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Charter to add two high-def channels
NBC stations will be in time for Olympics
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More from County NewsCharter Communications still pledges to bring video-on-demand programming to its Ventura cable customers — but not before 2009.
In the immediate future, the cable provider said it will add two high-definition NBC stations in time for the Olympics and further expand its local high-def offerings in September, but football fans shouldn't count on the NFL Network being among them.
The St. Louis-based company, the nation's third-largest publicly traded cable provider, took over the franchise agreement serving west Ventura and beach communities in November, promising to introduce on-demand programming this spring.
That's not going to happen now until the first quarter of 2009 at the earliest, a company spokesman said.
On-demand programming allows customers to watch popular TV shows and movies anytime with the push of a button from their cable box.
The company still is seeking necessary permits to connect Ventura's fiber-optic network to one of its hubs in Monterey Park to provide enhanced programming, spokesman Del Heintz said. Charter serves about 7,000 cable and high-speed Internet subscribers from the Solimar and Rincon beach communities to the Mills Road area in midtown Ventura.
"We're still committed to launching on-demand in Ventura," he said.
Time Warner, Ventura's other cable provider, offers on-demand to roughly 13,000 homes it serves in the eastern part of town.
Charter finalized its takeover of Wave Broadband's local cable system in March. Wave had promised to introduce on-demand programming before it agreed to sell, but never delivered.
Heintz attributed the delays largely to having to obtain permits from multiple jurisdictions, including the city, county and state Coastal Commission.
Once Ventura's fiber-optic system is connected, Charter will have the capacity to offer some 5,500 hours of on-demand programming and roll out as many as 100 high-definition channels across a "dramatically improved" picture, Heintz said. To take advantage of that, however, viewers will need an HDTV and receiver.
Charter currently offers 23 high-definition channels and recently launched telephone service. Two additional high-def NBC channels dedicated to the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Games will be available Thursday, Heintz said. Nine more high-def channels could be rolled out in September, though Heintz declined to state which ones.
Wave offered the NFL Network among its high-def lineup, but neither Charter nor Time Warner has been able to strike a deal with the National Football League network, leading customers to seek other options, such as satellite TV.
Charter has been criticized for poor customer support and billing problems, causing the Better Business Bureau to post a warning to consumers about the company.
Since January, local customers have complained of service interruptions, slow Internet speeds and billing issues, according to more than two dozen local customer complaints obtained by The Star. Most of the billing issues were associated with the March changeover from Wave. One out-of-town man said the company refused to close the account of his mother after she died in May, even after he mailed the company a copy of her death certificate.
Those complaints, including 12 "escalated" concerns filed with the city since January, have been resolved, Heintz said.
As part of the city's franchise agreement, Charter agreed to hire a local ombudsman to resolve customer service complaints and post a $50,000 bond if it fails to meet minimum federal customer service standards, Assistant City Attorney Sonia Hehir said.
Charter has met or exceeded those standards — including measurable items such as the time it takes the company to answer a call, hold times and dropped calls — through June, city officials said.
Charter serves several Southern California cities, including Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Long Beach, Riverside and Rancho Cucamonga.
Posted by sparks240 on August 5, 2008 at 6:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Charter Communications in Thousand Oaks has been left in the last century. They have no high-def channels, no digital, no modum service, and a very limited channel line up. Charter is a poorly run company full of broken promices. Go Dish!
Posted by tommolinari on August 6, 2008 at 6:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Saying Charter has poor customer service assumes some level of customer service to begin with. This is false. They do not have customer service - period. After being solicited with new bundle promotions when they took over Wave, I chose one that worked best for me. After 2 months of incorrect bills I went into the Ventura branch office with the paperwork on the bundle that I had signed up for. The woman who waited on me said that I could not have the bundle that I signed up for because Charter had "chosen a different plan" for me - AT $55 MORE A MONTH! She told me that I could not change out of that plan. When I told her that she was giving me a good argument to go to satellite she told me that it was my decision to make.I went home and signed up for Direct TV and I couldn't be happier. Far more HD and better picture quality, and lower prices. People need to stand up to these aragant companies that think that they have you be the you know what!
Posted by HickyPany on August 6, 2008 at 9:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Booo Charter! I have heard so many stories like tommolinari. At one point charter owned up to all the incorrect billing and no customer service. It owned up by giving customers free movie coupons that require a lot of work to figure out and ultimately end up just being another gimmick promo by Charter to get customs to pay more money. It not right. and I want my NFL netwok back!
Posted by dr_l_ron_bumquist on August 7, 2008 at 11:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
A few corrections to the story...
Paul Allen, CEO of Charter and Microsoft billionaire, said, "we really can't afford to upgrade this system right now, since Charter is $19 Billion in debt. You know, I could probably could throw the miserable people in Western Ventura City a bone, but then I will not be able to build the Leonard Lemoy cryogenics center in my Science Fiction Museum in Seattle."
Meanwhile, the citizens in Western Ventura are stuck with a system that was rebuilt in early 2001 with a limited budget. The former owners, children of a cable pioneer, spent money catching large fish to display in the lobby of Avenue TV Cable and not reinvesting it into their cable system.
"At least they have a big fish," said Dr. Bumquist as he moved back to Western Ventura.
Now, citizens are forced to watch a distorted cable television picture and surf the net at ISDN speeds.
Sonia Hehir, assistant city attorney could care less. "We all live in Time Warner land, so screw them," she said. "Why do my job when I could just trust the loving people at Charter," she added.
Posted by heyniceart on August 8, 2008 at 6:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm happy to hear that I'm not alone in being completely unhappy with Charter! It has been one thing after the next ever since they took over. First it started with my favorite HD channels (that I PAY for) DISAPPEARING without any warning and then the bill magically went up without any notice. I too was told that the bundle I had with Wave was not offered with Charter so they chose a new one for me - without consultation and without telling me there would be a price increase. Then my e-mail magically stopped working. I called their toll-free number & found myself talking to someone in the Phillipines who, although trying to be polite, I could barely understand. It seems that my old e-mail address was suddenly (and without notice) obsolete & I'd need to create a Charter e-mail address. Then 2 months later they send notices in the mail that say our e-mail is going to be lost unless we change the address. After spending time on hold for the infamous toll-free number, I was told that they were talking about our old e-mail addresses - the one that already stopped working 2 months prior. I said I would've appreciated that 2 months ago BEFORE my e-mail stopped working, not now that I had already figured it out myself with your ever-helpful overseas 'service' representative! And as for the cable modem.... unbelievably inconsistent & a total disgrace. And every time I complain about this they ask if I'd like to add Internet Phone service! Uh, let me think... no thanks!!!
Posted by marrey on August 17, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We had BASIC channels all along and when we were switched over to Charter all we got was billing headaches and hassles! For about a buck more than what Charter was charging a month we switched to Dish and got more channels. Go figure, Charter!!
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