Adelphia cable axes WCKD from lineup Company opts to carry Fox Net programs

New week, same time, new station. That’s about the shortest way to explain the ongoing intricate situation regarding Bangor low-power station WCKD (Channel 30).

In three weeks, WCKD has gone from a local United Paramount Network affiliate to a possible Fox Network affiliate to a UPN affiliate which is no longer carried by the local cable company.

As of Sunday, WCKD was dropped from Adelphia Communications’ cable lineup in Greater Bangor and replaced by Fox Net, a direct cable and satellite feed from Fox. That’s the word from Rockie Marsh, Adelphia’s Bangor technical operations manager.

“At this point in time, that is indeed the correct scenario,” he said.

WCKD officials had hoped to switch from UPN to Fox on Sunday to fill the void left by Portland’s WPXT (Ch. 33), which switched from Fox affiliation to Warner Brothers (WB) on Sunday. WCKD’s switch was thwarted by a five-year contract with UPN to which UPN officials expected WCKD to adhere.

The decision by WPXT prompted both Adelphia and Time Warner cable systems to either move or drop other cable channels and pick up Fox Net, assuring customers continued access to Fox programming like Major League Baseball playoffs, NFL, X-Files and The Simpsons.

Mitch Lambert, general manager at Bangor ABC affiliate WVII, which operates and programs WCKD through a local market agreement with Bangor’s WBGR, WCKD’s parent station, had no comment on the current situation.

“Absolutely not right now because I’m still in discussions,” Lambert said. “It’s become a media event and that never helps.

“It has nothing to do with the Bangor population in this market. This whole story is simply about people’s egos that are out of joint now because it was in the papers.”

Steve Carlston, UPN’s vice president of affiliations, was disappointed with Adelphia’s action and pledged to do whatever he could to get WCKD back on cable.

“They’re still our affiliate and we have a good relationship. We’re sorry this has happened, but it really is Fox meddling in business where it shouldn’t be,” Carlston said. “I’m surprised the cable company pulled a local station off their system. They’re in effect putting local people out of business.”

In black-and-white terms, the picture is this: Most cable and satellite TV viewers in Maine will still be able to watch Fox Network programming. The same can’t be said for anyone not owning cable or satellite decoder boxes.

“If you don’t have cable in Portland or Bangor, how are you going to get your NFL football, or baseball?” asked Scott Grogin, Fox vice-president of corporate communications. “It is still our desire to provide over-the-air coverage in Maine. Right now, we’re unable to do that, but we’ll continue to try.”

Grogin’s question has been partially answered already. WCKD still has local rights to Fox’s NFL programming and will still air Sunday games as is has for the past four weeks and those games are available to non-cable, non-satellite households.

Which games are available may change for cable/satellite viewers, however. Those expecting to see the New York Giants each week won’t see them as much now.

“Regardless of what would ordinarily be on in your region, what will be shown is the so-called national or headliner game,” Grogin explained. “So if the Giants are your regional team, but the national game is St. Louis vs. Kansas City, you’re going to get the St. Louis-Kansas City game.”

That explains why Giants fans were treated to Minnesota-New Orleans Sunday afternoon instead of Washington-New York. WCKD will still be able to request certain matchups, like the Giants. That could mean that local cable/satellite viewers could flip among three simultaneous games some Sundays: The one on Fox Net, the one on Bangor’s WABI (Ch. 5), and the one on WCKD with either the flip of their remote and/or the A-B switch on their TVs to go from cable to non-cable reception.

Unfortunately, with Fox having exclusive rights to all MLB playoff and World Series games, that means non-cable viewers will have to head to the nearest sports pub or cable/satellite-equipped neighbor to see postseason baseball games.

Andrew Neff’s On the Air column is published each Tuesday. He can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or at aneff@bangordailynews.net.