Satellite television service in Rhode Island may be more attractive
after a major satellite provider yesterday began offering most of the
local broadcast stations in the Providence area.
DirecTV, the largest satellite provider in the country, is now beaming
six local stations to its Rhode Island customers, including Channel 6
(WLNE), Channel 10 (WJAR), Channel 12 (WPRI), Channel 64 (WNAC), and
Channel 28 (WLWC). The package costs an extra $4 to $6 a month.
This marks the first time those channels have been available to
satellite customers in Rhode Island.
Current DirecTV customers may not be able to receive the channels with
their existing equipment. The receiving dish and receiver must be
capable of tuning in two different satellites at once. The
"multi-satellite" dishes are elliptical in shape, measuring about 18
inches by 24 inches.
DirecTV's announcement yesterday came the day after Cox Communications,
the dominant cable company in the state, said it was raising cable rates
by 7.9 percent, or $3 a month. Cox's "standard service," which 86
percent of its 301,000 Rhode Island customers subscribe to, is going up
from $37.99 a month to $40.99 a month, effective Aug. 15.
While DirecTV's service includes most of the local stations, it does not
include Rhode Island's PBS station, Channel 36 (WSBE). Instead, DirecTV
is broadcasting Channel 53 (WEDN), a PBS station based in Norwich, Conn.
It also doesn't include PAX station Channel 69 (WPXQ).
Neither station responded to DirecTV's query asking whether they wanted
to be broadcast to local DirecTV customers, according to Robert Mercer,
senior manager of communications for DirecTV.
The only other major satellite provider is EchoStar Communications,
which owns The Dish Network. That service does not offer local stations
in the Providence market.
EchoStar, the second-largest satellite provider, plans to buy DirecTV
and its parent, Hughes Electronics, from General Motors Corp. for about
$25.8 billion. The proposed deal is being reviewed by the Federal
Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Satellite television providers were prohibited by law from transmitting
local stations until about three years ago, Mercer said. The law was
changed, but it mandated that satellite companies carry all the
full-power local broadcast stations, if they carried any in a particular
market.
That requirement created a technological challenge because of the
limited capacity on satellites, Mercer said. Advances in squeezing more
information in a smaller space, along with extra satellites, have
allowed companies to add local stations. DirecTV offered local channels
in 41 markets at the end of last year.
So which is the better deal, satellite or cable?
DirecTV connected to one television is less expensive, in some cases,
than a similar Cox service.
DirecTV's Total Choice Plus package, plus the local stations is $39.99 a
month for one receiver. That tier has about 130 channels, including
about 30 digital music stations.
Customers have to buy the equipment, which can run about $100, including
installation. If a customer wants to connect additional televisions,
they have to buy a receiver for each one. They also have to pay a $4.99
a month fee for each additional set. DirecTV offers a $50 programming
credit to customers who commit to keeping the service for at least one
year.
Cox's standard digital service is $50.53, including $3.59 to rent the
required converter box and remote control. (The total price will rise to
$53.93 a month on Aug. 15.) A converter box is needed for each set
attached to the service, but there are no additional service fees. Cox's
digital service has about 148 channels, including 29 music stations.
However, switching to satellite won't automatically save money. And Cox
still has a number of advantages over its satellite competitors.
For example, Cox offers both high-speed Internet access and telephone
service. Satellite companies offer their own Internet access service,
but it requires the use of a slow telephone modem, and a spare phone
line for sending signals back to the Internet.
Customers who subscribe to all three of Cox services can receive a
$10-discount on the package, and they can enjoy the convenience of
dealing with one company and one bill for several services.
"For customers who take the bundle, there's a savings from 25 percent to
35 percent over the competition," said John Wolfe, vice president of
government and public affairs for Cox. "We're a better value."
Cox also operates public-access studios where residents can make their
own television shows, which are carried on cable-only stations. The
company also covers many local events, such as Pawtucket Red Sox and
Providence Bruins games, on its own channel, Cox 3.
"Satellite companies are, in many respects 'carpet-bagger' competition,"
Wolfe said. "They don't invest in the state's capital infrastructure,
they don't create jobs, they don't give back to the communities they
serve and civic organizations the way Cox has historically done."
DirecTV, based in El Segundo, Calif., has no Rhode Island employees,
Mercer said. The company has a small facility in Hopkinton where it has
antennas that pick up the local broadcast stations. Those signals are
transmitted by fiber optic cable to an uplink center in Los Angeles. The
signals go up to a satellite, where they are bounced back to Rhode
Island subscribers.
The new satellite options may have eliminated the final barrier that's
kept most people from switching away from cable television.
"The general perception among consumers is the lack of local TV stations
is the number-one barrier to purchase a satellite TV system," said
Michael Hopkins, editor of SkyREPORT, a market-research publication
based in Golden, Colo.
The number of satellite customers in Rhode Island is below the national
average, Hopkins said. There were 42,743 customers in the state as of
April 1, which represents about 10.75 percent of the television
households. The national average is about 18 percent, he said.
Cox provides cable service to about 67 percent of the state's
households, and 96.5 percent of all cable customers.
