Liu

While Buffalo residents fume about missing the latest matchup between the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers, the city of New York is pressuring Time Warner Cable to start compensating their subscribers for the loss of one of the most expensive channels on the basic cable dial.

New York City Comptroller John Liu has asked the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, which oversees cable franchise agreements for the city, to make certain Time Warner compensates customers for the loss of MSG and MSG Plus, both removed over a contract renewal dispute.

“Consumers deserve to be compensated for what they have gone through as a result of this dispute, plain and simple,” Mike Loughran, a spokesman for Liu, told Bloomberg News in an e-mail. Loughran said the comptroller’s office would discuss compensation plans with the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

Time Warner says it has already effectively compensated impacted customers, primarily in New York State, with a free month of the company’s added-cost sports programming tier.  Time Warner has also replaced the two MSG networks with NBA TV and NHL Network, which are now likely to remain part of the basic package even if Time Warner reaches an agreement with MSG.  (Sorry football fans, NFL Network is still too costly to be deemed a suitable replacement network.)

Time Warner says there is no way they would pay MSG’s asking price for a renewed carriage contract, which the cable company says represented a 53% rate increase.

As Stop the Cap! reported earlier, the dispute is renewing rumblings about how pay television providers handle expensive sports programming.  An increasing number of cable executives are considering breaking sports networks out of the basic cable package and forcing interested sports fans to pay extra to receive them.  But sports remains a lightning rod issue for many pay TV companies, both among subscribers and politicians.  Disrupt a major sporting event at your peril — something Cablevision learned from an earlier dispute with Fox.

In Buffalo, some customers are dropping Time Warner Cable for Verizon FiOS, at least where that fiber to the home service is available.  Residents served by Frontier Communications or Verizon’s DSL have fewer choices — one of two satellite TV companies.

Verizon already carries a standard definition feed of MSG Networks.  AT&T announced this week it was adding MSG in HD to its U-verse lineup in Connecticut.  MSG has spent this week rubbing salt in Time Warner’s wounds, throwing MSG viewing parties in both Buffalo and New York City.  Now that the city of New York is pressuring Time Warner to cough up refunds as much as $4 or more a month for the loss of MSG, the dispute could prove increasingly expensive.  Some customers tell Stop the Cap! they are already receiving informal compensation for the loss of MSG after contacting the cable company by phone or e-mail to complain.

“I wrote Time Warner on their web contact form and a representative gave me a $5 courtesy credit for the loss of the channels after I explained I was shopping around for another provider,” writes Neil Thomowski who lives in Cheektowaga, near Buffalo.

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WNLO Buffalo Sabres fans dismayed by cable dispute 1-3-12.mp4[/flv]

Buffalo Sabres fans who have Time Warner Cable were left in the dark Tuesday night and couldn’t watch the match-up between the Sabres and the Edmonton Oilers.  WNLO in Buffalo has the story.  (2 minutes)

Time Warner Cable’s progression towards all-digital cable continues to spread across Maine as customers in Albion, Augusta, Belgrade, Benton, China, Clinton, Farmingdale, Gardiner, Hallowell, Litchfield, Manchester, Monmouth, Mount Vernon, North Vassalboro, Readfield, Richmond, Rome, Sidney, Vassalboro, West Gardiner and Winthrop lost many of their analog channels last week.

But customers losing AMC, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, CKSH, CHLT, CNBC, E!, EWTN, GAC, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, History, HSN, INSP, NECN, Ovation, QVC, SyFy, Shop NBC, TCM, TNT, and USA also provoked the loss of something else: patience.

“Cable TV is the only service I pay for that increases my bill and frustration at the same time,” says Augusta Stop the Cap! reader Jeff E. Smith.  “The digital adapter Time Warner sent me was defective right out of the box, and two of my neighbors were also sent defective units that never powered on,” Smith writes.

Time Warner Cable is dramatically reducing the analog cable lineup to make additional room for new digital HD channels and faster broadband speeds.  The company is supplying palm-sized digital adapters for subscribers who don’t have a digital set top box on every television.  Although free until 2014, the boxes will carry a monthly fee of $0.99 each after that.

“The upgrade gives them the chance to cram on more channels we don’t want and more expensive broadband, and yet we have to eventually pay for the equipment,” Smith says. “And it doesn’t even work right.”

