CATV - CABLE TELEVISION (45)
I
@BECEIVED
FEB 1 6 1994
I
CITY CLERK DEPT.
Vision Cable Of Pinellas, Inc.
2530 Drew Street
Clearwater, Florida 34625
(813) 797-1818
February 16, 1994
Ms. cyndie Goudeau, city Clerk
City of Clearwater
112 South Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, Florida 34616
Dear Ms. Goudeau:
I have reviewed the Rice, Williams I survey and would like to
briefly address each of the five consumer issues recommended to be
addressed during the renewal process:
ADDITIONAL CHANNEL CAPACITY
In our proposal to the City of Clearwater dated January 11, 1993,
and our letter to City and County officials dated February 14,
1994, we briefly outlined our proposed plan for a system upgrade.
This proposed upgrade would provide the platform for the eventual
provision of many more channels.
SYSTEM RELIABILITY
Our proposed upgrade will further improve reliability of the cable
system.
PICTURE OUALITY
Signal clarity will also improve as a result of our proposed
upgrade. There is, however, a discrepancy in section 2 of the
survey results section 2.3.2., Page 9, Exhibit 2-2. It is my
understanding that the survey was conducted between January 14th
and 16th. We have not carried ABC affiliate Channel 40 WWSB since
November 30, 1993, at which time it was removed from our system as
it was a duplicate of ABC affiliate WTSP local Channel 10 the
majority of the time. Because of picture quality problems on WTSP
ABC Channel 10, we relocated this channel to cable Channel 12 on
December 1, 1993. This virtually eliminated picture problems with
Channel 10 WTSP. The chart, however, indicates sixteen (16)
complaints of picture quality problems on cable Channel 10 ABC
affiliate WTSP and fifteen (15) complaints of picture quality for
Channel 12 WWSB (Sarasota ABC affiliate Channel 40).
THE ENTERTAINMENT PEOPLE
fl(
;' ,
/ I
(Q
f
I
February 16, 1994
Page Two
We have been aware of WEDU Channel 3 PBS problems of electrical
interference for some time. This is a problem that Channel 3 and
Vision Cable jointly have tried to resol ve. At considerable
expense we split the cost of putting in a microwave path between
Channel 3's studio and our Clearwater headend which, for some time,
resolved the electrical interference problem. However, we have
experienced microwave equipment problems over the past several
weeks including the period of time in which the survey was
conduct-.ed. Our Engineer tells me this problem will be resolved
very shortly.
We don't understand how there could have been a picture problem
with WTSP and WWSB as explained above but this reported problem and
Channel 3 represent 65% of the picture quality problems in Exhibit
2-2, Page 9 of the survey results.
REDUCTION OF TELEPHONE HOLD TIME
We monitor primetime calls for average speed of answer (ASA)
consistently. This is the time it takes between when the Automatic
Response unit (ARU) answers the call to when a live representative
takes the call. Our ASA, for example, has averaqed less than 30
seconds durinq the past six months. This is extraordinary when you
consider the high volume of calls taken as a result of complying
with the Cable Act. It is difficult to tell from the survey how a
long time is defined since it just states put on hold a long time.
We consider for measurement purposes anything exceeding 30 seconds
to be a long time. Often, subsequent to the representative
answering the call, the customer may be put on hold while account
information is researched. This can seem like a long time by some,
but we feel it better to resolve the customer's call on their first
call as opposed to calling them back or them calling us back.
LOCAL PROGRAMMING
I know many of you are aware that we provide a great deal of local
programming on our Local Origination and Access channels. This
programming includes educational, local government officials,
commission meetings, Community Redevelopment Authority meetings (to
be added soon), community news, sports and other genres of
programming too numerous to list here. In fact, over the past
three years, we have received over fifty finalist nominations in
the two major national cable programming contests and ten national
awards for the very best programming in the country. Vision
Cable's Channel 9 is recognized by the National Academy of Cable
I
I
February 16, 1994
Page Three
Programmers as "the HBO of local programmers" because we set
records the last two years with ten and fourteen nominations
respectively in the National Cable Ace Competition, while winning
four CableAce's. In the Hometown USA Video Festival, the other
major competition, Vision Cable won the top two awards this
organization gave in 1993: the Overall Excellence in Local
Programming Award - we beat an international field including a
system from Toronto, Canada in the finals - and their other top
award, The Community Communication's Award, for doing the best job
of communicating to our subscribers via promos and the media, what
it is we do to help serve our community with our local programming.
We are recognized nationally as the leader in local cable
programming.
SUMMARY
The majority of those surveyed (73%) indicated they received a good
value from their monthly cable service. Our rates are still the
lowest in the Tampa Bay area and one of the lowest in the State and
the country. with this in mind, it is interesting to note that
half of the 24% who said they were dissatisfied with the value
indicated the reason to be high rates, the balance citing either
poor rogramming and/or a desire for more programming.
.-
es K. Waldo
ce President/General Manager