Wednesday, November 10, 1999
Butler County faces Channel 2 blackout
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Since the advent of television, many Butler County residents have enjoyed the choice of watching either Cincinnati or Dayton stations.
Middletown residents, in fact, are closer to Dayton than to Fountain Square. Many commute north to jobs in Montgomery County, and shop at the Dayton Mall.
But modern technology may change their viewing habits. At the dawn of the new millennium, Time Warner Cable will drop Dayton's WDTN-TV (Channel 2) in Middletown, Hamilton, Franklin and Fairfield.
This is progress?
No, it's evidence of how two TV stations are coping with their shrinking audience in the 100-channel universe.
Southwestern Ohio's ABC affiliates, Cincinnati's WCPO-TV (Channel 9) and Dayton's Channel 2, have agreed not to compete with each other on area cable systems.
Channel 9 pulled out of Dayton area cable systems in July. On Jan. 1, Channel 2 will withdraw from the old TCI system acquired by Time Warner last summer.
“I've got to shore up my "ABC-9' viewership. This is the responsible thing to do for my station to increase my audience,” says Bill Fee, Channel 9 general manager.
By knocking Channel 2's duplicate ABC programming off the Butler County cable, Channel 9 could gain “1 or 2 household ratings points,” he says. “And that adds up over 52 weeks a year.”
Channel 9 won Butler County because it falls within the Greater Cincinnati designated market area (DMA), he says.
“I've got to shore up strength in my DMA,” he says.
Butler County residents who have watched both Dayton and Cincinnati TV stations since cable arrived 25 years ago won't be happy with this news. They have presumed that the Cincinnati-Dayton “network duplication” was a birthright.
It's not.
Greater Cincinnati residents learned this lesson in 1993, when the Dayton stations vanished from Time Warner cable. Under a new law, Cincinnati stations can negotiate the removal of duplicated signals when they seek compensation from cable companies that sell their channel to customers.
Dayton cable customers — particularly soap opera fans — were upset to lose Channel 9 in July. For 30 years, Channel 9 has carried One Life to Live (2 p.m.) and General Hospital (3 p.m.). Channel 2 pre-empts them for Montel Williams and Maury Povich.
Technically, Butler County residents are entitled to Channel 2, because the Dayton stations are considered “significantly viewed” channels. (At my Fairfield home, two miles north of Forest Fair Mall, Dayton's WKEF-TV (Channel 22) comes in like I'm sitting under the tower.)
But Channel 2 management “has voluntarily withdrawn itself” from Butler County, says Virgil Reed, Time Warner Cincinnati division president and general manager.
Time Warner won't tell customers about the change until Dec. 1, the one-month channel change notification required by law. After that, Mr. Reed expects his phone to ring off the hook. He hopes to have help cooling off angry customers.
“I have told the managers of both stations that I expect them to be shoulder-to-shoulder answering questions with me about this,” he says.
Dropping Channel 2, he says, is ill-advised. He has told the ABC stations as much.
“I'm doing what I can to convince them that this is basically foolhardy,” he says.
Why? Because what may help Channel 9's ratings could hurt Time Warner's revenues.
“It will force people in those communities who want the Dayton stations to go elsewhere to get Dayton,” he says.
In other words: Some Butler County residents may decide to invest in a rooftop antenna and a satellite dish.
Mr. Reed, who is negotiating three-year “retransmission” agreements with stations for all his Southwestern Ohio cable systems, doesn't expect the Channel 2 situation to become infectious.
Other Dayton stations recognize they're “significantly viewed” in Butler County, and won't surrender, he says.
If other Cincinnati stations follow Channel 9's lead and black out Dayton in Butler County, you can bet this Fairfield resident — and a lot of my neighbors — will be canceling cable, and doing more dishes.
John Kiesewetter is Enquirer TV/radio critic. Write: 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202; fax: 768-8330.
