Charter

Following up on the channel outage TV 13 experienced on the evening of Halloween, October 31, we are pleased to report that the city administration responded on that Monday and within a day or two later,so did Charter Communications to give us updated contact numbers and to schedule a meeting.

Today, WCCA met with Charter's Vice President/ General Manager Greg Garabedian, and also with Tom Cohen, Charters NE/NY Governmnet relations liason, and Charter's Technical Supervisor Dennis Hayes. The meeting was positive and productive.

We discussed and hopfully resolved the issue of connecting with Charter's dispatch should future outages or channel issues occur. Additionally,

There is an interesting post on worcesterite.com concerning problems with Charter Communications.
The litany of complaints goes on an on and Charter reps have joined in to address those "customer concerns".
Customers who do get frustrated with Charter's responses or alleged lack of responses, can also contact the city of Worcester. The city manager has a cable divison and it is their job to address citizen complaints relative to Charter's cable service. Customer Service is also addressed to a degree in the city's cable franchise with Charter. So cable companies, in Massachusetts, are mandated, in some cases, to ensure quality customer care and service. It is not just a matter of a huge business trying to be nice or market themselves to continued customers. Contact the city managers office in writing. They are also supposed to keep a log of your complaints, as well as address them with Charter.

What Went Wrong At Charter? Former exec suggests they simply grew too big, too fast and maybe too greedy and a few poor accounting measures didn't help. Here's the link.

According to THE ASSOCIATED PRESS article published in the Telegram today, as written Deborah Yao

related links

The writer of the article below ends with "A people without access to their airwaves is one without access to their government. " I am compelled to point out, for the sake of of own city leadership and for others , the point of the quote is not simply that we are able to simply "see" government in the act of doing it's business, but that the people will also have an opportunity to discuss, critique, and offer opinions in an open forum on those very airwaves or cable ways. In other words, to have a government access channel is not enough. Ideally, Public Access television is the venue that allows everyone an opportunity to participate without fear of retribution from government itself. Even dictators allow those they rule over watch what they are doing, if and when they choose. De-regulation of cable and phone industries or the move to state authorized franchises are paving a road full of disasters for democracy, free speech, and citizen participation. In a California loop hole, Time Warner has found a way to close fourteen public access stations in Los Angeles alone. The public outcry against such an act is rarely mentioned, if mentioned at all, in the mainstream media. Wonder why? The media is controlled by a select few and because profits matter more than citizen participation and democracy to those who control air, phone and cable ways. Our government leadership has not stopped this trend that threatens everyone in this country today. Why is it that it seems that cities, everywhere, are failing to understand the importance and value of public access television or that Public Access centers can offer a strategic priority to stimulate and encourage economic, cultural, and civic growth through it's unique mission of inclusiveness in electronic media platform?

The Hoffington Post, Dec 29th, Jayne Stahl writes:

On December 31st, Time Warner Cable plans to pull fourteen public access channels and studios in Los Angeles a city whose name has, for generations, been synonymous with media and broadcasting. This move will act to solidify recent gains in media consolidation, as well as set a dangerous precedent for television programming nationally.

Those of us born on the cusp of the McCarthy era, who are old enough to remember both McCarthys, also recall a time when another administration whose high crimes and misdemeanors would have gone undetected were it not for the free flow of information, and the ability of newspapers to pursue diverse paths in investigative journalism, a prospect which would be nearly impossible today.

Active dissent is greatly diminished in a climate in which independent programming is not enabled to survive. Allowing a cable behemoth, Time Warner, to eliminate more than a dozen public access channels means, in effect, green lighting standardized programming that exists solely to feed the corporate coffer at the expense of creative, community participation.

Bottom line, Mr. Attorney General: there needs to be diversity for the First Amendment to thrive. There needs to be citizen participation in a democracy, and no monopoly can be allowed to defeat that which is intrinsic to individual growth.

The Caucus for TV Producers, Writers, and Directors, Ed Asner, and all of us who are concerned about the life expectancy of an intellectual environment that embraces independence of thought, and diversity, call upon you, as chief law enforcement officer in your state, for injunctive relief, and a temporary restraining order against Time Warner to prevent them from pulling the plug on public access channels in Los Angeles this New Year's Eve.

A people without access to their airwaves is one without access to their government. On this, I know we agree.

****
Many agree with the fact that Public Access is to important to loose.
Share on the Alliance list serve, thanks to Rob McCausland is the following list of Hollywood celebs that agree and join the fight to stop Time Warner for shutting down public access stations in Los Angeles:

What do these Hollywood heavy weights have in common?
By David Hernandez
Save LA Public Access: Los Angeles Public Access Coalition
12/25/08

Rene Balcer, Emmy and Peabody Award winning writer
and producer of landmark television series “Law and Order”; co-creator, writer,
and producer of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.”

Hinton Battle,
dancer, dramatic actor, singer, choreographer, writer, director, and producer
as well as America’s
only living three-time Tony Award winner.

Warren Beatty, Oscar-winning writer, producer,
director, and actor, winner of the Academy’s 2000 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial
Award.

Stefan Bechtel, non-fiction author.

Steven Bochco, Multiple Emmy, Peabody, and Humanitas
Award-winning writer, producer, and creator of landmark television series,
including “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “Doogie Howser,” and “N.Y.P.D.
Blue.”

Peggy Charren, founder of Action for Children’s
Television, winner of the Peabody Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Vin Di Bona, Chairman of the prestigious Caucus for
Television Producers, Writers, and Directors, winner Emmy and Peabody Awards,
creator and producer of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

John Connolly, actor, President of the American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

Blake Edwards, award-winning director, writer,
producer, one of only three recipients of the prestigious Preston Sturges Award
given jointly by the DGA and WGA, awarded the French Legion of Honor, winner of
the French Cesar.

