The town’s new independent cable access station has begun programming this fall, but a disagreement between cable providers has kept it off some residents’ television sets.
Dedham Public Television, which began broadcasting a town government, education and public access channel in September, has only been available to Comcast subscribers, because the town’s other providers, Verizon and RCN, have been unable to connect to the system.
For years, Comcast was the town’s only cable provider and was responsible for providing all public access programming.
But as competition has stiffened from newcomers Verizon and RCN, Comcast has moved out of the public access business. This year the company turned over that responsibility, which is funded by all three companies, to the nonprofit Dedham Visionary Access Corp.
When DVAC took over cable access responsibilities and introduced Dedham Public Television this fall, Comcast was the first to be connected to its new Eastern Avenue studio.
Verizon Spokesman Richard Colon said yesterday that his company was told, by Comcast, that it would be able to access the system through a ‘‘hub’’ located in the Francis O’Brien Meeting Room at Town Hall. But, he said, that hasn’t happened and now Verizon has been forced to look for another way to hook up to the system.
Colon said Verizon was now planning to reconfigure its system and build its own connection to the Dedham Public Television studio on Eastern Avenue.
‘‘Initially we were told the pickup would be in Town Hall,’’ Colon said. ‘‘That has since changed and we now have to reconfigure our network.’’
Colon said connecting to the new studio would take an estimated 90 to 120 days. He said in the interim, Verizon hoped to pick up video of town meetings from the Town Hall hookup, but didn’t know if it would be possible.
Comcast spokesman Marc Goodman said his company did all it could to make sure the other cable providers could connect to the system and the new public access provider, DVAC, was responsible for making it happen.
‘‘Comcast went above and beyond making sure there was ample space for the town’s other two providers to connect in the conduit,’’ Goodman said. ‘‘Comcast has a long history of working with Verizon.’’
For a short time this summer, Verizon and RCN were connected to the public access system through the connection at Town Hall.
Selectman Marie-Louise Kehoe said complaints from disappointed Verizon subscribers had led her to set up a meeting with all three providers and the town last week. She said she didn’t know what had happened to the connection at Town Hall, and there was little the town could do to make Comcast provide service there.
‘‘My hope is that a technical glitch will be identified and fixed, allowing Verizon to tie in at Town Hall,’’ Kehoe said. ‘‘That would provide a short-term solution. In the meantime, Verizon will have to start again.’’
Kehoe said RCN, which has significantly fewer subscribers than Verizon or Comcast, would eventually need to find a similar solution.
Daily News staff writer Patrick Anderson can be reached at 781-433-8336 or panderso@cnc.com.
