most
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percent penetration as soon as 15 JO.
By the 21st century, many
subscribers will have diees receiving
own hemes.
Even if people don't buy cable
now, they certainly will be exposed
to it and the entertainment
innovations it will generate
sometime in the near future. Given
this demand, television will
probabiy follow the path of radio to
- fragmented specialized stations and
programs, shedding the dull
homogeneity of networks.
For the average viewer, this
means programming of greater
sophistication and diversity than
had been available before via
network TV. For a society confined
to home by gas shortages that could
be very important. Programs range
in style and content from children's
movies to sports stations to 24-hour
And new ideas are coming all the
time. Ted Turner of Atlanta, who
helped start the whole cable craze,
has initiated a 24-hour news
network. The Carnegie Foundation
has proposed a new station devoted
specifically to the arts. Most
operations have channels allocated
to local programming.
Fortunately for local viewers, the
Village Cable system offers a wider
selection of programming than most
North Carolina operations plus the
opportunity for local groups to be
heard and exposed to cable
production.
Unfortunately for many students,
only those who live off campus and
within Chapel Hill city limits are
eligible for hook-up. Provisions for
the University to have cable TV
have not yet been solidified.
"We are not shying away from
that. We'd like to work with the
university," said Lu Stevens,
general manager of Village Cable.
44 We hope to be through (laying the
, . cab, le ,or Chapel , f Hill) , by.
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Just five short years eo, Wocfr &
Tweeter opened rtt doors to th
peo;!t ol the Trtent area. clTalKa
son of the finest Ki-S components
available. Today, w are one of
North Carolina's kaxtlnj hi-fi cen
ters, la fact. national trade
m.-siin named us as crs of the
tcp three dealers In the esate and
the ladlng de&!er for the Trlsr-'e
area. Ossr secret to this phenJnaJ
sjcce Is sJifi: First, we stuck to
the basics by i&mlaa&fii t lZi so
cflaa fmiiid in the strreo s&lores, we
w ere able to lower oue overhead es
penaea. This means lower piicts to
jki. Cy l6tiij cur store wtsIJa cl
mi have t fee cofniri$L Our
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I November. At that time we'll be
redy to see what the University will
' Villege Cctle offers a three tier ."
system, each tier costing a IttI: tit
. and third tiers carry with them the
pay option cf r.cv"j services and
improved FM stereo jreeeption.
reception of stations which many
services. Local ' government will
have access - to . cable channel 9,
' public schools to channel 10 and the.' -.
. general populace to channel 13
Filming and airing of events will
be left to the discretion and
initiative of the grpups involved.
These channels are available only
to the groups to which they are
assigned. They must tell us what
they want put on. Then they can
rent cr ' borrow the equipment to
film from lis," Stevens said. She
said she hopes the coverage will
include live filming of Town
Council meetings, speeches and
special lectures or productions
within the schools.
Any individual who wishes to
speak on channel 13 may come to
the Village Cable $tudio which is
now under construction tmd sign
up. "Anybody who wants to be on
television can have free five
minutes," Stevens sid.
Installation for Tier One is about
$40 with free monthly service.
Tier Two is a 17channel system
which adds six channels to tier one.
With this tier comes access to
national programs: Cinerama
(programming for! the elderly);
Calliope (a children's film series;
Madison Square Garden (a sports
network covering everything from
hockey and tennis to the
Westminster dogohow); Modern
Cable programs (a variety of general
interest programs); and C-Span
(live, uncut coverage of the daily
, procedures of the U.S. House of
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the L! rest ctlits'st, we arc atle
to ktep out operating expensts low,
which means you get the lowest
poeti'Je price.
Second, we sell only the finest
brands of hi-fi components, it'
$';-fJ to .'ve you the tc sound
end many years of trouUe-free ssr
vtce. .
Third, we fed that a W-8 rxtcra Is
no better than the service and
daslar that tack tt up. Thai's s,!y
we roalntsia a ewrjiita smloe
prtmer4 ta taurt yo cf t--s Lfh
rfiSTBSrs thai you paid far.
Thee is cr." ,t crwach at U Wir &
Tfif & you want t5 buy a mmtrnt
vttm-r vw
bw y M Is. AJ you it is s
ffi$4oymmt. a few c-ed crJ4 wiW
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tftke core e t r?st. Yesi ca cswr tm
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Representatives). Local
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Hill Presents" and "The Che-el
III11 Evening Report" both of which
will recorded by the Vilkre
Ccmpordes starting in November.
groups with employment
opportunities, and consumer groups
with information about shopping
and flea markets. (Many of these
programs will "shore" channels,
and several channels such as those
for community, access will not be
active unless a group requests time
and does the filming.)
The installation fee for Tier Two
(which includes Tier One at no extra
cost) is approximately $15 phis S5
per month service charge.
Tier Three offers a tctaj of 32
channels (3 left for future use),
adding nine new programs: IVTBS
(Ted Turner's original ptation
offering 24 hours of movies sports
and family programming); KTVU
(another variety station also
covering west coast shorts);
Nickelodeon (children's
programming); ESPN (24-hour
sports coverage); CNN (Turner's
controversial new 24-hour news
station); Local Churches'; SPN
(variety station); Captions and
Talking books (special PBS
programming for those with hearing
and seeing handicaps; arid the
station which will probably be of
greatest interest to UIC-CH
students University Access.
No definitive planes have been
made for this station. 'Anything
from lab theater productions to
guest speakers may be filmed and
aired.
"A lot of things which are of
interest to university people; will be
of interest to people in town,"
Stevens said.
She anticipates that students will
be a major proponent of production
and selection of programming. "We
hayeayery closeJ?tic,Tship with
discover
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SEASON
ORIOIK'AUY PRODUCED DiJfCTfP
KRI&HT, UlsCoNVt KiTONAL MUSICAL.
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Ceplember Wt 2D, 21 end 23, 27, 23
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Radio, Television and Motion
Pictures. ..student involvement
would seem to be a natural
outgrowth. ..we would certainly
welcome that," Stevens said.
Althce-gh the University has been
given responsibility for crganiaiag
and filming any programs to be
. shown, Stevens was unable to
identify exactly who cr. what
organization would be in charge of
coordinating the process.
Installation for Tier Three is
approximately S15 with an S3
monthly charge.
'Turner's 24-hour news gives you the
chance to catch up whenever yeu
can.'
Tiers Two and Three also carry
with them the option to subscribe to
movie stations Home Box Office
(uncut movies without commercial
interruption plus many events
produced specifically for pay TV);
The Movie Channel (movies 24
hours "a day); Home Theater
Network (movies with P and PG
ratings) ; and FM stereo radio (cable
to your stereo system to improve
radio reception).
The main seduction of cable TV is
- its diversity. But according to
Stevens there is something beyond
that for students the chance to see
news, sports and even movies at odd
hours when studying is done.
'Turner's 24-hour news gives you
the chance-to catch up whenever you
can. ESPN-has sports 24 hours a
day from, all over the nation,"
Stevens said. The movie stations
also offer many movies that begin at
odd times.
"There are always times when
they have time to do other things
than study," Stevens pointed cut.
True. Perhaps many students this
year will be found spending that
time watching a tube which has
suddenly found its horizons greatly
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