Diane English, multiple Emmy-winning writer and
producer, creator of “Murphy Brown.”

Jonathan Estrin , Executive V.P., American Film
Institute, Writer/ producer/director of film and television, winner of WGA
awards, nominated for Emmys and Golden Globes.

Tom Fontana, Emmy, Peabody, and Humanitas
Award-winning writer and producer of “Oz,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” and
“St. Elsewhere.”

Marshall Goldberg, award winning writer, (”Life Goes
On,” “LA Law,”
“The Paper Chase,” “Newhart,” attorney, Chairman of
the Writer’s Guild Industry-Health Fund and Producer - Writers Guild Pension
Plan.

Roger Gimbel , Emmy award-winning independent
producer.

Craig Haffner, President & CEO Greystone
Television , Emmy Award winning Producer.

Leonard Hill, prolific producer and leading member
of the prestigious Caucus for Television Producers, Writers, and Directors.

Gregory Allen Howard, screenwriter, “Ali,” and
“Remember the Titans,”
winner of Christopher Award and NAACP Image Award.
Winner, Howard University’s Paul Robeson Award.

Gerald Isenberg, Professor, USC School of Cinema -
Television, award- winning producer of over one hundred feature and television
films, former President of Hearst Entertainment, former Chairman, The Caucus
for Television Producers, Writers, and Directors.

Martin Kaplan, Associate Dean, USC Annenberg School
For Communication and Director, The Norman Lear Center (as well as a
screenwriter).

Richard Masur, actor, director, former President,
Screen Actors Guild.

Mary McCormack, star of “K Street” on HBO, critically acclaimed
stage, screen, and television actor.

Dorothea G. Petrie, Emmy award winning producer.

Frank Pierson, Oscar-winning writer, director,
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the “Oscars”).

Sarah Pillsbury, Oscar and Emmy winning producer.

Marian Rees, renowned independent producer of “Miss
Rose White,”
“Love is Never Silent,” “Decoration Day,” “A Son’s
Promise,” and other films that have garnered eleven Emmy Awards and thirty-six
Emmy Nominations, two Golden Globe Awards, six Christopher Awards, the
Humanitas Prize, and a Peabody.

David W. Rintels, multiple Emmy and Peabody-winning
writer-producer, “Darrow,” “Sakharov,” “Andersonville,”
“World War II: When Lions Roared.”

Victoria Riskin, Past President of the Writers Guild
of America, west, and award winning writer-producer.

Allen Sabinson, Dean of Drexel University’s Westphal
College of Media Arts and Design, former President of Production at Miramax
Film and senior executive at A&E, TNT, ABC, ICM, NBC and Showtime.

James Sadwith, Emmy-award winning director for
“Sinatra,” writer, producer.

Sissy Spacek, Oscar-winning actress.

Sander Vanocur, a forty-year veteran of print and
broadcast journalism, including work for The New York Times and Washington
Post, NBC and ABC News.

Paul Wagner, Oscar-winning writer-producer-director
of documentary and dramatic independent films.

Their Organization has just announced support of our
efforts to stop Time Warner Cable from closing down the Public Access Studios
in Los Angeles!

John informs us of the following:

Charter High-Speed Internet service customers in the greater Worcester area, and other parts of the country, recently got a letter from Joe Stackhouse, Senior Vice President, Customer Operations. It announces an "enhancement" coming soon to customers' web browsing experience. This "enhancement" will change the ads displayed on web sites to "better reflect the interests you express through your web-surfing activities". This means that Charter will monitor and record all your web surfing activity. After tracking you, Charter will replace the ads on web sites you visit with ads Charter wants you to see.

You can't stop Charter from monitoring and recording all your web surfing. They do offer an opt out to this service "enhancement" - all that will do is tell Charter you don't want them replace the ads on web sites you visit. To opt out you need to visit a Charter web page and provide Charter with your name and address - yet another way for Charter to watch you and your internet activities. The opt out web page states "... if you delete your cookies or cache files, use a different computer, buy a new computer, or use a different web browser from the one you are using at this time, you will have to opt-out again. It is also important to remember that opting out does not mean that you will no longer receive Internet advertisements, it simply means you will no longer receive ads that are tailored to your Web preferences, usage patterns and commercial interests."

The letter closes out by saying "Charter is committed to offering the highest quality service to our customers". Is tracking customers internet activity and providing ads Charter want customers to see "the highest quality service" Charter has to offer?

Just what we need, less privacy and more ads thrown at us.Thanks John.

[Editor's notes: A reader sends in this December article from the Wall Street Journal about CenturyTel, "Watching What You See on the Web." Also relevant Slashdot threads from last June and this February. And here's Worcester's cable contract (PDF).]]

Thank goodness people like Bunnie are around to bring to our attention and to realize the bulls**t and betrayal that is going on, as companies like Charter, At& T, Comcast and others, continue to blow smoke in the face of state legislators, in Tennessee, who end up pandering to them with insider deals. Deals that make rationally thinking people feeling perplexed and abandoned by their elected leaders.

Link to Bunnie's blog here where our baby left us doin' the Tennessee Waltz.

If they are not supporting, with vigorous fight, FOR public access, participatory media that empowers you, what are they supporting? Hint: NOT YOU.

Mauro

A letter from Charter to customers whose email, all messages new&old,was deleted. Charter is at fault. 14,000 Charter customers were effected.

"For affected customers, we are unable to recover the lost content."

Link

Just in case any one is keeping tabs.