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.”
