Public hearings are set for today and tomorrow regarding the sale of Garden Isle Telecommunications to Time Warner Cable. Garden Isle Telecommunications cable TV service is available to most homes on Kaua’i, and has 22,000-subscribers on the island. Time Warner
Public hearings are set for today and tomorrow regarding the sale of Garden Isle Telecommunications to Time Warner Cable.
Garden Isle Telecommunications cable TV service is available to most homes on Kaua’i, and has 22,000-subscribers on the island.
Time Warner Cable announced late last year that it was purchasing Garden Isle Telecommunications. The pending sale was common knowledge on the street long before the official announcement was made.
The transfer application requires state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs approval, and the DCCA is holding public hearings today at 6 p.m. at the Waimea High School cafeteria, and 6 p.m. Friday, April 12 at the Wilcox Elementary School cafeteria in Lihu’e.
The public hearings are a mandatory process of the DCCA’s transfer application deliberations, said Clyde Sonobe, administrator of the DCCA’s cable TV division. It is a chance for people to make their feelings known about the transfer application, he said.
The division would appreciate that any speaking also provide a paper copy of their testimony so that it can be included in the record for the DCCA’s decision-making process.
Comments on the sale are being taken through Friday, May 3. Written testimony can be sent to the DCCA at 1010 Richards St., Honolulu, HI 96813, or by fax to 1-808-586-2625.
A department decision and order will be issued sometime after the May 3 deadline for public comment.
The change in ownership of the cable TV system may mean additional channels for subscribers, and a new high-speed Internet access provider for Internet users.
On the other islands where Time Warner Cable owns cable TV systems (every system in the state if the DCCA approves the transfer of the Kaua’i system), it also offers Road Runner high-speed Internet access. The plan is to launch that service on Kaua’i.
It may also bring a change in the way locally originated cable programs are offered. Producers of local programs like “Wala’au” with Dickie Chang, “The JK Show,” “Russell da Rooster,” and “Ako Ay Pilipino” currently pay no fees for air time or insurance, and are seen on channel 6. The local cable show producers want that status quo to remain under the new ownership, Chang said.
Supporters of those local programs feel the same. “Personally, I can’t see not having Dickie somewhere on the tube,” said fan Larry Lee. “He’s real good for Kaua’i.”
Chang, Lee and others have drafted letters of support for continuation of no-fee locally originated programming, and plan to present them at the public hearings or directly to the DCCA’s O’ahu offices.
“Our local programs over the past 12 years have introduced and created a caring network for Kaua’i’s different groups, schools, agencies, businesses and nonprofit organizations,” the letter states.
“We are partners, friends and family, and share a better understanding about each other because of local programming and public access,” the letter continues.
J Robertson, managing director of Ho’ike Kauai Community Television, Inc., is excited about the technological advances Ho’ike hopes to gain with the cable system’s new ownership.
The change could mean more channels, and more capital support from Time Warner Cable to Ho’ike, as under state law the cable system owner pays a certain percentage of fees collected from subscribers to fund local-access TV organizations like Ho’ike, Robertson said.
Ho’ike has a terrific relationship with Bill Harkins, current Garden Isle Telecommunications president, and those before him, Robertson said. He looks forward to continued good relations with the new owners, with Time Warner Cable being a partner with Ho’ike in Ho’ike’s and the island’s future, he said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
