TCI will be adding another low-cost premium movie channel to its system in February, once again shaking up the channel lineup somewhat.
STARZ!/Encore-8, patterned after the current Encore channel, will feature uncut movies. It will be available to TCI subscribers for $4.95 per month, when paired with Encore.STARZ! will occupy channel 16 on TCI systems and will debut with a two-week free preview on Feb. 1. TCI, as required by law, is notifying its customers that the channel will include some R and NC-17 rated movies, and that the channel can be blocked during the preview by notifying the cable company.
"Anyone who wants to keep it out will be provided with equipment to do so," said TCI spokeswoman Mindy Jeffries.
With STARZ! taking over channel 16, QVC (a home shopping channel) will be relocated to channel 18. And current channel 18 resident C-SPAN will spend at least several months sharing channel 29 with CNBC, CNBC during daytime hours and C-SPAN at night - a move guaranteed to offend at least some TCI subscribers.
"It's a stop-gap measure," Jeffries said. "That will be straightened out when our rebuild is completed."
TCI is currently working on a new system of fiber optics for the Salt Lake City area that will greatly increase channel capacity. It's expected to be completed by the end of 1994.
(Some areas, such as Provo, already have a new system in place.)
For TCI customers wondering when they might see Comedy Central or the Sci-Fi Channel, Jeffries counsels patience.
"I think you'll see a lot of changes once the new system is in place," she said.
(OK . . . but I'm getting a little tired of waiting. And I think there are channels out there customers would rather see than another TCI-owned movie franchise.)
UTAHNS ON `SALLY': Tomorrow's installment of "Sally Jessy Raphael" (3 p.m., Ch. 2) features a Kearns family.
In a segment titled "Lose the Holiday Blues," in which Raphael helps out various people, a Kearns woman with multiple sclerosis asks for her two teenage daughters to get a break from caring for her.
TUBERS: ABC has confirmed rumors that it's looking at the possibility of giving Jeff Greenfield a post-"Nightline" program on the network. Greenfield, a longtime political analyst, would host some sort of high-brow talk show.
- As of Dec. 29, CBS is flopping two shows on Wednesdays - "The Nanny" will move from 7:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and "Hearts Afire" from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- "Monty," a new sitcom that was originally in development for NBC, joins Fox's schedule in January. Henry Winkler, best know as the Fonz, plays a Rush Limbaugh-like talk-radio host.
"Monty" will be seen Tuesdays at 7 p.m. beginning Jan. 11 (with a "preview" on Sunday, Jan. 9.
Fox is sending "Bakersfield P.D." (which currently airs on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.) on hiatus until next summer. And the fate of "Roc" is still undetermined.
- Fox is also adding "The George Carlin Show." Carlin stars "as an on-again, off-again New York City cab driver with opinions about everything and a tendency to impose them on everyone."
As of Jan. 16, it replaces "Daddy Dearest" on Sundays at 8:30 p.m.
- Rumor is that the syndicated talk show "Les Brown" won't be with us much longer. (It airs locally at 3 p.m. on Ch. 4.)
Reportedly, the producers of "Les" will roll out a new talkie titled "Yolanda" to take its place.