MTV WILL REMAIN, SAYS TCI; OFFICIAL: PETITIONS WILL HAVE NO EFFECT

MTV will not be pulled from local cable television service despite a religious group's move to ban it from local airwaves, an official with TCI Cablevision of Missouri said Thursday.

Roger Harms, who heads up the local cable television service, said a petition being circulated by the Cape Girardeau County Chapter of the America Family Association (AFA) that supports removal of the channel will have no affect on TCI's programming.

"There is no way possible MTV will be taken off," Harms said, adding "any group can request anything, but I don't think the majority of our customers want MTV taken off."

Harms said the AFA's actions represent "a segment of the population out there trying to tell everyone else what to watch."

At an AFA meeting Tuesday, 16 members said they planned to gather signatures for a petition supporting an MTV ban at next week's SEMO District Fair. The group said it will staff an "informational booth" at the fair.

But Thursday, a spokesperson for the AFA, Rita Kuntz, said, "We don't feel like it would be in our best interest ... to go further into the story at this time," Kuntz said. "We've told you what we're going to do and I'm just not going to go further with it."

The group's president, the Rev. Jeff Militta of the First Baptist Church in Oak Ridge, did not return reporters' phone calls Thursday.

Members of the organization have said they plan to present the petition to TCI and the Cape Girardeau City Council.

The AFA, which is affiliated with a national Christian organization of the same name based in Tupelo, Miss., is opposed to pornography and says it promotes "family" values.

MTV, or Music Television, has been on cable television for more than 10 years. Its programing consists mainly of pop or rock 'n' roll videos. The channel itself has banned videos it considered to be too explicit, most recently one by female pop artist Madonna.

AFA members have called MTV's programming sexually explicit and have expressed concern over the effect of the material on children and teenagers.

But Harms said TCI has received numerous phone calls the past two days from customers concerned about the AFA's petition to ban the channel.

"They're saying, `Don't you dare take MTV off the cable system,'" Harms said.

Harms said that teenagers, long considered the primary viewers of MTV, do not make up the channel's entire audience.

He said he would recommend that viewers who find the channel offensive purchase a devise that would "lock" the channel out of their homes. Another option would be to simply not watch the channel, he said.

"We give our subscribers a choice, a mixture of programs for everybody," he said. "If they don't like (a particular channel), they can switch it off or buy a lock. They can do something about it in their own home."

He said cable subscribers have a right to watch MTV or any channel they wish to in their home.

"The vast majority say, `We want our MTV,'" he said.

Harms said the AFA has not approached the cable company regarding MTV, and said the first he or anyone at the company had heard of the petition was in a Wednesday story in the Southeast Missourian.

Regardless of the number of signatures the AFA gathers, Harms said the company will continue to offer MTV.

"If this petition is presented, there will probably be another petition presented by another group against it," Harms said.

The AFA is pushing for the ban now because TCI's franchise with the city is up for renewal late next year. A citizens cable committee is in the process of reviewing the service provided by TCI and what should be included in any new agreement.

Mary Wulfers, a member of the Cape Girardeau City Council and the cable committee, said she has talked with Linda Lawrence, founding member of the local chapter of the AFA, about the organization's desire to ban MTV.

Wulfers said the cable committee cannot by law "dictate" programming to TCI.

"As a citizen, if there is something Mrs. Lawrence wants to do to try and influence the cable company, then she can do that," Wulfers said.

"But the real issue is that we're pretty much defenseless regarding what programming a cable company can offer. I think (Lawrence) is trying to bring the issue to the forefront and see if the cable company will oblige."

Another member of the cable committee, Mike Maguire, said the committee is not legally allowed to restrict programming or control the cost of cable service.

"I think the AFA is certainly entitled, as any consumer is, to register their request," Maguire said. "But those are two areas (the committee) cannot get into."