City May Order Another Cable Rate Rollback

VENTURA —  City officials are expected to order Century Communications Corp. to reduce its basic cable rates by another $1.80 per month after independent analysts determined the company made accounting errors when calculating its fees.

The city notified Century Communications on Thursday that the City Council is considering whether to ask the company to reduce its monthly cable rates from $25.07 to $23.27. The council is scheduled to take up the issue at its Sept. 21 meeting.

“We’re not doing this to make Century miserable, we just need to be sure the city’s cable rates are fair for subscribers,” Mayor Jim Friedman said. “As elected officials, we have an obligation to get the best deal for our city’s subscribers.”

The council will also decide whether to require Century Communications to credit subscribers $1.80 for each of the 17 months the city says the company overcharged them. Officials at Century Communications were unavailable for comment Friday, but have said that they want to work with the city in resolving disputes over cable rates.

City officials decided to act after consultants from the law firm of Miller and Van Eaton of Washington, D.C., and KFA Services of Washington state each concluded Century Cable has been inflating basic rates.

Thursday’s notice and the upcoming council discussion are the latest in a series of cable rate controversies that have occupied much of the time of city officials while infuriating some residents.

The latest brouhaha comes a month after Century announced it would raise premium cable rates as much as 453%. Century made the announcement after the city determined last May that the company had overcharged 15,800 east Ventura subscribers and ordered it to cut its basic cable rate by $6.43.

Century Communications agreed to comply with the order and said it would refund $7.86 a month to subscribers through June 1999. It is unclear how this and past disputes will affect whether the city renews its contract with Century Communications. The contract expires in October.

Friedman said a number of other providers, including GTE, have expressed interest in the Ventura market, but none has made a firm commitment.