Error puts adult films on TV

Friday, October 6, 2000

CHICOPEE  Due to a mistake made by a programming technician, Charter Communications customers could watch adult films on a pay-per-view channel for free earlier this week.

"This was a human error on our part, but in the future it will never happen again," said Robert L. Gaboury, the group director for the company's Massachusetts operations.

A technician had mistakenly thought she blocked out those few hours, he said.

"It should have gone back to scrambled, but somehow it stayed in the open," Gaboury said.

The Ludlow Board of Selectmen issued a complaint to Charter, after Chairman Matthew J. Pszeniczny Jr. said he received complaints that "hard-core pornography" had aired early Monday and Tuesday mornings on Channel 46.

Charter provides cable television service for 11 Western Massachusetts communities including Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, Hadley and Easthampton. Gaboury said the Ludlow complaint is the only one he has received about the incident.

Gaboury said the programming glitch only occurred on Monday from 4 to 6 a.m. but said that another incident had occurred three to four months ago, when customers could glimpse "a minute or two" of the opening credits to an adult film.

Ludlow selectmen this week agreed to file a formal complaint with the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy. The town is currently in negotiations with Charter for a 10-year contract.

http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/springfield/index.ssf?/news/pstories/se106pot.html

-- Doris (reaper@pacifier.com), October 06, 2000