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PAGE 2', WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 1982, WHITBY FREE PRESS PROGRESS < EDITION Pay TV comingto W-hitby Pay-TV will be c 1om- ing to Wbitby sometiine in the next year accord- ing to the Pine Ridge Cable-' Television Coin- pany. According to corn- pany spokesman Tom 'McCutchen, Pine Ridge's 41,000 subscrlb- ers l- recelve tlieir choie -of three pay-TV channels. This:revolution in the cable television Indus- try bias 'corne about, because of. a recent. rullng by the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission .< CRTC) th4t ailowed the contro- versial idea to be intro- duced 'Into the coutty after years of debate. Pay-TV bas'been coin- mon in "the United States for- several years and recently' made news. headlies for cutting in- to the market tracai- tlonaily- held, by the commercial television networks. Accordlng .to MeCut- chen, subscribers wil be offered their cholce of three channels: First Choice Canadian; Super Channel and >, the L -A.MB. Channel. First Choie Canadian Winl be a' natlon-wlde' service offering ý both French andEnglsh pro- gramming, This chan- nel wlll be devoted to first-run movies and other *entertaument specials. Super Channel wli be an Ontario reglon pay- TV channel that will not only offer - first-run movies and'entertain- mnent'specials but sports programmm*ng as weil. Among-'the'1 sports fea- tures that may be shown are home games of the Edmonton QuOlers and closed-clrcult coverage of Important boxlng matches., The third channel wiil have a heavy emphasis on the arts but it toowiH offer many flrst-run movies and other pay- TV services.. McCutchen estimates that the cost.per month, of a pay-TV channel wiil be between $12 and $15. the CRTC also im- posed'a Canadia'n con- ten$ condition on its pay- TV licenses. Ail cha- unels a~re to.carry 30 per cent Canadian pro-m gramming. One problem the in- dustry is encounterlng' is that it ls flot entlrely sure of what'the CRTC means by Canadian pro- grammlng. According to Mcçut- chen, Canadian pro- grammning could include such jthlngs as a Paul Anka show at the Sandi Inn i -.Las 'Vegas, Nevada ýor a movie, starrlng Donald Suther-. land. But one thing Mcçut- chen does belleve is that pay-TV presents an op- portunlty fo 'r Canadians to Improve their filmns and *telévision produc- tions. "It will ailow thern <Clanadian production companies) lu make quality productions',"' he said adding that the potential high earning of pay-TV could spiil-off into more production money and better salar- ies for Canadian artists including actors, pro- ducers and directors.1 However, the majori- ty of the programming will be from the U.S., MeCutchen says adding that "Canadian produc- tions w'iil be of better quality. " "It stands to reason that,,' programmîng will improve," he adds. However, while pay- TV may be a big part of Pine Ridge Cable's future, it is not every- thing theéy provide. The company was founded in 1966 and started with a grand total of 31 subscribers. Today, it bas 55 employ- ees. looking 'after 41,000 -ubscribers which rep- resen 'ts 74 per cent of the households, in its lic- ensed area .ý Its licensed area in- cludes flot only Oshawa and Whitby but Brook- lin, Bowmanville and NeWcastle as well. The company hopes to ex- pand to Orono in the near future. R I now also boasts a total of 5W0 miles of cable lying underneath the ground providing its standard television and FM radio service. Pine Ridgel's basic service 13 television' channels and with a con-, verter canî provide twice that number. The com-, pan1y can alsosupply 2& FM stations on its cable service, .Local programming is also- featured on the comüpany's Cablecast 10o channel. Here some 600 local prograins are shown each year. According to McCut- chen, this is a commu- nity. channel and 18 for the use of any communi- ty orgfanizaqtionn toa ng way since 1966, especiaily with the near mset ofpay-TV.