Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 26, 1993 TAG: 9310260013
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Cox Cable Roanoke is adding Home Team Sports, the regional cable network best known for its Emmy-winning Baltimore Orioles telecasts, among five new services that will be available to some subscribers starting Monday.
Some of those Cox subscribers who have wanted HTS for years will be satisfied immediately. Bill Sledd, Cox Cable Roanoke's marketing manager, said that by June 1994, all 52,000 of the system's homes likely will have access to the new services.
The local debut of HTS, already in 2.5 million homes over a six-state region, is being made in tandem with the fiber-optic, laser upgrade of the Cox Cable Roanoke system. As the upgrade from 38 channels to a potential 62 is activated in various areas of the Roanoke Valley, those homes may subscribe to the new channels.
Besides HTS, Cox Cable Roanoke is adding Country Music TV, BRAVO, The Travel Channel and the Sci-Fi Channel. Those services will be available on channels 48-52. Subscribers can get all five channels for $4.25 monthly, or pay $1.95 apiece.
These customers also will need an addressable converter, like those used to access pay-per-view shows. That converter, including a remote control, rents for $2 per month.
Sledd said HTS and the other four channels will have the Nov. 1 launch to about 15,000 subscribers in the 24018 postal zip code. Cox Cable is hoping to expand those homes with HTS potential to 20,000 by year's end.
Subscribers should call Cox Cable Roanoke at 344-4637 to order the new services. Sledd said that as areas become activated for the upgrade, the cable system will notify subscribers through the mail and newspaper advertising.
The Cox Cable Roanoke system has been the largest void for Home Team Sports in its system that stretches from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and blankets Virginia. HTS has been available on systems in Blacksburg, Radford, Pulaski, Martinsville and Rocky Mount among others in Southwest Virginia, but most outlets are at channel capacity.
"We've always touted ourselves as Virginia's own sports network," said Ned Goddard, HTS' affiliate marketing manager. "We feel we have a lot of sports products they identify with, and it's our intention to continue delivering that."
HTS televised 90 Orioles' games in 1993 and is expected to announce a new contract with the baseball club that will run "well into the next century," said HTS communications manager Scott Broyles.
The network also is scheduled to air 105 men's college basketball games live this season, led by 25 Colonial Athletic Association games, including the entire CAA tournament.
HTS televises a mixture of ACC games and championships; shows Metro, Atlantic 10 and Big East basketball; and is showing Big East Football Conference telecasts this season. The network also shows several Washington Redskins studio shows weekly.
The network's 30-game Washington Capitals' NHL schedule already has started.
Because of National Basketball Association blackout rules, the 30 Washington Bullets games on HTS cannot be aired live locally, although Cox and other area systems are permitted to carry tape-delay replays.
The NBA's blackout rule to protect local markets prohibits live telecasts within 150 air miles of an NBA city. The Roanoke Valley is within the Charlotte Hornets' region.
HTS, based in Bethesda, Md., will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its launch date in April.
by CNB