Media General to Raise Fairfax Cable Rates

Media General Cable plans to raise rates in Fairfax County by atleast 7 percent for some services, ending a one-year price freezethat the company instituted in return for an exclusive 15-yearcontract to provide cable television in the county.

Company executives said they will increase a variety of rates forservices and programs on July 1, citing increasing costs as thereason in meetings this week with county officials.

One supervisor who was briefed by the company Tuesday nightaccused Media General of "not being straight" with the county when itagreed to the rate freeze last year."It's very distressing. It's not only undoing the freeze butthey're trying to make up for the freeze" with a big rate increase,said Supervisor Gerald E. Connolly (D-Providence). "Consumers arenot going to take this well. It's an extraordinary increase for oneyear."Thomas E. Waldrop, president and chief executive of Media General,disagreed, saying, "We've not had a basic increase since August 1997.We didn't do anything with the rates last year, but the cost of doingbusiness is going up and we're providing an elevated level ofservice."About 242,000 households in Fairfax subscribe to Media General,which has provided cable service in the county since 1982.In contrast to Connolly, some other supervisors said the ratechanges seem justified, noting that cable companies in otherjurisdictions provide fewer channels at higher rates. Nationally,cable rates have increased an average of about 5.5 percent annually,cable experts said."I don't think they are out of line," Supervisor Elaine N.McConnell (R-Springfield) said of Media General's new rates. "Wedon't like to see an increase, but if we are seeing more serviceswe're requiring of them, then I think they ought to have the budgetthat would allow them to do that."Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully), who is scheduled to meetwith Waldrop today, said the rate changes "seem pretty high," butnoted that under federal law the county cannot regulate rates."Generally there is nothing we can do about it anyway," he said.Effective July 1, Media General's rates for limited basic service,which provides 45 channels, will rise about 3.5 percent, from $13.28to $13.56 monthly; the company's most popular service, which offers94 channels, will increase 7 percent, from $36.48 to $39.07 eachmonth.Other fees will also be going up, including monthly rates forpremium movie channels such as Showtime and Cinemax, both of whichwill rise $1, as well as for cable connections, which will increaseby $5 to $38. Customers will receive notice of the changes fromMedia General on May 1.The rate changes come less than a year after supervisors approveda new, 15-year franchise agreement with Media General after thecompany backed off a proposed 2.4 percent increase in rates andagreed instead to freeze them for a year. The company also said itwould start supplying customers with more modern converter boxes bythis spring.Waldrop justified the increases by saying the company is planningto spend several million dollars over the next five years to upgradeits network to accommodate high-speed Internet access and providemore channels."We've not only got programming increases that drive the need forrate increases but we're upgrading our system at a cost of $100million," he said.