Southeast Missouri State University tapped into cable television service at a bargain price over the past decade.

The school paid $8,000 a year for at least 10 years -- university and cable company officials don't know how long the arrangement has lasted -- to get the service even as the school added cable outlets in its residence halls and academic buildings without the cable company's knowledge.

But starting in July, the university will have to pay $83,200 a year or $415,815 over the next five years for cable service. Under the contract approved a week ago by the university's Board of Regents, Southeast will pay even more if it adds more cable outlets.

The cost will be passed on to students living in the campus residence halls in the form of a $20-per-semester cable fee beginning this fall.

Still, school officials say, it's cheaper to continue doing business with the local cable company than for the university to create its own cable system, which would cost as much as $697,000 including satellite equipment.

The local cable company, Charter Communications, says they and previous owners of the system unwittingly undercharged the university for years.

The $8,000 cost was based on 81 cable outlets on campus, a price negotiated long before there was cable service in individual dorm rooms. Over the years, the university added over 1,000 outlets -- most of them within the last seven years -- but didn't inform the cable company.

With the addition of a new 300-bed residence hall this fall, Southeast will have 1,528 cable outlets on campus. The new contract is based on that number of outlets.

The university says it wasn't trying to cheat the cable company. The cable operator says outlets added by the university simply went unnoticed.

Roger Harms, manager of the local cable system, refused to blame anyone. "I'm not saying it was their fault or our fault. It just never was caught," he said.

While the cable company provides cable service to the university, Southeast maintains the cable lines and other equipment. That means the university pays less than other customers.

Southeast will pay $5.95 cents per outlet per month during the nine-month school year. During the summer, when few students are housed on campus, Southeast will pay the same rate but for only 75 outlets.

Same channels

Under the new contract, Southeast will continue to receive the current 64 channels, the basic and extended basic service that costs area residents $43.23 a month. The university also has four channels which it uses for educational programs it receives via satellite dishes as well as for campus messages and music via a campus radio station.

Students don't get any of the premium movie channels because it's not part of basic or extended basic service.

Most residence-hall students have televisions in their rooms, said Loren Rullman, assistant vice president for enrollment management and director of student auxiliary services.

Television reception would be poor in the dorms without cable, he said. Students, he said, like being able to watch the MTV music channel and other cable stations, and $20 a semester isn't much.

"This charge really equates to $4 a month per residence-hall student, which is a very good deal," he said.

Jessica Weaver, a freshman from Mountain View, Mo., living in Myers Hall, doesn't mind the new cable fee. "I don't think it's that bad a cost," she said.

She and her roommate, Erin Hecht, a sophomore from Perryville, Mo., watch TV daily in their dorm room.

"The TV is on all the time," Weaver said as she studied Tuesday afternoon while her roommate watched the Game Show Network.

The new contract runs from July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2003, and allows for four, one-year renewals.

Even with the increased cost, it's still the best deal, Rullman said.

Lowest of three bids

Southeast officials took bids when they learned that the cable cost would be going up. Charter Communications, the current provider, had the lowest bid.

The other two bidders, a company called simply Inc. and Campus Televideo, offered cable service via satellite that would have put the university directly in the cable business.

Inc. quoted a price of $6.54 per outlet plus as much as $50,000 for equipment for a combined cost of $515,256 over five years. Campus Televideo wanted $9.59 per cable jack, which included the cost of equipment to receive cable channels. Campus Televideo's bid would have cost Southeast $697,000 over five years.

Harms said Southeast could have operated its own cable service even though Charter Communications has an exclusive franchise in the city of Cape Girardeau. But Harms said it could have raised legal concerns if Southeast operated a separate cable system with lines extending onto city easements.

School officials said they based their decision to stay with Charter Communications solely on cost.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123