Smith’s neighbors have discovered patience-testing lines at some Augusta-area cable stores as customers rushed to obtain the equipment they assumed they didn’t need.

“The neighbor’s mother-in-law doesn’t understand how to use OnStar in her car, so it was no surprise she found out she needed the equipment when most of her favorite channels disappeared,” he adds.  “Time Warner really overestimated the level of understanding customers would have about this after buying new digital-TV’s a few years ago.”

Jim has several suggestions for Time Warner to adopt before the digital upgrade begins its progression across the country:

1. The equipment should be free of charge and included with your regular monthly service.  You can’t realistically expect to buy Time Warner Cable service without a box for every set after the digital conversion is complete, so just include the equipment;
2. A better and less intrusive way to manage this would be to install a single digital converter on the outside of the home or in a closet which could provide analog service to every TV not already equipped with a set top box.  That would mean no annoying box on every set in the home and would probably cost less (in time, money, and aggravation);
3. People assume they are ready for digital cable because they bought digital-ready TV’s after analog television service ceased. Most customers will not read generic letters carefully.  It would be better to send people customized letters telling them they specifically will need the equipment because records indicate additional outlets were installed in the home without corresponding cable set top boxes attached to them.  What are the chances customers are using CableCARD units these days?  Chances are, they’ll need the DTA adapters, so make this clearer.
4. Don’t you dare put customers through this, increase broadband speeds, and then slap usage caps or usage billing on us!

Time Warner Cable’s latest series of rate increases and perceived snubs has rubbed some New York residents the wrong way, and one upstate city has retaliated by extending the cable operator’s franchise by just one year.

Cable customers from Lowville to Massena, adjacent to the Canadian border, have been venting about the cable company’s decision to increase cable rates for the second time this year across the region.  The anger is nearly universal, whether one is a conservative tea party member in Norwood or a liberal Democrat in Watertown.

But the strongest message heard by Time Warner officials was delivered by Massena Deputy Supervisor Albert N. Nicola, who helped shoot down the cable company’s request for a 15-year franchise renewal, and approved a one year renewal in its place.  The vote was 5-0.

“They’re asking for a 15-year extension, which is absolutely totally outrageous,” Mr. Nicola told the Watertown Daily Times. “We’ve got to be crazy for even thinking about that.”

That is no Christmas present for Time Warner, whose cable franchise agreement in Massena expires this year on Dec. 25.

Town board members noted the cable company didn’t bother show up for franchise renegotiation discussions and were reportedly not in attendance for this week’s vote.

“It’s tough to ask questions of a group that isn’t here,” Nicola said.

Massena wants some changes in the local cable lineup, more responsiveness to local residents, and more involvement in the community by the cable company.

Residents want lower rates.

Wayne D. Mihalyi of Lowville called Time Warner the poster child of corporate greed.  Tim Donahue of Lowville wondered how much more he and his neighbors would take from the cable operator:

How long are we going to continue having Time Warner Cable increase their rates without hesitation? Isn’t anybody out there looking out for us?

We just had all our rates increase 7.5 percent in January 2011. They cried poverty and increases in dealing with the networks. Yet another small increase occurred (because of taxes) somewhere between June’s bill and October’s.

And now we just received yet another 8 percent increase within the same year? They must have seen how Netflix did it and said, “What the heck, if they can do it so can we.”

This time we’re supposed to believe it is because of their significantly increased cost of programming. Don’t forget, we also got socked a whopping 16.5 percent increase in January of 2010. When is this nonsense going to end? I am beginning to understand the reason for some of the protesting going on. This is outright greed. There is no other explanation or words for it. They have to know that seniors haven’t even had a 1 percent raise in three years.

Some Time Warner customers think there is more up the cable company's sleeve than "subscriber convenience."

Time Warner Cable customers across the country have been coping with some dramatic channel realignments over the past year, in some cases finding as many as a half-dozen channels gone missing from their analog basic cable lineup when it’s all said and done.

Communities in South Carolina, Ohio, and Nebraska are the latest to find dozens of channels assuming new positions on the dial, some now requiring a $7-10 digital set top box rental to keep watching.

The reasons for the changes?  To make room for an increasing number of HD channels, upgrade to DOCSIS 3 technology to support faster broadband, and to simplify finding networks on a lineup with hundreds of choices.

