Potential Problems

Cable services could spread information and entertainment throughout the city and the university. However, important considerations of cost and demand "may prevent many of the committees' dreams from coming true," says Pandiscio.

Costs of installing cable in many of the older campus buildings could be outrageously expensive, and "collecting costs from individual students could be more complicated that the investment warrants," says Gates.

The cable company does not know yet how many students would be willing to pay for individual cable services, and cannot begin to estimate costs until a study of demand has been taken, Gates says.

By late spring cable TV will arrive in North Cambridge homes, then move on to East Cambridge by early summer, and across the city through Mid-Cambridge and Harvard Square "in time for hourlies in the fall," says Casey.

Instead of trying to find a location in already-overcrowded Cambridge for a satellite dish, the cable service will draw its signals from the satellite which American Cablesystems currently operates in neighboring Arlington.

After laying initial cable lines in late December, American Cablesystems has temporarily stopped underground work and will resume construction in early March. At the same time, the company is working on aerial wiring of telephone poles along the city's 140 miles of streets.

Advantages of Cable at Harvard:

1. Campuswide broadcasting of lectures and special performances.

2. Improved data-transmitting equipment so research data could be sent around campus.

3. Cable TV can be used to further communications between Harvard and Cambridge.

4. A public information service, Express, which can be hooked up to personal computers, could provide the university with access to international news services, weather reports, and stock market information.

5. "Students could watch MTV, movies and sports twenty-four hours a day," says a self-proclaimed TV addict who declined to reveal his identity.

Problems Involved with Cable at Harvard:

1. Costs of installing cable in many of the older campus buildings could be outrageously expensive.