L.A. takes Time Warner to Task

LA TAKES TIME WARNER TO TASK
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James S. Granelli]
A top Los Angeles cable TV watchdog on Monday called the merger of pay TV and Internet systems in the city a "near failure" for subscribers and asked Time Warner Cable to explain what went wrong, how it would fix the problems and how soon. Citing city statistics and a Times story from last week, Dean Hansell said in a letter to the cable firm that it had gone from being a "model franchise operator" to "providing a level of service that is unacceptable." Hansell is president of the mayor's Board of Information Technology Commissioners. The city and Time Warner have been inundated with complaints since mid-October, when the company began combining systems it acquired from Comcast and bankrupt Adelphia Communications. The merger propelled Time Warner from one of the smallest operations in Southern California to the dominant cable company, with 1.9 million customers in the five-county region. But its reputation took a major blow as it tried to integrate the TV and Internet systems from three companies that use separate technology platforms. Complaints from October through February nearly tripled from the year-earlier period, and Time Warner lost more than 10,000 subscribers. Hansell said subscribers were reporting "substandard and erratic service," long waits on hold, "rude and inadequately trained" customer service agents and repair technicians who were late or failed to show up.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-cable20mar20,1,5332870.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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