The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 70, Ed. 1 Friday, February 13, 1981 Page: 6 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: North Texas Daily / The Campus Chat and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
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PAGE 6—THE NORTH TEXAS DAILY
Friday, February 13,1981
Cable TV plays xSuper Bowl' in Dallas
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas has been
dubbed the Super Bowl of cable televi-
sion franchising, but this competition
has six teams and ever-changing,
improvised rules to guard against cor-
ruption.
Dallas officials watched franchise
skirmishes in other cities degenerate into
mudslinging, lawsuits and convictions
and vowed to avoid such unhappy
endings.
In Johnstown, Pa., for example, a
principal of the winning company and
three city officials pleaded guilty or were
convicted in a bribery scheme.
Boulder, Colo., lost a $1 million law-
suit when it tried to oust a company that
lured fewer than 2,000 subscribers in a
city of 76,000. Pittsburgh and Houston
are embroiled in suits brought by losing
companies that claim winners were
granted special consideration.
In Houston, where direct negotiation
was used to award the franchise to five
companies, a grand jury and the FBI are
investigating allegations some of the
companies profitted from reselling
stock. Houston was dubbed a national
laughingstock in a report by some of its
own council members, and so it was with
a wary eye that Dallas officials invited
companies to submit bids in 1979.
That October, a Dallas councilman
and a council candidate accused a
former councilman of offering them
partnerships or subcontracts if a
hometown company, Sammons Com-
munications, was awarded the franchise.
The former councilman denied the
charges and a police investigation was
dropped for lack of evidence.
That incident foreshadowed a
phenomenon that would become known
as rent-a-citizen, in which politically in-
fluential locals lobby for out-of-state
companies in exchange for a piece of the
I
Photo by MAX STACY
STRATCH THAT—Emily Cowart, Dallas senior, works on her oil painting
by scraping some of the paint off. She said she was not starting over, the
scraped paint is part of her design.
Lack of access
to White House
ires Hispanics
WASHINGTON (A P) — A
Mexican-American civil rights activist
says the first days of the Reagan ad-
ministration have been frustrating
because of the minority community's
lack of access.
However, Antonia Hernandez, the
new director of the Mexican-American
Legal Defense and Education Fund's
Washington office, said she has
glimpsed some signs of improvement.
Ms. Hernandez said a major disap-
pointment is the total absence of top-
level Hispanic appointments in the new
Republican administration.
Reagan scheduled a luncheon meeting
Thursday at the White House with
leaders of Hispanic organizations. It was
his first meeting with Hispanic leaders
other than his Republican supporters
since the November election.
Christian
Worship
Every Sunday, 11 a.m.
University Ministry
Center
Maple and Ave. B
Problem
Pregnancy?
call
Abortion
Alternatives
383-2626
A non-profit organization
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franchise for which they invest little or
nothing.
Cox Cable was the first applicant to
announce its local partners, and Vista
Cablevision and United Cablevision
soon followed. All the partners were
forced to resign, however, after a rent-a
citizen furor fueled by a local new-
spaper,
The Dallas City Council subsequently
passed an ordinance prohibiting cable
company employees from talking to city
officials or staff members. In addition,
all council members but one signed
oath pledging they wouldn't work for a
cable company two years after the
franchise was awarded. Councilman
Fred Blair refused calling the oath
ridiculous. The companies still found
local heavyweights to act as part-time
lobbyists.
As consultant Harold Horn of the
Cable Television Information Center
evaluated their proposals in
Washington, the six consultants devised
other ways to try to influence the coun-
cil.
Charles Sammons, the 82-year-old
founder of the hometown company,
revealed at a council meeting and in
$150,000 worth of newspaper ads that he
had willed 51 percent of his company to
five Dallas charities.
Cox Cable threw an expensive
cocktail party for representatives of Dal-
las' performing arts groups, and the
Black Chamber of Commerce got into
the act by charging contenders $650 to
present their appeals at a Juneteenth
celebration.
In perhaps the most bizarre event dur-
ing the selection process, project director
Anne Hall of Warner Amex Cable Com-
munications Inc. cooperated with police
in the arrest of two men who allegedly
solicited $250,000 from her for "secret"
city hall documents that would
"guarantee" the franchise. The informa-
tion was neither secret nor damaging.
In mid-October, Horn delivered a
final report that was notable for its
clarity. Warner Amex offered the best
technology, he said, although Sammons
deserved serious consideration for being
a bit cheaper. The others simply didn't
measure up.
In its third vote, the council awarded
the largest single franchise in cable
history to Warner Amex. Only two
councilmen and the mayor held out for
Sammons.
"I'm just overwhelmed by the enor-
mity of what happened. This is the Super
Bowl of all cable franchising, and we
won," Warner Amex President Gus
Hausersaid.
But this game went into overtime.
Within a week, a pair of Sammons sup-
porters submitted a 2,500-signature peti-
tion that will force a local referendum to
decide the franchise. The vote is ex-
pected in April, as is an advertising blitz
of amazing proportions.
Most cities now considering cable
franchises heeded Dallas' experiences by
passing ordinances to regulate the com-
panies' behavior.
But they are finding cable to be an
ever-changing game. Some companies
are taking rented citizens a step farther
by trying to rent institutions, such as the
University of Miami and a Springfield,
Mass., community center.
The money spent on politicking even-
tually will be paid for by subscribers, in-
dustry analysts warn.
"A company that gives away a percen-
tage of its business is going to make the
predetermined profit it would have
made if it had kept 100 percent of the
stock," David Korte of the Cable Televi-
sion Information Center said.
DPS commissioner
warns of terrorists
AUSTIN (AP) — Public Safety Com-
missioner W.C. "Bill" Perryman told
state senators Wednesday public utilities
officials — including Texas nuclear
plant officials—fear terrorists will
strike at them in the 1980s.
Perryman told the Senate Nomina-
tions Subcommittee the utilities officials
"are asking for help and advice," saying
that "we are not neglecting this. We are
not standing around, wiping our noses."
The subcommittee unanimously ap-
proved the appointment of Perryman to
the commission. The commission is the
policy-making body for the Department
of Public Safety.
Perryman said if terrorism occurs in
Texas, nuclear plants, pipelines and
refineries would be the most likely
targets.
Sen. Oscar Mauzy, D-Dallas, asked
Perryman for his reaction to recent cases
in which the DPS allegedly violated
citizens' civil liberties, and Perryman
said, "I will never be a party" to such
violations.
"Who ever does it is going to be gone
if I know about it," Perryman said.
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Ware, Sharon. The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 70, Ed. 1 Friday, February 13, 1981, newspaper, February 13, 1981; Denton, TX. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth332564/m1/6/?q=%22North+Texas+State+University+--+Newspapers.%22: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.