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| Local outrage over Charter programming changes |
By: By Sabrina Bates, Chief Staff Writer
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Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 1:22 pm
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| Local leaders have joined together to send a loud, clear message to the cable television giant that serves Weakley and Obion counties. On Friday, Charter Communications’ customers began a round of phone calls to leaders on a local, state and federal level after they discovered the cable company had eliminated channels that offer Memphis and Nashville programming.
Area legislators are demanding Charter bring those channels back to life that offered its customers news from the state capital, as well as Tennessee Titans football games.
“I think Charter is doing their customers in our area an injustice by not offering these channels any more. My family and I watch the Nashville channel quite a bit and it makes me feel as if they just don’t care about us,” Sharon Mayor Bob Gardner commented in a phone interview earlier this week.
“Even without these channels, I’m sure they are not going to lower their rates for us,” Gardner added.
The Sharon mayor voiced many of the same sentiment expressed by community leaders. State Sen. Roy Herron of Dresden told the Messenger on Friday his phone lines in Nashville and Dresden began to ring immediately citing displeasure at the seemingly unannounced move by Charter to eliminate three cable stations.
“I’m not only disappointed, I am most unhappy that Charter did this and apparently without prior notice to subscribers…” Herron commented.
“The people who called me said they weren’t’ notified. If there was notice made, it was poorly done,” the state senator added.
“For those of us living in West Tennessee, having access to one of the biggest and best TV stations in not only the Nashville area but also the state is important to us. Its coverage includes state government decisions that impact all of us,” he said.
In a recent interview, Martin Mayor Randy Brundige explained that a federal mandate was a reason cited by Charter to eliminate Channel 5, WTVF of Nashville, CBS; Channel 4, WMC-TV of Memphis, NBC and Channel 3, WPTY of Memphis, ABC.
“They said the FCC made them drop the channels based on a designated geographical area. Apparently, our area falls under the Cape Girardeau, Ill. affiliate and they could not double carry those local stations,” Brundige said.
“We have no power over Charter because of the recent Cable Franchise Bill that passed in the state legislature, although we have a franchise with them. But we had very little power with the franchise before the legislation. The city will request they reinstate those channels and will submit a written letter to Charter,” Brundige added.
A representative with Charter Communications explained the company’s reasoning behind dropping the three channels from its service to Northwest Tennessee customers.
“Carrying duplicative network stations takes up very valuable network bandwidth, or channel capacity on our line-ups. This is the case with out-of-market stations WTVF (CBS), WMC (NBC) and WPTY (ABC), all of which broadcast identical network programming during prime time as in-market stations KFVS (CBS) in Cape Girardeau, Ill., WPSD (NBC) and WBBJ (ABC) in Jackson, also in our line-up,” Anita Lamont, Charter Communications representative, responded.
“Over the last several months, Charter has added 11 new HD channels and 15 digital channels to our line-up in the Martin and Union City areas. And our customers continue to request more and more quality high definition programming. In the coming months, Charter plans to continue to add not only more HD channels but in the next few months, we’ll launch Video on Demand (VOD) in both of these communities; also a service that customers have expressed a desire for,” Lamont added.
Lamont explained the decision was based on freeing bandwidth for the analog to digital switch required by the FCC in February 2009.
“As we prepare to offer more popular high-definition programming, offer our customers here 16 mbs high-speed Internet service and prepare to eventually transition from analog technology to a digital line-up, making the most efficient use of our bandwidth is critical — and also in the best interest of our customers. Paring down duplicate networks on channel line-ups is not unique to Charter,” she added.
While customers and local leaders continue to climb up the chain demanding Charter reinstate the three channels, United States Con. John Tanner has heard their pleas and voiced his concern to the cable television giant.
“I am writing to express my serious concern about Charter Communications’ decision to stop retransmitting network affiliates from Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, to your subscribers in Obion and Weakley counties. Charter subscribers in these affected areas are being deprived of news from all but one Tennessee broadcaster, important weather and safety information, and some Tennessee-specific sports programming. I would appreciate a written response as to why Memphis and Nashville programming was dropped form your line-up in the above-mentioned counties and what efforts you have made or will make to put those stations back on your cable line-up. In understand that there are avenues available to keep retransmitting these stations,” Tanner cited in a letter to Joshua Jamison, East Divisional President for Charter Communications.
Tanner added in the letter that he believes all efforts must be exhausted to get the stations back on the air as 7,000 University of Tennessee at Martin students are adversely affected by the change in programming.
Geographically, customers in Obion and Weakley counties fall under the Cape Girardeau, Ill. range while customers in Henry and Carroll counties have access to Nashville and Memphis programs.
“It is also difficult to explain to Obion and Weakley county residents why they are denied access to the programming they want while viewers in neighboring Henry County have ample viewing options. I would also like to know what steps you took to prepare your customers for this very significant change in service. Many Charter subscribers were taken by complete surprise when these affiliates were taken off their cable line-up on Dec. 12, 2008. Furthermore, it is my understanding that a letter to your customers dated Dec. 1, 2008, contained a channel line-up that reflected that the Memphis stations had been dropped but that the Nashville CBS affiliate would remain,” Tanner added.
Charter Communications ran a small display ad in the Tuesday, Nov. 11 edition of The Press announcing the elimination of the three channels from its service effective Dec. 12. Charter serves customers in Martin, Sharon and Greenfield of Weakley County.
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