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CableVision pulling plug in Trinity on Aug. 31
(The Decatur Daily (AL) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 7--TRINITY -- Unless another provider is found soon, residents who subscribe to Trinity CableVision could see their screens go white at the end of the month.
The parent company, Cable Vision Services of Pell City, informed the town by letter that Trinity CableVision will no longer be able to provide cable TV services.
In the letter, Trinity CableVison manager Jeff Smith said the company notified customers on their latest bills that the service ends Aug. 31.
Smith told The Daily on Wednesday that the economics of running the system so far from the Pell City headquarters were too difficult.
Saying "you can only lose money so long," Smith said he is in contact with Alabama Broadband LLC, which has a system in Good Hope.
"We're in the process of talking with them at this time," he said. "We know they have a good system and will run it well in Trinity, and continue to give these people service. They will come in and probably do some upgrading, and offer other things."
Options
Smith said that if he couldn't find someone to take over the system in a franchise transfer agreement, his only option is to take down all his wire and leave. He said he doesn't want to do that and leave about 500 subscribers without service.
Mayor Vaughn Goodwin said he and town attorney Larry Madison expect to meet with Smith and a representative of Alabama Broadband within the next two weeks.
"What I intend to do is to make sure that whatever agreement we might reach with a new company will provide better services than we have today," Goodwin said. "We've had trouble with Trinity CableVision for the last three or four years, and it's getting worse and worse. Citizens have problems with the service and the cable is out for a week or so at a time. They don't worry about coming back and doing what they're supposed to do. If that's the best we can do, we don't need that in Trinity."
25-year deal
Goodwin said the town signed a 25-year agreement with the company in January 1986.
He said the Town Council reviewed the agreement about a year ago and asked Madison what the options were for placing a penalty against the firm.
"Basically, the only option we had was to pull the franchise. If we had done that, there would be no service at all," he said.
Goodwin said the town is at a disadvantage by having one cable provider. He said Trinity has made calls to other systems, including Charter, to try to get another service but with no success.
Madison said while revoking the franchise with Trinity CableVision is the town's only legal remedy, it is not a viable option at this point.
"Obviously, with only two years left in the agreement, the franchise is quitting operations anyway," he said.
"The mayor will attempt to work out an agreement with Alabama Broadband on an interim basis so Trinity residents won't have a service interruption, or possibly on a long-term basis, if what they offer is attractive."
Madison said a franchise is not a contract that requires a company to provide services, that it only authorizes and permits it to do so.
"All we can do is try to persuade someone that Trinity would be a good market for them," he said. "It's an open market."
He added, "It would be imprudent to give someone a 25-year franchise without considering all of our options."
Meanwhile, one resident said she agrees with the mayor that Trinity CableVision has neglected to respond to some problems.
Service
Sherry Hale said poor service from the company doesn't impact her because she has a satellite dish. But she said when workers came to correct a subscriber's problem, they left cable across their yard and a neighbor's yard.
"It's been that way since the first or the middle of May," she said. "They were supposed to have buried the cable. We've called numerous times but (Trinity CableVision) won't return calls. We have to pull (the cable) back to mow on the other side of it."
Smith said, "We've got a guy (in Trinity) three days a week to install and service. We're not hearing any great uproar from up there."
To see more of The Decatur Daily, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.decaturdaily.com
Copyright (c) 2008, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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