NEWS
Prices, BTN bring few complaints
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Also by Jacquelyn Ryberg:
- Residents must wait for safe ice skating (December 10, 2007)
- City awards memorial civility honors (December 3, 2007)
- Council approves adding more Tasers for city cops (November 15, 2007)
- Prices, BTN bring few complaints (November 2, 2007)
- Mattel CEO talks trust, meets business leaders (October 26, 2007)
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- Excite@Home Internet service may be leaving Madison (November 25, 2001)
- 100,000 hit by cable outage (February 12, 2007)
- Big Ten Network reaches deal with UW housing (August 31, 2007)
- Charter has customer-service problems (October 1, 2003)
by Jacquelyn Ryberg
Friday, November 2, 2007
Despite recent announcements of price increases and the failure to reach an agreement with the Big Ten Network, Charter Communications has not received a significant number of complaints from its customers.
According to Jessie Hlad, spokesperson for Charter, this is because of the quality service the company provides.
“Charter is still offering a great value with the packages,” Hlad said. “I think people still enjoy the value of those packages.”
Charter’s promotional packages, which Hlad said are already priced at a discounted rate, will average a $5-6 increase. Hlad said the increases, set to take effect Dec. 1, are an annual occurrence, and the prices should not have surprised many customers.
However, Barry Orton, University of Wisconsin professor of telecommunications, said the price increase is not coming at an opportune time.
“It’s the atmosphere. Out there right now it is very toxic for the cable company, and to do the rate increase right now is adding to that atmosphere,” Orton said. “Normally this is the time that they increase [prices], but it would have been probably smart as a business decision to wait a few months.”
Charter Communications, Madison’s most prominent cable provider and the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the United States, has also come under scrutiny in the past few months due to its inability to reach an agreement with the Big Ten Network.
“I think Big Ten Network is being very greedy,” Orton said. “People that don’t care about sports shouldn’t have to pay for it, and for once Charter is sort of on the side of the customer.”
The Big Ten Network, launched Aug. 30, televises college football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and other NCAA-sponsored events. However, with the absence of an agreement between Charter and the network, many customers, including UW students and Badger fans, may miss the games altogether.
Hlad said although customers are unhappy they are missing Big Ten games, they are still in support of Charter.
“The comments that I’ve heard really support Charter’s position, and us just being very concerned about customers seeing increases if we were to add those networks,” Hlad said. “We want to add those networks, but at the same time we’re trying to protect our interests and not effect [price] increases.”
Orton added students have alternatives to paying increased prices for the cable network, including switching to satellite, listening to the radio, watching the game at a bar or viewing games online.
Given the minor price increases in promotional packages, and the vast number of alternatives to cable television, Orton said he is distressed that this is all students are worrying about.
“If that’s all you’ve got to complain about, you’re doing pretty well,” Orton said. “It’s amazing to me that this is such a big issue. There is a war going on, people are dying, and we’re worrying about whether we can watch a football game or not.”
Anonymous (November 2, 2007 @ 6:53am):
I am dissatisfied with Charter not providing the opportunity for fans to see their state team games. A fair solution would be to offer it as a pay per view for those that would choose it. To not provide any options in a captive market will cause people to rethink their commitment to Charter and its overpriced options. I will not allow Charter to dictate my viewing for next season.
Anonymous (November 2, 2007 @ 10:32am):
Maybe the reason Charter hasn't received any complains is that no one wants to wait on hold for 30 minutes after being transfered 5 times to speak to the "right person".
Anonymous (November 2, 2007 @ 11:27am):
"...Charter Communications has not received a significant number of complaints from its customers."
Do you think we're naive? Charter would never admit if their phones were overloaded with complaints. In fact,I would bet my life that they have received hundreds of complaints because of Saturday's game. And, imagine the number of complaints from folks when they won't be able to see the November 29th Packers-Dallas game because they refuse to offer not only BTN, but also NFL Network!
Anonymous (November 2, 2007 @ 12:38pm):
First of all Prof Orton makes me embarrassed to have a college degree. "People that don't want sports shouldn't have to pay for it".Do you mean to tell me everyone wants to pay for MTV, NIK, G4, Cartoon ch, spike, court tv,HSN, Comedy Central,Versus, Speedvision, MTV2, Soap Net, Toon Disney not to mention the Spanish speaking channels because Spanish is still the official language of Wis. Don't insult my intelligence like that. Charter hasn't received many complaints. Maybe because they closed their local offices and my phone calls are answered in Panama and other non U.S.countries. When you ask the operator about the Big Ten Network they don't know what the hell you are talking about. That's how you don't get complaints. Customer Service? Yeah Right.
EF
Minnesota
Anonymous (November 2, 2007 @ 1:36pm):
Stop crying people. Just call DirecTV its not hard....
Anonymous (November 2, 2007 @ 3:16pm):
1:36, a lot of us live in apartment buildings and can't order DTV.
Anonymous (November 2, 2007 @ 4:18pm):
DirecTV and DISH Network are both CHEAPER than Charter and get more channels...including NFL and BTN.
The only reason people stick with charter cable is because they are also getting internet and the bundle is cheaper. However, if you are using Charter for just cable, you are getting RIPPED OFF
Anonymous (November 13, 2007 @ 1:49pm):
"According to Jessie Hlad, spokesperson for Charter, this is because of the quality service the company provides."
Are you kidding? Quality service? Try the only cable service available! It takes days (sometimes weeks) to get a service call, and all of their phones are answered in another country. And, that's after spending 30 minutes going through a ridiculous automated system.
As to not receiving complaints about the BTN, I personally have sent numerous email complaints and have never even received a response.
Anonymous (January 2, 2008 @ 7:20pm):
has anyone thought how much of our tax money is spent on the development on the BTN. our state taxes pay the salaries of university officials who thougth about this. it would be nice to see someone take legal action against them. will the income lower college tuition.
Anonymous (March 4, 2008 @ 7:33pm):
Can someone tell me why I shouldn’t be able to watch a Big Ten game for the simple investment of a television and an antenna? After all, these are unpaid athletes! Does anyone else smell a hint of extortion?
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