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Cable war gets warm in Ashland By DAVID PRESZLER The cable wars have begun in Ashland and the fallout may affect consumers throughout the Rogue Valley. Charter Communications, the lone cable television provider for most of the Rogue Valley, plans to raise rates in most communities this spring. Rate increases of 70 cents to $2.25 a month will take effect April 1 in most of the valley's smaller cities and rural areas. The same increase is set to take effect May 1 for Charter's Medford customers. But, for now, Charter won't be raising rates in Ashland, where it is going head-to-head with the city-owned Ashland Fiber Network. Tom Coleman, Charter's regional manager, said the company is testing new cable packages in Ashland and is hesitant to raise rates at the same time. But he doesn't deny that the launch of AFN, which offers both cable and Internet service, is playing a role in the rate decision. "I'm not going to try and pretend that it doesn't have an effect," he said. "We have a huge investment in our infrastructure down there and we are going to protect it any way we have to. That's simple business." Competition between Charter and the city network is clearly heating up. The AFN is launching its marketing efforts and Charter has started a direct marketing campaign. "As I understand it, Charter is doing direct marketing right before we launch a node," said Ashland City Administrator Mike Freeman. A node is a neighborhood connection to the city's fiber-optic network. In an Ashland City Council study session last week, Freeman mentioned that a few complaints about Charter's marketing efforts had come in. Coleman said Charter has yet to receive a complaint about aggressive tactics. Freeman said the city anticipated stiff competition from Charter. Ashland consumers are already benefiting, he said. "This is exactly what we thought would happen," said Freeman. "I would think if you were a consumer in the rest of the valley you'd be a little jealous." So are the higher rates in the rest of the valley subsidizing the fight for market share in Ashland? "It's certainly not the intention," Coleman said. "What we are doing is competing directly with somebody who is trying to take our business away from us." While the presence of the AFN is increasing competition in Ashland, Coleman points out that the city network is far from the only threat. "There's a lot of people trying to get into our business," he said. Coleman said the expansion in the number of cable and pay-per-view channels is tailored to compete not just with AFN but with the larger packages offered by satellite broadcast service. "We are definitely competing with the AFN but we are really competing with the satellite providers," he said. "That's our real competition." Coleman said the satellite competition is why the company is upgrading its network throughout the county. "By the end of the year, everyone will have these services," Coleman said. The company is systematically upgrading its network. It started with Ashland and will move to outlying areas such as Phoenix, Talent and White City before tackling Medford. Why is the upgrade to Medford -- the company's largest local market -- so low on the list? Coleman said upgrading Medford first would have made for a greater disruption of service to more customers. "It's a real complex process that we are going through," he said. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA