The head man in charge at Cable One of Natchez, Miss. admits the local cable system he runs is old and outdated and needs significant upgrades to improve service.

Cable One General Manager John Hilbert told an audience at a public hearing last week that many of the complaints Cable One’s customers in the area are making are simply not ones the company can fix.

While Hilbert’s candid admission may have refreshed an audience used to getting empty promises from providers, Hilbert has been in charge of the cable system in Natchez for several years and is just now discovering that “a lot of the problems with telephone and Internet service stem from old and outdated infrastructure.”

Cable One is preparing what it calls a $500,000 “reinforcement project” to replace and update wires and other equipment.

City officials listened carefully to Hilbert, because the community has been up in arms about the poor service Cable One has been providing western Mississippi. The city and the cable operator are currently negotiating a franchise renewal agreement.

One former judge complained her Cable One phone service has often failed, sometimes for up to three days. The local electric utility said it has lost thousands of dollars over the last few weeks because Cable One’s Internet service has gone offline.

“When I’m sitting here losing money when I know I shouldn’t be, I have a serious problem with that,” Natchez Electric Manager Ricky Long told the Natchez Democrat.

In 2014, customers are likely to face more challenges when the company switches to an all-digital lineup, requiring customers to get a set-top box for every television in the home.