Any speculation on what one should make of the first sentence in the following article in tomorrow's
Lincoln Journal Star?
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/...7768946968.txtQuote:
A Time Warner Cable official said Wednesday the company may return to Passport, the digital cable programming guide it replaced last fall with company-created Navigator.
On all levels, we're looking at every option as what to do now, said Ann Shrewsbury, public affairs director of Time Warner's Nebraska division. Everything is on the table for remedies and solutions.
Shrewsbury's comment came after the city's Cable TV Advisory Board voted 7-0 to create subcommittees to discuss hardware and software issues concerning Navigator and Time Warner's customer service as part of the cable company's performance evaluation.
The evaluation is in response to a recent City Council resolution. The city's franchise agreement with Time Warner allows the advisory board to conduct an annual evaluation.
City Council member Jonathan Cook introduced the resolution in early March after hearing of customer complaints about Time Warner's new Navigator programming guide and software problems relating to it.
The board held a public hearing March 27 and has since solicited public comments via e-mail, mail, faxes and telephone calls. So far, the city has received about 400 responses.
From those responses, the board formed and forwarded about 100 questions to Time Warner. Beth Scarborough, Time Warner Nebraska division president, said she would have answers for the board by April 13.
Advisory board vice chairman Stuart Long summarized some of the subscriber questions in a memo to the board. The questions ranged from specifics about Navigator to why there is no cable competition in Lincoln.
These aren't my questions, he said. These are questions from the customers. These are questions our final report (to the City Council) ought to answer.
Time Warner, the nation's second-largest cable company, has been under fire locally since it dropped the contracted Passport channel guide last fall in favor of Navigator for its digital subscribers.
The cable company changed the guide to make it compatible with other software programs coming down the line.
The change affects 46,000 digital cable subscribers in Southeast Nebraska, including 33,200 in Lincoln.
Time Warner has 110,000 cable television subscribers in Southeast Nebraska, with 75,000 of them in Lincoln.
Subscribers complained that the new guide is inferior to the old one and that they had difficulties with their digital or DVR boxes after the guides were loaded.
I just want it to work right, subscriber Lisa Blakey told the board Wednesday night. I would give anything to go back to what we had before.
The board also discussed looking into an impartial survey of subscribers to gauge satisfaction levels, but took no formal action.
I want to know if every (subscriber) is equally unhappy, board member Laurie Thomas Lee said.
Shrewsbury said after the meeting that Time Warner also plans to survey its customers.
We're taking this all very seriously locally and on the national level, she said. We are listening to our customers and are open to what is best with the least amount of consequences.
The advisory board will meet again at 4 p.m. April 26 at the City County Building to discuss recommendations of the subcommittees, which will meet in the interim.
Could be the result of an overzealous reporter and an eager-to-please Public Affairs director; however Ms. Shrewsbury is usually pretty careful about speaking on substantive issues without company authorization.
I assume that if that's just a misquote, the article will quickly disappear, followed soon after by my post to this AVS forum. If it's
real, the next 24 hours might be interesting.
I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
