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Detroit Free Press

Oct. 20--Detroit cable television customers are finally getting many of the services that their suburban neighbors have had for years.

Comcast, the city's only cable provider, said it has completed an $ 18-million system upgrade that will bring dozens of new programs and features to Detroit, in hopes of changing the company's much-maligned image in the city. It will be celebrated today at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History beginning with a 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. reception.

Today's event, which is open to the public, will feature special guest Sharon Angela, who plays Rosalie Aprile on HBO's hit show, "The Sopranos." Other guests are to include Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, members of the Detroit City Council and boxing legend Thomas Hearns.

The project, which took six months to complete, brings Detroit's cable system up to the level of neighboring communities. It is the last phase of a more than $ 1-billion investment throughout southeast Michigan over the last several years.

"This is great for Comcast and great for the city of Detroit," said Steve Thomas, vice president and general manager for Comcast in Detroit. "The upgrade improves service reliability and strengthens the platform used for the deployment of additional advanced telecommunications services in the future."

Philadelphia-based Comcast, a unit of Comcast Corp., employs 3,000 people in Michigan. The company has about 105,000 cable customers in Detroit and 1.4 million throughout Michigan.

Among the features now available to Detroit cable subscribers is On Demand, which lets viewers select a program from a vast menu of choices and watch it at any time. This feature will be free some shows with others as pay-per-view.

Detroiters will also have access to 10 high-definition TV channels.

Other features include Fox News Channel, the Discovery Channel, TNT, AMC, Style, Comedy Central, the Golf Channel, ESPN2, TV Land and FX. Several of these channels are already available to some Detroit customers. The upgrade will be rolled out over the next three weeks with all customers expected to have access to all the new shows by Thanksgiving.

Comcast now has a 24-hour customer service call center. It has expanded its office operations to seven days a week, while increasing the numbers of field technicians who respond to problems .

The average monthly price for Comcast's basic cable service is $40-$45.

"There are no increases planned," Thomas said. "But the needs of the business are always being reevaluated."

Detroit's cable television system was established by businessman Don Barden in 1986. When Comcast purchased the system from Barden in 1994, it was generally regarded as a poor performer and antiquated.

Ravaged by complaints of slow response times, widespread outages and far fewer product options than neighboring communities, Comcast developed a poor reputation for customer service and system stability. A Free Press review of the system's records in 1999 found that close to 30,000 customers lost service on a monthly basis between December 1998 and September 1999.

"The system was vilified for a number of years," said Thomas. "But I think some of those issues have been addressed."

Officials at the Detroit Cable Communications Commission are hopeful that the upgrade is merely the beginning of drastic improvements for Detroit cable watchers.

The commission, which is the local franchising authority for Detroit and regulates Comcast in the city, expects the new products to be a hit with consumers.

"The upgrade opens the door for Detroiters to have access to newer products and services that bring us up to par with neighboring communities and is long overdue," said Paula Gentius-Harris, executive director of the commission. "It still isn't the best (system), but it is a step to becoming one of the best."

Gentius-Harris, who applauds Comcast for its commitment to Detroit, said she hopes that there will be another upgrade before the end of this decade to stay current with rapidly changing technology.

"Detroit is a very profitable and diverse community that deserves the best in technology," she said. "Now, we'll have a more robust cable system in the city and more access to our subscribers."

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