for 15 APR 09: Ink-a-Dinka-Don't?

If you understand today's title, you clearly are showing your age. "Inka Dinka Doo" was a favorite song of radio-era performer Jimmy Durante. I'm not sure he could get away with that title today - because members of the Inca native community might demand some of the profits.

But anyway: we came up with this title because there are some people who apparently don't want any ink - as in printer's ink. This e-mail will explain:

Richard, I read in Sound Off in the Cols L-E that one of the Columbus cable companies offers a senior citizen discount. The monopoly cable company serving the Phenix City/Russell County, Smiths Station area does not offer a senior discount and this past month increased their rate for Basic Cable from $45.61 a month to $50.60 a month (that's an increase of $4.99 a mo). Some of us are wondering if they are including in this price an amount for their newspaper since the cable owner also owns the local newspaper and it seems that the cable subscribers are all now receiving this paper in the mail once a week. Many of us would rather pay the $45.61 a month (or less) for cable and not receive their weekly paper. Before the cable owner bought out the newspaper you had to purchase a subscription to the paper if you wanted to receive it. Now you have no choice -- you get it even if you don't want it!

First of all, this price is stunning to me. Basic cable TV now costs 50 dollars a month?! Is this part of a plot leading to commercials for "only one dollar per channel"?

Call this a case of price shock on my part - because I haven't subscribed to cable TV in nearly 20 years. I pulled the plug partly to cut costs, partly because I wasn't watching it very much - and partly because I had roommates, and one asked me to add Showtime while he could barely pay the rent.

The writer is correct in noting Cable TV of East Alabama also owns The Citizen, the area's weekly newspaper. Maybe the Ledger-Enquirer needs to consider a combination like this for financial.... oh wait. Sharing an owner with the Opelika-Auburn News hasn't worked very well for WRBL.

(Since the two media outlets are co-owned, those cable listings in The Citizen every week had better be accurate. We don't want women tuning to a tear-jerky movie on Lifetime, only to wind up crying because everyone is speaking in Spanish.)

But is this a case where a newspaper is forcing up the cost of cable? To get some answers, we called a former Cable TV of East Alabama talk show host Tuesday. Craig Howard now is in the digital billboard business. Well, he's selling advertising - not climbing the ladder to change a couple of burned-out bulbs.

(No, I didn't realize Cable TV of East Alabama had local talk shows. If anyone else knew, Antonio Carter or Robbie Watson might be there now.)

Craig Howard says he's sure there is NO connection between the Citizen subscription and the cost of cable TV. He noted cable rates went up a year or two ago, shortly after the newspaper and cable franchise merged. So maybe this increase is due to the Streetscape work on Broad Street....

Instead, Craig Howard believes another "subscription" is to blame. He noted the higher fees cable systems have to pay to show channels. Even several broadcast stations impose fees now - but Howard says The CW network had a different sort of arrangement. Perhaps you can show it for free, if you can find the station carrying it.

Craig Howard also mentioned something you may not realize about "The Big Switch." Cable TV of East Alabama and other systems are picking up digital signals, but then are required to reconvert that signal back to analog. Baptist preachers would tell you this sort of "backsliding" comes with a price tag.

But Craig Howard says east Alabama TV viewers should look on the bright side. He believes the Cable TV of East Alabama basic rate is lower than one of the Columbus cable companies. We didn't have time Tuesday evening to check that. And if I had asked about "senior discounts," the call center workers probably would have talked much slower than normal.

To be honest, there are times when I long a little for cable television. Take last Sunday, when I wanted to watch the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. It took me 20 minutes to finagle my antenna to pick up WLTZ. The final outcome proves that old Hank Williams Jr. song true: a country boy can survive.

(Yes, my TV antenna is balanced atop a lava lamp. That lamp hasn't worked in decades. But maybe I should get it fixed - then turn it on and see if I can pick up GPB again.)

While I've concluded I need a new antenna, other viewers are frustrated with WLTZ for a different reason. Tuesday's Eufaula Tribune reported NBC-38 wants to replace Montgomery powerhouse WSFA on that city's cable system. Eufaula is in the Columbus TV viewing area - but I can't blame viewers who want to see news from Alabama, which is much closer than eastern Iowa.

We have an early deadline and post time due to a religious commitment, so we'll have to quickly wrap up Tuesday's top stories:

+ A natural gas leak forced an evacuation of Columbus High School. It happened in the area where Columbus Water Works has been repairing sewer pipes on Cherokee Avenue. Why couldn't the crew have struck oil, to make that school sales tax unnecessary?

+ Columbus Council spent hours in an executive session, but failed to reach an agreement to settle the watershed mess on Teak Drive. Residents wanted the city to take responsibility - but instead they'll have to get pumped up all over again in a month.

(One Teak Drive resident told WLTZ new problems have occurred during the watershed cleanup, as debris from sandbags is making allergies worse. So much for the city parks department proposing a beach party in the neighborhood this summer.)

+ The Valley Police Chief was placed on leave, after a teenager complained he was held for seven hours without any chance to contact parents or an attorney. Wow, times have changed in this country. I can remember when some teenagers would have traded their allowance for seven hours away from their parents.

+ Instant Message to Reynolds Bickerstaff of Waddell Realty: C'mon, 'fess up - what public office are you after? You've sent all these mailings, and now you have a web site with your name on it. But when your e-mail address includes "me.com," that practically gives it away....

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