Tribune editorial staff

Why in the world does Adelphia Communications keep causing static for Ironton-area cable TV subscribers?

The latest buzz is about Adelphia's decision to eliminate Ohio Public Television from its channel lineup, replacing it with a public television broadcast from Kentucky. This blip comes on the heels of two price increases within a year, the addition of adult pay channels - despite heavy community opposition and repeated delays in bringing the Ohio News Network channel onto the local lineup.

Nixing Ohio's public broadcast channel is just downright baffling.

To cable viewers who are too busy watching reruns of "The Jerry Springer Show" or their favorite episodes of "I Dream of Jeannie" one public TV channel is as good as another. In fact, for many less-educated TV viewers, public television may be just another unnecessary channel in the lineup - Just another hurdle to overcome in jumping between CBS football games and Fox football telecasts on Sundays.

Lawrence County residents, however, are much more intelligent than to quietly dismiss the loss as no big deal.

County residents realize the importance of having a Public Broadcast System channel from within our home state.

Will the Kentucky PBS channel offer specials focusing on Ohio's Bicentennial and the state's wonderful heritage? We doubt it.

When Adelphia completes the move, a cable subscriber sitting in downtown Ironton will be able to flip between West Virginia and Kentucky public television channels, but have no access to items within Ohio.

Hmm, since logic and customer desires seem to play little into their decision-making process, perhaps Adelphia can get a good discount on New Hampshire's public television channel, or maybe Alaska's?

No offense intended to our Kentucky neighbors, but if we wanted to learn more about Kentucky, we would buy a book or just move there.

In the meantime, perhaps we should just turn the television off in protest.