Cable TV Switch To Cost 23 Spokane Jobs

Twenty-three Cox Communications Inc. employees will lose their jobs when TeleCommunications Inc. takes over the Spokane-area cable television system next month.

Allan Collins, Cox vice president and general manager in Spokane, said most of the cuts will affect workers in marketing and accounting.

Those duties will be transferred to TCI’s Bellevue offices, he said.

Cox employs about 200, Collins said. The company’s cable system serves 90,000 subscribers.

Last fall, Cox and TCI agreed to exchange some of their cable systems as a way to consolidate some of their holdings.

Denver-based TCI, the nation’s largest cable operator, already has franchises in Seattle, Tacoma, and Boise. Cox is stronger in California and the Southwest.

Local jurisdictions that award cable franchises must approve the transfers, but Collins said officials can reject the proposals only if they believe the new franchisee is incapable of operating the system.

With TCI, he said, that is clearly not the case.

The Millwood City Council already has endorsed the transfer, Collins said. The Spokane County commissioners are expected to follow suit next week.

Although no vote by the Spokane City Council has been scheduled, the matter has been discussed by the council’s Cable Advisory Committee, Collins said.

He said customers will notice few differences beyond the labeling of trucks and stationary, and where they send their checks.

Collins said he will leave Cox when the transfer occurs. He and his wife are evaluating other options, he said, declining to be more specific.

Collins moved to Cox’s Atlanta headquarters in 1994, but returned to Spokane after only a few months.

He took over Cox’s Spokane operation in May 1987.

, DataTimes