I was only joking. Honest. When an Odyssey Network executive was speaking to local Catholic communicators here 10 days ago, I joked that I was asked to attend so I would write a plea to get the channel better exposure on Time Warner cable.

        A few days later, I received a notice saying Time Warner will drop Odyssey today in Butler County, where Odyssey and its predecessors have been seen for about 10 years. Time Warner in 1999 acquired the Butler County system from TCI, which was an investor in Odyssey's predecessor, VISN/ACTS, the Faith and Values Channel.

        Time Warner also will force two popular religious services (Eternal Word Television Network and Trinity Broadcasting Network) to share Channel 23.

        From Time Warner's perspective, the company is simply reconfiguring the old TCI lineup to make it consistent with Time Warner offerings for Hamilton County — with one major difference. Butler County will keep the Dayton stations that have been available since TCI built the system in the early 1970s.

        To Time Warner, Odyssey is no big deal. Only a handful of Hamilton County homes see it. It's “filler” in Time Warner communities that don't have public access programming.

        To some families, the Odyssey Channel is a haven for family- friendly programming from the Jim Henson Co. and Hallmark Entertainment, Odyssey partners since 1998. The channel was founded in 1988 by a coalition of 80 Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical and Pentecostal faith groups.

        While EWTN and TBN only offer religious shows, Odyssey's weekday lineup has family classics such as The Muppet Show (5 p.m.), Happy Days (6-7 p.m.) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (8 p.m.).

        Odyssey is the place to catch repeats of Hallmark Hall of Fame movies such as Ellen Foster, Rose Hill, The Piano Lesson and Sarah, Plain and Tall. The 9 p.m. movie this week has been pre-empted for a repeat of Roots.

        Time Warner seldom gets questions about Odyssey here, which is understandable considering its limited exposure.

        “Frankly, nobody has said anything about it until you called,” I was told by Virgil Reed, president and general manager of Time Warner's Cincinnati division.

        It's ironic that Time Warner is dropping Odyssey and merging EWTN-TBN while boasting about the hundreds of new digital channels being added for Butler County subscribers, including four R-rated adult movie channels.

        Obviously Time Warner has channel capacity for a dozen HBO and Showtime services. Time Warner added the Ohio News Network to the digital tier last fall “because that's where we have capacity,” Mr. Reed admits.

        So why not put Odyssey on the digital level?

        First, he says, he does not know if Odyssey offers a digital service. (It does in Manhattan.) Then, he says his office has a contract with Odyssey only as an analog channel. (Why not change it?)

        A spokesman at Odyssey's headquarters in Los Angeles says the company is aware of the situation and declines to comment.

        So it's up to the viewers of Odyssey, EWTN and TBN to fight for their favorite programming. Maybe churches will launch letter-writing campaigns to get the channels placed on the digital tier.

        As always, it's best to express your opinion in writing, rather than in a phone call that can be dismissed by a cable company.

        Address letters to Virgil Reed, president and general manager, Time Warner Cable of Cincinnati, 11252 Cornell Park Drive., Cincinnati, 45242-1812. And send a copy to me at The Enquirer, 312 Elm Street, Cincinnati 45202.

        Other changes: As part of Time Warner's Butler County realignment, subscribers will receive three educational channels programmed by WCET-TV from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Channels 18, 19 and 20. The bad news is that those channels will be filled with infomercials the rest of the day.

        For the first time, Butler County will get Northern Kentucky's educational Channel 54 (on Channel 21). EWTN and TBN will share Channel 23, as they do in Hamilton County.

        Converting Butler County's old TCI system to Time Warner's unified lineup, while retaining Dayton stations, has been tricky, Mr. Reed says.

        “We didn't single Odyssey out. The whole deal is making the channel lineup consistent with what we have in the other communities ... The channel configuration reflects what we've been giving customers out of the Blue Ash head-end (headquarters) for a long time,” Mr. Reed says.

        “Trade-offs have to be made. The additional new programming ... outweighs the few loses.”

        Personally, I'd give up a home shopping channel, the adult movie channels or some of the 40 digital audio services for Odyssey's family shows. Would you?

        It's official: As expected, All My Children actress Kelly Ripa was named Regis Philbin's co-host on Monday. She starts next week on Live with Regis (9 a.m., Channel 9). Kathie Lee Gifford left the show in July.

        E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com

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