Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 25, 1993 TAG: 9311250234
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Frank Vicente, a senior vice president with Tele-Media Cable Television Systems, said the company's prices are fair and it has lived up to its franchise agreement with the county.
"A lot of the things that have been said about Tele-Media company are absolutely untrue," Vicente, who is based in Richmond, said in a telephone interview this week.
"I really don't know what all the flap is about," he said. "We've made some mistakes, certainly. I'm taking care of those problems. I've already put the wheels in motion to rectify some of the shortcomings we've had."
County officials and some residents have harshly criticized the company over the past year. The Board of Supervisors voted Monday to file a complaint with the Federal Communication Commission over the rates charged by Tele-Media.
The supervisors have also charged that Tele-Media is violating its franchise agreement by being too slow to expand service to some areas of the county.
Under the contract, the company must extend service whenever there are 30 homes within one mile of an existing cable line.
Vicente said his company has honored that requirement since it took over the Botetourt County franchise in 1988. In fact, he said, the company for a time went beyond the contract by extending service to areas with as few as 17 homes per mile.
But after the recession hit late in 1989, he said, money became tight and "we had to revert to 30 homes per mile."
He believes one reason for all the complaints now is that "folks were used to all that rapid expansion" in the past.
He said the company has more than doubled the total length of the cable in the system since 1988 and added nearly 500 subscribers since January 1991. The company, which operates cable systems in 18 states, has more than 4,500 subscribers in Botetourt County.
But county officials say the company has been too slow to expand. They point to another provision in the contract that says the company must extend service anywhere there are 12 homes per mile that have contracted for one year's service.
They say the cable company has never provided for any process for people in such areas to sign contracts. So County Attorney William Heartwell has written up a fill-in-the-blanks agreement that could be used by residents when 12 or more are willing to sign up for one year's service.
Vicente also disputes any suggestion that Tele-Media is overcharging customers.
He said its rates are in line with those of other rural systems, which he said are more expensive to operate than urban systems, where customers are close together. And he said the rates are in "100 percent compliance" with federal regulations.
A recent federal law set limits on what cable systems could charge for certain services, such as providing extra hookups within a single home. That has forced the company to reshuffle its billing, Vicente said. Some people's bills have gone up, but others' have gone down.
Currently, Tele-Media's "basic tier" service costs $25.94 a month.
County Administrator Jerry Burgess said the county has received complaints about increases in cable bills. The only way to make sure that prices for the company's "basic tier" service are within federal limits is to complain to the FCC, he said.
"If somebody doesn't file a complaint, then they can do anything they want," Burgess said. "So the board said, `In order to protect consumers, we're going to file, so somebody will look at this.' "
In August, Burgess and some county supervisors blasted Tele-Media, saying citizens were fed up with lousy service.
Since then, Burgess said this week, the company has begun to respond to the county's complaints.
"They're doing a lot, and we're pleased to see it," Burgess said. "However, we still have some things we're looking for."
Vicente said he's not looking "to get into an argument with the county supervisors. . . . We have millions and millions of dollars invested in Botetourt County. We want to grow with the county. And we're going to be there for a long, long time."
by CNB