Is it time to cut the cable cord?

Last week had been going well. Thursday happened to be especially occupied with errands and meetings so much so that I didn’t have time to open the mail. I did notice that the Time Warner/Spectrum cable bill had arrived, and I didn’t want to ruin a good day. I had been promised a credit for the cable company blocking the Super Bowl broadcast from the local NBC affiliate, KYMA, channel 13, so I decided to sleep well and worry about it on Friday. Smart decision.

On Friday, I opened the bill and, guess what, no credit for their blocking KYMA’s broadcast of the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics. I called, and getting NO satisfaction, I began writing. I wrote to the head of Charter Communications, the parent company of Time Warner/Spectrum. I wrote to the company’s customer complaints department in South Carolina, and I sent copies of the complaint letter to the franchise administrator, which is the city of El Centro, as well as to Congressman Juan Vargas. Most of these addresses are on your cable bill. I am pretty steamed about the unregulated monopolistic power of the cable company. I was told years ago by a former city manager to switch to satellite TV, that the city had little bargaining power with the cable company. If you recall, much of Los Angeles went for years without televised Dodger games as one of its cable companies would not settle with the Dodgers on broadcast revenue. We are small fish compared to L.A.

I also paid the cable bill. I subtracted the cable TV charge and did pay for the internet portion of the bill. Time Warner/Spectrum provides excellent internet service. Spectrum also provides an affordable internet rate for low-income customers. Go to SpectrumInternetAssist.com. But cable TV service? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Here is my edited letter to the TV authorities. Use this as a format and write your own. Satellite and other alternatives are looking better and better.

To Charter Communications/Spectrum:

As you know, Charter is in a contract dispute with Northwest Corp., which serves the Imperial Valley, CA, and Yuma, AZ. Spectrum blocked local channels: KYMA, NBC, ch. 11, and KSWT CBS, ch. 13. Thus, we did not get to watch the Super Bowl. Around the time of the game being blocked, I called Spectrum and was assured by a Spectrum employee that we would receive credit for the cancellation. We just received our March 1, 2018 bill and there is no credit. To add to our frustration, the Spectrum employee to whom I spoke about the blocking of the Super Bowl commiserated with me saying that she too would not be able to view it as if she lived in our area. This is highly doubtful.

Adding to this lack of service, we missed the first week of the Winter Olympics due to the blocking of KYMA, the NBC affiliate. By the second Olympics week we were advised by a friend to watch on an NBC sports channel. Spectrum did not provide this info. Also, I understand that the contract with subscribers is that the company must give a one month notice of channel changes. This was not done.

I called today to protest our bill and was told there is no credit, and there may be one after a settlement is reached with Northwest. Thus, Spectrum has contradicted itself and has done nothing to reimburse customers who lost the opportunity to view unique sporting events and continue to be denied local programming. Today, I asked the Spectrum phone contact if there was any appeal possible. She said “no.” I asked if there are current discounts for seniors or veterans. I am both. The Spectrum representative again said “no.” We pay our bills on time, and I find Spectrum’s stance totally inequitable. Spectrum’s posture is one of an unregulated monopoly.

Therefore, I protest the current Spectrum TW (cable) charge.

Sincerely, blah, blah, blah.