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CABLE ADVISORY COUNCIL
P. O. Box 87
Newtown, Connecticut
~ Minutes ~
Minutes of Public Regular Meeting –
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Newtown, CT
There was a regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Council called to order at 7:02 p.m., Tuesday, May 11, 2010 by Chair Carmella Amodea at the Charter Communications facility, Newtown, Connecticut.
ATTENDEES: Joe Hurley (New Milford), George Fletcher (New Milford), Paul Katzmark (Southbury), Ray Juskiewicz (New Fairfield), John Bell (Kent), Stephanie O’Rourke (Kent), Jim Lang (Trumbull), Gregory Davis (Roxbury), Tom Joyner (Sherman), Eugene Rosen (Newtown), Carmella Amodeo (Newtown) .
From Charter: Greg Van Antwerp (Community Access), Tim Noonan (Operations Manager), Tom Cohan (Govt Relations)
PUBLIC INPUT: Mr. Katzmark represented the residents of Heritage Village in Southbury. After switching to the bundled package, he was charged the bundled price as well as his previous service. He called the Charter customer service, and said the automated system wasn’t effective. He spoke with a supervisor who gave him a $150.00 discount, however it was rejected by the billing department, and he wasn’t notified. His idea was to have a letter mailed out to him stating “the credit was rejected because ____.” He also suggested that the bill be itemized and shortened for better understanding.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Motion by Jim Lang, second by Ray Juskiewicz, unanimous with one correction to the March minutes.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Carl Braun was absent, but gave his report to Carmella. Total of $21,967.78 between checking, money market, and CD. This included $70.00 to Greg Davis for transfer fees, which is still in progress. Motion to accept Lang, second John Bell, unanimous.
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS REPORT.
Tom Cohan:
- Charter Annual Report and Annual Audit were filed with the DPUC last week.
- CT DPUC Annual Consumer Complaint Scorecard showed a 58% drop in complaints; 77 in 2008, and 26 in 2009.
- There was no significant cable related legislation passed in the 2010 legislative session.
- Charter, as well as other cable companies, are working with the State to compile mapping information related to broadband deployment in the state. Connecticut has approximately 96% broadband availability.
- Programming: EPIX (premium movie channel) launched last month. FLN (Fine Living Network) is renamed to the Cooking Channel as of 5/31. ESPN Classic will be moving to Sports View tier from the Expanded tier. LOGO moving to Digital View Plus tier from Showtime/TMC tier. WHPX-HD (Hartford) added to channel 787 in Litchfield County portion of Newtown system.
- Internet speeds: Docsis 3.0 launched for faster speeds. Ultra60 service (60Mbps x 5Mbps) is now available in the western CT system.
Greg Van Antwerp:
- Intern group is graduating 9 people.
- Internship now 50 hours and 18 weeks long.
- Next internship begins June 3, and a new application is online.
- Discussing more signage for Community Access under the Charter Communication sign.
CORRESPONDENCE:
- John Bell noted that a Kent resident was told to go to Newtown to change his address at Charter Communications. Tim Noonan gave Bell his business card to contact him.
- Bell reported channels 2,3,4,5,6,15,16,18,20,23 have poor reception. On December 23, 2009 he requested a service call, no response from Charter.
- Bell showed Tom Cohan 2 separate mailings from Charter that have different pricing on each. He said that no one knows that the price is. Tom will look into it.
- George Fletcher reported that HBO gives him a message to call a phone number to receive service. Called Charter, twice the representative said there is work being done in the area. Third time representative said he receives the channel for free, though he pays for the channel. He reports other people have the same problem.
- More people switching to U-verse to receive NESN.
- Rosen had two separate issues that were resolved effectively by Tim.
- Janet Pearlman of Sherman wrote a letter saying the automated system is very poor, and when transferring departments, the call might drop. In some cases, there is a language barrier. No two representatives give the same information. Tom said Charter is always trying to improve the call center, and is continually training employees.
- Amodeo mentions these issues are not unique to Charter. However, agrees the menu tree should be made more effective, and for Charter to work on their customer service.
OLD BUSINESS:
- New recording secretary is Tiffany Wolfe.
NEW BUSINESS:
- Nominations for new members are: Chairman is Jim Lang, nominated by Hurley, 2nd by Fletcher. Vice Chair is Carmella Amodeo, nominated by Hurley, 2nd by Katzmark. Treasurer is Braum, nominated unanimously. Corresponding Secretary nominated is O’Rourke.
- Hurley wants to discuss if this commission should exist.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was unanimously adjourned at: 9:14 PM. Respectfully submitted by: Tiffany
Wolfe, Recording Secretary
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