ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140045
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
``WE'RE NOT OUT here to run the [television] cable companies out of business, but to provide a programming alternative,'' the company's president says.
R&B Communications of Daleville has begun operating a wireless cable television system that broadcasts microwave signals from a tower atop Tinker Mountain.
For now, the new service - operating as R&B Cable of the Roanoke Valley - offers 13 channels, but the company is working to acquire about 17 more channels through various sources, including a Federal Communications Commission auction. The additional channels are expected to be added in three to six months, said Robert Nay, the company's general manager.
R&B Communications, parent of R&B Telephone, originally planned to launch the television service in mid-1994, but regulatory and other problems led to delays. The service was turned on Feb. 5.
Because the microwave signals must travel by line of sight, residences and businesses in some areas that are blocked by hills or other obstructions will not be able to receive the wireless cable service.
However, R&B Communications president Allen Layman said the company hopes to have its signal available to more than 55 percent of the homes in its service area.
He said the company would be happy if it could sign up 5 percent to 10 percent of the potential customers in its primary market of 5,000 to 10,000 customers in Roanoke, Salem, and Roanoke and Botetourt counties.
"We're not out here to run the [television] cable companies out of business, but to provide a programming alternative," he said.
Customers receive wireless cable on a 15-inch square antenna that resembles the grill from a small barbecue or on a small two-pronged antenna that looks like an oversized tuning fork.
An antenna comes with electronics, which enable it to capture the microwave signal, descramble it and convert it for use on the customer's television. The same electronics enable the company to send messages to customers and do away with the need for a converter box, if the set is cable-ready, Nay said.
Initially, R&B Cable is offering service for $17.95 a month, which includes the following channels: WSLS-10, Fox 27, ESPN, TBS, the Learning Channel, A&E, TNT, USA, Discovery, Nashville Network, Showtime and CNN. HBO is available as a premium channel for an additional $9.95 a month.
Nay said other local channels - WDBJ-7, WSET-13 and WBRA-15 - will be added to the lineup with no increase in the monthly fee when additional transmission capacity is acquired. Additional channels the company expects to obtain will be used to provide more cable, premium and pay-per-view channels, Nay said.
Eventually, the company plans to install new digital compression technology, which will increase by 10 times the number of channels it can provide, turning the current 13 channels into a potential 130 and the expected 30 channels into a possible 300.
The company charges customers a one-time antenna installation charge of $69.95 to $99.95, although the antenna remains company property, Nay said. Because the antenna's electronics are programmed from the company's main office in Daleville, a stolen antenna would be useless to a thief, he said.
The company already has hooked up about 20 customers and has a waiting list of 650 who have shown an interest in the service. R&B is capable of adding eight new customers a day to the system, Nay said. Layman said R&B will not promote the new service until people who previously have shown an interest have been hooked up.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. 1. Robert Nay, generalby CNBmanager of R&B Cable, stands before a display of wireless antennas.
2. The R&B antenna comes with electronics, which enables it to
capture the microwave signal, descramble it and convert it for use.
color.