Monday, January 25, 1999
Lebanon goes on line in month
Service to offer cable, Internet
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
LEBANON — The city will put its new telecommunications service on line Feb. 20.
The first segment, or node, of the system will be in the southern part of the city, and about 170 customers will be hooked up immediately, said James Baldwin, deputy director of telecommunications.
“The process will start Feb. 20 and we'll add people on just as quickly as we can,” he said. “I think it's really going to be great for our residents and for our council because they were the people in office when this whole thing was done.”
The second node, also in the southern part of the city, will go on line in early March. Each node can handle 400-600 hookups. The system will have 16 nodes; they will be hooked up from south to north through the city, and all are expected to be up and running by the end of the year.
The city's system, providing direct competition to Time-Warner, will offer cable television and high-speed Internet access. The cable will cost $20.98 for a lineup of more than 60 channels, excluding movie channels, Mr. Baldwin said. About 1,400 residents have signed up for the television service.
The cost is about half of what Warner charges. The Lebanon system will carry a station out of Boston, low-powered channel 25 from Cincinnati, and two offbeat ESPN stations, including ESPN Classic Sports. Several local stations from both Cincinnati and Dayton will be on the system.
“Our goal is to be at 50 percent (market penetration) or even above it,” he said. “I think with the product we're offering, that shouldn't be too hard.”
The municipal system, one of the first to compete with a local cable company, is intended to give residents a choice, Mr. Baldwin said, adding cable television is one of last of the big monopolies.
“One of our goals is to make that so it's not true in Lebanon anymore,” he said. “When it finally gets done, there's going to be a sense of accomplishment.”
The system also will offer two tiers of Internet service. The first, at $19.99 per month, will be similar to traditional Internet speeds. A second, more advanced service, will offer speeds at about 400 times of what is now available, Mr. Baldwin said. That service will go for $39.99 a month, and about 100 people have signed up for it.
“It will give you speeds that are really unheard of on the Internet right now,” he said. “You can do really unbelievable things with it.”
The telecommunications system was in limbo until mid-1998 as council fought over it, but construction started in earnest in September.
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