THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602230206
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Hey, was this the wrong channel or something?
The picture was so cloudy at Wednesday night's City Council meeting that I'm still trying to get it into focus. Here was an opportunity for the council to get some answers from Falcon Cable about why Suffolk has such unreliable - and terribly expensive - cable television service, and it was largely an exchange of pleasantries.
Yes, said Falcon Manager Jack Edwards, it sure was bad that service to so many people went out during the recent ice storm. Yes, the company did its best to answer the calls of all those suddenly isolated people who thought they'd at least have cable television to entertain them. But it just couldn't keep up; it couldn't have if there'd been heaven knows how many more people to answer phones. So much for modern technology.
Yes, he said, when computers get disabled by power surges created by a natural disaster, even cable TV can get knocked out. Besides, a lot of lines got knocked down by limbs.
And, he said, customers will be credited with four days. Anyone who isn't satisfied with that, just call Falcon.
Reality check, thanks in great part to Councilman Richard Harris: The complaints didn't just start with the snow storm.
Customers have been saying for a long time that it's a challenge to reach anyone at Falcon by telephone, that cables are installed haphazardly, that the price for basic cable service is double that of subscribers of other services in other Hampton Roads cities - in short, that they're paying premium prices for bum service.
A document provided by Edwards to explain the goings-on at Falcon when the storm struck read like a movie script for the Keystone Kops, Harris observed. And he asked the city manager to resurrect a 1993 resolution, endorsed by the council, outlining concerns about the service and making it clear that remedies were expected.
Now, says Harris, it's time to put some teeth into the document. Amen!
It's the only way the corporate big guys will get the message. That much is clear, even if the cable picture is frequently fuzzy.
Falcon came into Suffolk when cable franchises were monopolies, and the company acts as if nothing's changed. Much has.
Except for those wanting municipal channels - City Council, School Board, etc. - there are other choices. But those who want those municipal channels should exercise incessant pressure on Falcon to provide them at reasonable rates.
It just won't do forever for Mr. Edwards to explain that ``corporate has that'' plea for such a package. So what does corporate plan to do?
At Wednesday's meeting, you'd have thought the mayor was the cable expert. How, Mr. Edwards wanted to know, was Falcon to offer a fewer-channels tier, as Mayor S. Chris Jones had suggested?
Good heavens! Maybe things are worse than we expected. We've now got a Falcon official asking the mayor to configure cable channels?
Who knows? Mr. Jones can fix it. Nobody else has made a lot of improvement to this point. Can the mayor do any worse than knock out all the computers, then develop a program to restore home receivers one at a time?
Unless Suffolk consumers demand better, Falcon's current level of service is as good as it will get. By the time the resolution comes back to the council, citizens should have let their representatives know what they expect.
It shouldn't be a warm and fuzzy session. It should be a clear statement that Suffolk expects better service - immediately. MEMO: Comment? Write to the editor or call 934-7553.
by CNB