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Sept. 9, 1999 By David Grant Long The addition of five new channels to Cablevision’s local lineup, which was supposed to have been accomplished by Sept. 1, has been delayed because of problems associated with installing the equipment and fiber-optic lines that will carry them, according to David Weber, general manager of the Cortez office. "We’re working as fast and as hard as we can and are hoping to have them in the next couple weeks or so," Weber said yesterday, explaining that his office has been getting lots of calls from people wondering why the new channels are not yet available. "We didn’t get it started as quickly as we wanted to because the parts weren’t coming in. Everybody in the world is upgrading their systems, so it was difficult to get the parts we needed. "I’m sick about it, but I don’t know what else to do," he said, adding that some of the necessary equipment was supposed to arrive yesterday. Located in Bedford, Texas, Cablevision supplies TV signals to approximately 2,000 customers in Cortez under a franchise agreement with the city that expires in the spring of 2002. The company, which has undergone several changes in ownership over the past decade, is going to be purchased by Charter Communications on Sept. 14, Weber explained. Earlier this summer Cablevision notified local customers by mail that rates for service other than the premium channels would be hiked by $2 beginning this month, but that the SCI-FI, TV Land, Outdoor, Home and Garden and CSPAN-2 channels would be added at the same time. "To enable us to continue providing your choice of quality programming, excellent customer service and the technology of the future, our system will be introducing new rates effective Sept. 1," the notice stated, explaining that fiber-optic lines would increase the system’s carrying capacity and improve the picture quality. "These changes will all be done by Sept. 1," the notice added, "and we will be adding additional channels at that time." But while cable bills increased right on schedule, the new channels have not appeared, and the other Cablevision transmissions have been plagued with intermittent blackouts that last from a few seconds to more than a minute. But Weber said that the planned expansion was only part of the reason for the rate increase. "It is about that, but it’s also about the fact that our expenses have continued to go up, too," he said. "The channels we already have, up their prices to us every year, too." Weber pointed out that the last rate increase was in April 1998. "We were basically holding off until we had the new channels added," he explained, "because it does make people wonder, ‘What am I paying for?’ if there’s an increase. "And, of course, we want to add more services as we go and we’ll continue to add services, especially with Charter taking over -- they’re going to be real aggressive." Weber said he expected no adjustments would be made in customers’ bills, however, and that he had no plans to ask headquarters for one. "Unless there’s something in the works that I don’t know about, I don’t know of any break (in the bills) coming down the line," he said. "We had to go ahead and do that increase with the hope that we could get the work done. "Clear back when we started making plans for it, the budget was already in place to go ahead and increase the price." Weber said he hadn’t been able to determine what exactly is responsible for the signal interruptions, but speculated it might be because of all the recent lightning storms in the area. "Quite honestly, I don’t know what’s causing that," he said. "This sounds pretty stupid, but it doesn’t stay off long enough for me to be able to fix it." Weber explained that since the problem usually occurs for only a few seconds in the evening, he doesn’t have time to get back to the office and see what the problem is before the signal comes back on. Weber said he doesn’t believe the blackouts are related to the work on upgrading the system, however. "I think it’s related to all the lightning we had," he said, "but when it goes off and then right back on, it’s really, really difficult for me to locate that problem." Customer Kelly Jessup, who contacted the newspaper Tuesday, was not satisfied with this explanation, however. "This started happening in June and it’s been going on a long time," Jessup said. "I am just really upset at the service I’m getting with the cable company. "I came from a larger city and we got much better service," she added, "and, boy, when we complained, something happened -- boom, boom, boom. "I just don’t feel the cable company has any interest in the people here in Cortez at all." |
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