Cambridge Receives Study of Cable TV

A study by a private consulting firm made public this week suggests that the city build and operate its own cable network "with the understanding that they contract the operation of the system to a private facility management team." It estimates the costs of construction at $8 million to $14.5 million.

An additional study on the economic feasibility of municipal ownership of the system is being prepared, Joseph G. Sakey, chairman of the city cable advisory committee, said yesterday. That report will concentrate on finding money from outside the Cambridge tax base to finance a municipally-owned cable system, he added.

A Triple Team

The city has not yet decided whether the system will be a franchise or municipally-owned. Commercial cable firms have indicated their opposition to municipal ownership.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision could affect the city's plans. The Court held that municipalities are not exempted from U.S. anti-trust laws unless the state has specifically authorized the local government to engage in legislation. Boston University law professor Joseph F. Brodley, said yesterday.

The decision "makes the cable area uncertain," Brodley said. Cable companies nationally are more likely to challenge municipalities in the courts, he added.

Harvard anti-trust expert, Phillip E. Areeda '51, professor of Law, refused comment.

Sakey said he is not worried about the possible legal problems Cambridge could face. "If anything, the decision makes it more incumbent on cities to own and operate their own systems," he said.

The feasibility report recommends 72 television channels from the cable studios to each subscriber. In addition, it proposes four channels for subscribers to communicate with studios. This would require 43 miles of underground digging, Sakey said.

Simulating

Based on the assumption that 65 per cent of Cambridge households would participate in the system, the cost per household would be $120, the study shows. Hoelcl said she expects that 70 to 75 per cent of Cambridge's 41,000 households would subscribe within the next ten years.

The proposed cable television system would include a two-way communication capability, possibly allowing Harvard and other institutions to insert programming into the general cable system.

The "institutional loop" would benefit banks, libraries, and other non-residential users as well as universities, Alfred A. Pandiscio, associate director for video services at Harvard's Office for Information Technology, said yesterday.

As a member of the "institutional loop." Harvard could transmit programs from satellite feeds and from a small studio, Pandiscio said, adding universities could broadcast lectures and other programs.

Pandiscio said he and other Harvard representatives have sat in on some city council meetings concerning cable. The university has not officially begun planning how it would use the cable system, because the details of the Cambridge plan have not yet been decided, he added.