Charter Communications

Want to know what's on WCCA TV right now?! Just click "info" on your remote and WCCA TV 13 programming will pop up on your guide.

In the "Worcester Magazine" (Feb. 26th, 2009), Scott Zoback writes in "Woosteria" that a public letter was issued to City Manager Michael O'Brien from Charter Vice President Greg Garabedian that  "assures the City that the company isn't going anywhere". Charter Communications filed for bankruptcy in February. The article continues, "We will work to ensure ....that service to our customers will not be interrupted. In addition, we will continue to pay all franchise fees and other amounts due under our franchise agreements". Good news for WCCA TV, which, like Channel 11's Educational Channel and Channel 12's Goverment Channel, are largely supported by these franchise fees. 

For many years WCCA TV 13 has been consistently struggling to improve the quality of channel 13's signal over the Charter Cable System. Our channel seems to be grainy more than less of the time in comparison to all the other channels. The city's franchise mandates that our signal be as good as any other channel. The last complaint we made to the city ended up with the city "looking into it". The signal did improve for a short while. Lately, for weeks the quality of our signal has varied from day to day. We are more than frustrated and our good faith is reaching it's limits. The last time signal quality was addressed the proposed solution from Charter was to remove the coax connection ( that sends our signal out through Charters sub carrier line and onto channel 13 that you see at your homes), and place it back in. Essentially, it now appears to us, that this remedy is one of many , very professional, methods apparently in the arsenal of Charter solutions 1. Jiggle the connecting cable, 2. Remove and place that same cable back in. 3, Give the machine ( in this case modulator ) a nice solid punch. We are pretty confident the major source for the grainy quality is not WCCA's fault because our signal has remained consistent, our equipment has been consistent, and our live stream looks clear, while the quality of the cable signal comes and goes. We imagine it is a cost Charter to keep sending technicians to run test and not find a real solution. We asked Charter to bring in one of their own modulators to see if that makes a difference. We were surprised to learn that they do not have one to use. However, they are looking for one. As of this writing, we are waiting for the technician to arrive. Maybe, this time, he will give the modulator a good swift kick and it will work correctly for another week.If that is really in fact the problem. We think it may not be so, in the mean time keep your snow boots on while watching us, until next time..... We apologies for the poor quality of the video you see we are working on it. If anyone out there has a relatively new modulator we would love to borrow it for a few hours.

Last week we placed a call into city hall asking what the impact would be and if the city has a plan to address Charter's bankruptcy filing. We did get a response from Julie Jacobson, assistant city manager. According to Julie Jacobson we were told : “This particular bankruptcy by Charter is different than a typical Chapter 11, because it is what they call a 'pre arranged' filing, meaning that, the major creditors and Charter got together and worked out a restructuring of the company,which is what Chapter 11 does, but they did it voluntarily, as opposed to being forced to do it. So, the filing, itself, has no immediate impact on the city & Charter franchise agreement and therefore the PEG entities and the payments to PEG entities is secure under the Chapter 11. This may actually be a good thing, in the sense that if Charter is doing this reorganization to shift their debt payments, then they may actually be healthier financially after this. As long as there are in Chapter 11 it has no impact on the [franchise] agreement itself. Of course, if they [Charter] were to cease operations, which would be a totally different thing, that would be a different story all together. However, as it stands now, the franchise payments are going to continue and they honor all their existing contracts.” We thank Julie for her response.

Charter files for bankruptcy: Click here for more of the story

We have a made a call into Assistant City Manager Julie Jacobson's office asking if the city has a plan to ensure cable services including the PEG channels continue without interruption. When we hear back from the city we will include such information here.

UPDATE November 14,2008 Charter technicians have done some work on the problem this afternoon. Today they ran additional tests. It still is uncertain why the grainy images appear on and off. We have come up with a temporary fix until Monday. The Charter technician, said he will return on Monday to continue to find a resolution to the problem. Please let us know if you continue to see problems with the quality of channel 13 at your home. Thank you for your continuing support, for your patience, and for watching WCCA TV 13. # # # It's too early for snow in Worcester unless your the public access channel. We have experienced poor signal quality consistently, off and on, for years. WCCA is sending a clear quality signal out, but viewers are seeing grainy images with intermittent hum, and over all, an embarrassingly poor signal quality. It is frustrating. The city administration tells us they have contacted Charter. They tell us that first they have to determine if there is a problem. Once they determine the problem exist they will negotiate with Charter toward a solution. Charter's technicians have been responsive but have failed to provide a long term remedy on a timely basis. I have a letter from 2004 sent to Charter complaining of the same issue. Many public access / community producers put a lot of time, hundreds of hours, and many days, each week to produce and present their videos on Channel 13. It is so disappointing that there seems to be no urgency from Charter to rectify the matter. The city's cable franchise agreement obligates Charter Communications to provide the Public Access channel with a signal quality equal to all the other channels on the cable system. To the thousands and thousands of cable subscribers, to the producers, show host, guest, and volunteers, WCCA wants you to know that we are doing our best to get the situation cleared up immediately.