Cable

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.

Interesting to share sent by Ron Beacom, MCTV Network, City of Midland ( presented here with thanks to the ACM list serve ) :

Top 100 Cable Systems

Source: Multichannel News research, published March 17, 2008.

Rank System Basic Subscribers
1 Cablevision Greater New York 3,123,000
2 Comcast Greater Chicago Region 2,200,000
3 Comcast San Francisco Bay 1,700,000
3 Time Warner Cable Los Angeles 1,700,000
5 Comcast New Jersey 1,400,000
5 Time Warner Cable of N.Y. and N.J. 1,400,000
7 Comcast Michigan Region 1,300,000
8 Bright House Tampa Bay 1,108,000*
9 Comcast Maryland/Delaware/Richmond 1,100,000
9 Comcast Philadelphia Metro 1,100,000
9 Comcast Potomac 1,100,000
9 Comcast Washington State 1,100,000
13 Comcast Mid-South Region 1,030,779
14 Cox Arizona 954,762
15 Time Warner, Northeast Ohio 947,000
16 Bright House Central Florida Division 938,000*
17 Comcast Atlanta 925,000
18 Comcast Three Rivers Region 850,000
19 Comcast Colorado 820,000
20 Comcast South Florida 753,813
21 Comcast Central Calif. 750,000
22 Comcast Central Pennsylvania 730,000
22 Comcast Houston Region 730,000
24 Time Warner Cable Eastern Carolina 727,000
25 Comcast Connecticut-West Region 705,000
26 Comcast Indianapolis Region 700,000
27 Comcast Northern New England Region 700,000
28 Time Warner Cable Southwest Ohio 643,000
29 Comcast Metro Boston Region 640,000
30 Time Warner Cable Central New York 622,000
31 Comcast-West Palm Region 620,000
32 Comcast Gulf Coast 600,000
32 Time Warner Cable Mid-Ohio 600,000
34 Comcast Oregon./SW Washington 595,000
35 Comcast Southeastern Massachusetts Region 580,000
36 Time Warner Cable Southeast Wisconsin 577,000
37 Comcast Delta Region 560,703
38 Charter Central States 560,200
39 Comcast Twin Cities Region 553,683
40 Cox San Diego 534,985
41 Charter South Carolina 530,900
42 Time Warner Cable Southwest Texas 518,000
43 Charter Wisconsin 514,700
44 Time Warner Cable North Texas 479,000
45 Mediacom Iowa 450,000
46 Cox Kansas & Arkansas 447,800
47 Cox New England 441,059
48 Time Warner Cable Central Texas 440,000
49 Cox Oklahoma 436,646
50 Cox Las Vegas 432,991
51 Time Warner Cable Charlotte 431,000
52 Time Warner Cable San Diego 423,000
53 Charter Tennessee 411,500
54 Oceanic Time Warner Cable Hawaii 411,000
55 Time Warner Cable South Carolina 405,000
56 Cox Hampton Roads 397,362
57 Time Warner Cable Albany 393,000
58 Charter Southern California 390,400
59 Time Warner Cable San Antonio 365,000
60 Time Warner Cable Greensboro 363,000
61 Charter New England 352,400
62 Time Warner Cable New England 346,000
63 Charter Minn./Neb. 334,800
64 Time Warner Cable Rochester 334,000
65 Charter Alabama 332,900
66 Comcast Southwest Area 305,000
66 Time Warner Cable Western New York 305,000
66 Insight Louisville 302,806
69 Time Warner Cable Kansas City 302,000
70 Cox Greater Louisiana 297,523
71 Charter North Central California/Nevada 292,300
72 Charter Georgia 288,800
73 Comcast Jacksonville 280,000
74 Cox Orange County/Palos Verdes 277,599
75 Comcast Utah 256,567
76 Charter Northwest 255,600
77 Cox Northern Virginia 240,082
78 Cox Omaha/Sun Valley, Idaho 222,487
79 WOW! Michigan 204,000**
80 Suddenlink Charleston/Beckley/Parkersburg/Logan, W.V 202,000
81 Charter East Michigan 201,200
82 Charter North Michigan 199,900
83 Charter West Michigan 196,000
84 Cox New Orleans 189,419
85 Blue Ridge Communications 170,000
86 Cox Gulf Coast 166,685
87 Charter Fort Worth 163,000
88 Charter Louisiana 157,200
89 Mediacom Georgia 130,000
90 Toledo Buckeye CableSystem 127,880
91 Mediacom Florida 127,000
92 Mediacom Illinois-Indiana 126,000
93 RCN Pennsylvania 120,100**
94 Bright House Bakersfield 119,000*
94 Bright House Indianapolis Division 119,000*
96 Mediacom Minnesota 115,000
97 Bright House Birmingham Division 112,000*
98 Cox Central Florida 105,135
99 Service Electric Cable TV 101,175
100 Insight Columbus 100,092

* Bright House only releases numbers for "customer relationships" rather than basic subscribers.

** RCN and WOW! do not release numbers for local systems. The numbers cited here are estimates, which the companies refused to comment on.

Source: Multichannel News research based on company data.

Curiously Charter in this area, county wide, should have ranged in the mid to low 80's on this list, however it is not listed.