Council Faces Decision On Cable Ownership Blocking Adult Programming May Play Part In Transferring Service From Cox To Tci

The Spokane City Council will decide tonight whether to approve a deal allowing Spokane’s cable television service to change hands.

Spokane County commissioners already have approved the change for unincorporated areas. They used the opportunity to demand stricter controls on sexually explicit channels in those areas.

An anti-pornography activist plans to ask the City Council to follow the commissioners’ lead, while the cable television provider will argue against those controls.

Cox Communications Inc. wants to trade its 91,000 customers to the nation’s biggest cable company - Tele-Communications Inc. of Englewood, Colo.

TCI is expected to take control of Cox Cable Spokane on Jan. 1, pending the council’s approval.

County commissioners on Tuesday added conditions to the franchise dealing with the Playboy channel and other channels that show sexually explicit programs. Those channels now are blocked or scrambled for all but the customers who pay for them.

On some newer televisions, the scrambled signals show occasional flashes of enmeshed bodies, said Penny Lancaster, a Spokane Valley anti-pornography crusader. Groaning, moaning and lewd conversations come through loud and clear, said Lancaster.

Under conditions set by the commissioners, adult stations will be blocked from entering the homes of new customers unless the customer pays for it. And TCI must tell existing customers more frequently than Cox did that they can have the scrambled stations blocked.

Lancaster had wanted adult channels blocked from all houses except those that paid to see them.

The changes “were not as much as we’d like to see happen” but a good first step, she said. “I sent a fax to the City Council and the mayor, asking them to support the same ruling.”

Cox’s vice president and general manager, Alan Collins, said neither his company nor TCI agreed to the changes. Company officials hope to meet with commissioners soon and convince them to delete the conditions.

“There are far better solutions to deal with these perceived issues - and I stress ‘perceived,”’ said Collins. “The commissioners really didn’t have the information in front of them to understand that.”

Collins said TCI already has pledged to “double-scramble” all adult stations within six months, although that pledge isn’t part of its contract. Double scrambling would eliminate all audio and any flashes of flesh from homes that haven’t ordered the stations, he said.

Cox is trading the Spokane franchise for a TCI franchise in another city.

Mayor Jack Geraghty said he doubted the council will force TCI to black out adult stations because reopening the contract could adversely affect the city.

“We have a very good franchise agreement with Cox,” he said. “We want to keep that.”

In other action Monday, the council will:

Consider amendments to the ordinance that creates a Public Development Authority.

The council plans to form a PDA in conjunction with the proposed River Park Square redevelopment project downtown.

Under a plan approved by the council last month, a non-profit corporation formed by River Park Square’s owners would issue bonds to buy the project’s garage after it has been renovated and expanded.

The Spokane Downtown Foundation would then lease the garage land. The council would need to approve the issuance of bonds.

The development authority formed by the city would sublease the garage building and land from the foundation.

The parking garage is part of the proposed $100 million redevelopment of River Park Square, which includes a new Nordstrom, a 24-screen cinema, shops and restaurants.

River Park Square is owned by Lincoln Investment Co. and Citizens Realty Co., affiliates of Cowles Publishing Co., owner of The Spokesman-Review.

The shopping center’s owners have said they need the city to support the project in order to get lower interest rates on its financing.

The development authority would be governed by a board appointed by the council. The proposed amendment would reduce the number of board members from seven to five, as well as add parking facilities to the list of things a PDA can oversee.

Acting City Manager Bill Pupo said that, eventually, the PDA might run several public parking centers in downtown Spokane.

Consider renewing a $138,792 contract with Crime Check of Spokane County for 1997.

Consider amending a contract with ALSC Architects of Spokane to do a traffic study and site model for improvements to the existing North Foothills Drive maintenance center. The $56,923 amendment brings the contract’s total cost to $350,828.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: COUNCIL MEETING The Spokane City Council holds a briefing session at 3:30 p.m. in lower-level conference room at City Hall. The regular meeting is held at 6 p.m. in council chambers.