Not everyone in diocese will see bishops' meeting; 
Sioux City cable system doesn't offer Catholic station
By DANIEL F. DeLONG
Globe editor
Posted June 6, 2002

If you are planning on watching extensive television coverage of the annual U.S. Conference of Bishops in Dallas on June 12-15, you need to visit friends or relatives outside of Sioux City.

Cable One, the system provider that covers the Sioux City area - the largest population center of the Diocese of Sioux City - apparently will not be allowed to have access to EWTN, the Catholic cable station.

At least 24 other cable systems serving various counties and towns in the diocese will offer nightly coverage of the Dallas meeting, perhaps one of the most important in the history of the church in the United States. From Fort Dodge on the eastern side of the diocese, to Carroll on the south and Emmetsburg on the north, viewers will get the extensive coverage every night of the day's events.

About a quarter of the 120,000 Catholics in the 124 parishes of the diocese will not get to see EWTN unless they have a satellite dish with the station, or travel to the homes of friends or relatives.

Sioux City-area Catholics will have to get their coverage of the conference, which is expected to address the emotionally charged child abuse sex scandal, from secular television stations.

For 20 years Cable One, which is based in Phoenix, Ariz., carried EWTN on its system - a station that is devoted entirely to the Catholic faith, broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Last November, Cable One decided to drop EWTN in favor of an ecumenical station called Inspiration, or INSP.

Terrence Kopp, the regional representative for EWTN in Minnesota, said Cable One thought that INSP would be a "better fit" for the Sioux City market. The network was not pleased with Cable One's decision.

Calls to local Cable One representatives produced no change in their attitude. At least two representatives of EWTN said the company considered the station to be "too Catholic" in its programming.

Aimee Pfannenstiel, general manager of Cable One in Sioux City, told The Globe in an e-mail, "Unfortunately we are unable to work out a temporary carriage agreement with EWTN. We have contacted them and they are unwilling to authorize the signal temporarily for this event. We are willing to try in the future for any other events that may occur."

The decision last fall by Cable One is still apparently a source of confusion. The Sioux City Journal still carries EWTN's prime-time offerings daily in its television listings, showing the station to be Channel 28 on the cable system. Channel 28 is the ecumenical INSP channel.

Despite this dust-up, EWTN's Kopp said he thinks there is a good chance the station will allow Cable One the opportunity to carry its four- to five-day coverage of the World Youth Day rally from Toronto in July. The festivities, which will be attended by about 300,000 young Catholics, is also expected to be visited by Pope John Paul II.