In Lincoln, Neb., Time Warner Cable will be aligning all of their analog and digital standard definition channel numbers with their HD counterparts.  So if CNN occupies channel 120 on the standard definition cable lineup, CNN HD will be found on channel 1120.  Customers simply have to add a “1” in front of the three digit channel number to get the same network, when available, in HD.

Lincoln residents may appreciate the fact some channels will be easier to find, but many analog customers without a cable box are not happy several of those channels will be gone from their lineup altogether.  The “victims” of the analog to digital switcheroo are familiar to those who have already been through channel realignments — C-SPAN 2, ShopNBC, TruTV, Travel Channel, and Oxygen will be available only to those who have a digital cable box or CableCARD.

In the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area, Time Warner Cable also moved the Speed channel to a new digital-only home.  Brett Phillips who lives in Georgetown called that a hidden price increase, telling The Sun News Time Warner was effectively taking away a channel while not reducing his cable bill.

In Nebraska and Ohio, Time Warner is handing out “free” digital boxes for 12 months, but only to those who do not have one now.  Those with existing digital boxes cannot obtain a second one or get their existing box for free.  Some critics, including our Lincoln reader Marta says that is a ripoff.

“As a good customer who already pays for two digital boxes and spends almost $200 a month on my cable service, why am I paying for my digital boxes when those who want the lowest priced analog service get one for free,” Marta asks.  “Clearly this is a way to get those boxes into peoples’ homes so at the end of the year they will reluctantly pay for the $7 a month to keep renting it.”

Marta was turned down when she asked if she could get a free extra box for her kitchen television.

“No, Time Warner only gives these free boxes to people who never had them before,” she said.  “I understand the company needs to make room for new things, but they have got to get these box prices down — they could turn the whole system digital as far as I care -if- the boxes were free, or at least much cheaper.”

Some other subscribers have their own conspiracy theories about the channel realignments.

One Nebraska resident noted Time Warner Cable was moving Fox News Channel to channel 44 — an ominous turn of events for this individual:

“It seems that the liberal unionized TWC is putting Fox News on channel 44. Obama is the 44th President. [George] Soros is behind this I just know it.”

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WEWS KSHB Time Warner Channel Changes 4-6-11.flv[/flv]

WEWS-TV in Cleveland and KSHB-TV in Kansas City tell their respective viewers about the grand shuffle in their channel lineups.  (3 minutes)

Du Quoin, Ill.

Remember when your cable system delivered 60 basic cable channels with a handful of premium services, none in High Definition?  The people of Du Quoin, Ill. do — to this day.

They, along with several other small southern Illinois communities served by Comcast, are living a wired life free from HD programming, cable networks many take for granted, and a quality of service that has diminished as an aging cable system outlives its useful life.

Now the commissioner of Du Quoin has put Comcast’s franchise “on hold” until the cable company updates service for the town’s 6,500 residents.

Commissioner Rex Duncan told the city council last week he’s fed up with Comcast’s lack of interest in delivering even a handful of HD channels to subscribers, even as the company moves channels that used to be part of the basic cable lineup to a new tier that requires the rental of a digital converter box.

Until Comcast decides to invest in upgrades in the area, De Quoin joins the cities of Pinckneyville, Benton and Christopher and the villages of Tamaroa and Buckner in refusing franchise renewal requests from the cable operator.

Reviewing the lineup in Du Quoin shows subscribers confined to receiving the same number of channels most cities had more than 15 years ago.  Not a single HD channel is included.  Broadband customers can choose from two promoted packages, one promising “up to” 15Mbps and the other claiming 20Mbps with the PowerBoost feature.  But few residents actually see those speeds according to one of our readers.

Sid, a lifelong resident of De Quoin, says speeds approaching 7Mbps are more typical, except at night when they drop.

“I don’t think Comcast has changed a thing in southern Illnois in over a decade,” Sid shares.  “The company’s cable TV lineup still thinks it’s 1992 — we are lucky we even have broadband.”

Residents have complained regularly to local officials about Comcast’s performance in the region, especially when they compare the service they receive with what residents in nearby Carbondale, the self-styled “capital of southern Illinois” receive.

“I realize southern Illinois is between nothing and nowhere, with large cities like St. Louis and Evansville whole states away, but considering how many people depend on Comcast to get reasonable reception of local stations pretty far out, they do a good business here,” Sid says.

Sid does not expect many upgrades in the near future, either to his cable or broadband service.

“DOCSIS 3?  What is that?”