The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 134

Page 38 SUBSCRIPTION TV By David Biancnlli njrr-s-J Nesmlth Allen Reiner Preview management stumbled from the start When Preview presented itself in March 1981 as Cleveland's first subscription television (STV) station, its inaugural offering was a film called Meteor and like a meteor, Preview burned brightly for a while, then plummeted. In 10 days, Preview will cease operation. The scrambled-signal STV service, broadcasting nightly and on weekends via WCLQ-Ch. 61 in Cleveland, was designed as an alternative to viewers not then served by cable TV. For $21.95 a month, subscribers could watch a single-channel condensation of pay TV's most popular features: sports, movies and specials.

In 29 months of operation, Preview never raised its subscriber fees but often raised customer expectations. A few months after it began, the company teasingly added features from Bravo (a fledgling cable TV cultural service still in operation), only to drop them just as suddenly. LOCAL PREVIEW EXECUTIVES spoke often about expanding their STV service to several tiers. Ted Stepien's ill-fated Total Entertainment Network (TEN-TV), or a similar sports service, was promised; instead, Preview offered Niteview, an "adult" programming tier, for an additional $4.95 a month. Niteview, introduced in October 1982, attracted as many as half of Preview's customers, but Preview itself never drew enough subscribers to justify the investment by American Television and Communications Corp.

(ATC), which operated Preview STV systems in Dallas and Boston as well. Time the corporate parent of ATC (and owners of Home Box Office and Cinemax), soon shut down the Dallas franchise. Ironically, ATC managed to keep Preview afloat by acquiring programming from HBO's cable competitors: Showtime The Gin Game) and The Playboy Channel (Everything Goes) supplied several specials each. The reasons for Preview's demise in Cleveland are obvious in hindsight, but were fairly obvious throughout the service's 29-month life. Preview was poorly marketed, clumsily structured and uni-' maginatively programmed; its customer service department was so wildly inefficient that a customer calling to complain was routinely put on hold for more than 30 minutes.

DESPITE ALL THAT, the death of Preview is a sad thing. Variety of choice is what cable and STV supposedly are all about, and Preview offered viewers an additional alternative; Channel 61, which beginning Sept. 1 will cram Preview's vacated hours with Blondie and Charlie Chan movies, will be a less expensive substitute but also less attractive. And during its brief lifetime, Preview occasionally did deliver the goods. Not counting the standard first-run movies presented by most cable TV pay services, here are what might be called Preview's Greatest Hits: 1) Manhattan and Stardust Memories.

Virtually alone among TV's premium services, Preview presented both of these recent Woody Allen movies in the manner dictated by Allen himself. Conse- quently, horizontal dark borders framed the film, shrinking the image a bit but preserving the width of the original rectangular ratio. 2) Hammer House of Horror. Acquired from England, this series of one-hour TV horror stories has been televised by no other company in America. It was the type of innovative acquisition Preview should have done regularly but never repeated.

3) Elephant Parts and Likely Stories. These experimental compUations of video skits and spoofs the first by former Monkee Michael Nesmith, the second involving former Meathead Rob Reiner were likewise absent from most national pay TV schedules. 4) The Rolling Stones Christmas Special and Pirates of Penzance. These were wildly different but equally significant pay-per-view ventures offered by Preview (and other STV operators). Neither was worth the extra money, but no one, including executives at Preview, knew that until after the events were over.

Viewers wanting to take the risk were given the opportunity in exchange for $8-10, but that's the price of progress. 5) Allegro non Troppo. This bizarre animated movie is a personal favorite. It's a full-length, Italian-made satire of Walt Disney's Fantasia, and the traditional pay TV services haven't gone near it. Preview showed it, but almost by accident: The corporate head programmer hadn't seen it, but had scheduled it at the insistence of one of her assistants.

If that assistant had run Preview from the start, this farewell might have been unnecessary..