Time Warner holds back information from advisory board
The Cable TV Advisory Board progressed toward a recommendation for the City Council about Time Warner Cable, but it will do so without some requested information from the cable company.
The board submitted about 60 questions to Time Warner concerning Navigator, the controversial programming guide the company introduced last fall to its digital subscribers in Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska.
The questions were formed from the 400 comments the board solicited from the public as part of its performance evaluation of the company.
Time Warner answered “unknown” to questions about how many customers had and how many still are having problems with the guide.
They also declined to reveal how many of those customers have been compensated, saying the information is “confidential and competitively sensitive.”
“It will be difficult to assess some sort of remedy,” board member Laurie Thomas Lee said during Thursday’s meeting. “It will be based on a lack of information.”
Meanwhile, Time Warner issued another software upgrade last week that the company said has solved several more of Navigator’s issues, including restoring the “jump back” function — a one- to seven-second fall back after fast forwarding.
“At this point, we’re hearing from customers who are saying ‘Don’t go back (to the old guide). We like the changes. We like the new features,’” said Ann Shrewsbury, public affairs director of Time Warner’s Nebraska division.
Time Warner, the nation’s second-largest cable company, has been under fire locally since it dropped the contracted Passport channel guide last fall in favor of Navigator.
The cable company changed the guide to make it compatible with other software programs coming down the line.
The change affects 46,000 digital cable subscribers in Southeast Nebraska, including 33,200 in Lincoln. Time Warner has 110,000 cable TV subscribers in Southeast Nebraska, with 75,000 in Lincoln.
Subscribers complained that the new guide is inferior to the old one and that they had difficulties with their digital or DVR boxes after the guides were loaded.
The performance evaluation came in response to a resolution introduced in early March by council member Jonathan Cook after fielding customer complaints.
The board discussed Time Warner’s responses to questions but took no action. During the discussion, board member Arthur Zygielbaum said he felt Time Warner used Lincoln as a beta site for the new program guide.
“We were made part of the development process, and we weren’t warned about it,” he said. “There was no plan for compensation.”
The board will meet again at 4 p.m. May 10 at the City-County Building. It will review reports from its subcommittees, which are looking into issues concerning Navigator and Time Warner’s customer service.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.
The board submitted about 60 questions to Time Warner concerning Navigator, the controversial programming guide the company introduced last fall to its digital subscribers in Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska.
The questions were formed from the 400 comments the board solicited from the public as part of its performance evaluation of the company.
Time Warner answered “unknown” to questions about how many customers had and how many still are having problems with the guide.
They also declined to reveal how many of those customers have been compensated, saying the information is “confidential and competitively sensitive.”
“It will be difficult to assess some sort of remedy,” board member Laurie Thomas Lee said during Thursday’s meeting. “It will be based on a lack of information.”
Meanwhile, Time Warner issued another software upgrade last week that the company said has solved several more of Navigator’s issues, including restoring the “jump back” function — a one- to seven-second fall back after fast forwarding.
“At this point, we’re hearing from customers who are saying ‘Don’t go back (to the old guide). We like the changes. We like the new features,’” said Ann Shrewsbury, public affairs director of Time Warner’s Nebraska division.
Time Warner, the nation’s second-largest cable company, has been under fire locally since it dropped the contracted Passport channel guide last fall in favor of Navigator.
The cable company changed the guide to make it compatible with other software programs coming down the line.
The change affects 46,000 digital cable subscribers in Southeast Nebraska, including 33,200 in Lincoln. Time Warner has 110,000 cable TV subscribers in Southeast Nebraska, with 75,000 in Lincoln.
Subscribers complained that the new guide is inferior to the old one and that they had difficulties with their digital or DVR boxes after the guides were loaded.
The performance evaluation came in response to a resolution introduced in early March by council member Jonathan Cook after fielding customer complaints.
The board discussed Time Warner’s responses to questions but took no action. During the discussion, board member Arthur Zygielbaum said he felt Time Warner used Lincoln as a beta site for the new program guide.
“We were made part of the development process, and we weren’t warned about it,” he said. “There was no plan for compensation.”
The board will meet again at 4 p.m. May 10 at the City-County Building. It will review reports from its subcommittees, which are looking into issues concerning Navigator and Time Warner’s customer service.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.
Copyright © 2002-2009 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.