GILROY
– After missing its deadline by nine months, the cable company
embattled with a managerial revolving door, financial troubles,
angry City Council watchdogs and a slew of frustrated local
customers has brought Gilroy cable services into the modern
era.
GILROY – After missing its deadline by nine months, the cable company embattled with a managerial revolving door, financial troubles, angry City Council watchdogs and a slew of frustrated local customers has brought Gilroy cable services into the modern era.
Charter Communications has completed the core of its rebuilding project in Gilroy, the city confirmed Monday. Now, after three years of work, all of the service areas in Gilroy are wired for digital cable access which includes 78 digital-quality channels, high-speed Internet service and premium movie packages.
“The picture isn’t as rosy as it seems,” said Gilroy spokesman Joe Kline, who is the liaison between the city and the cable company. “They still have some important work to do.”
The company must complete its promise to install remote audio and video hookups at 50 public locations in Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista. It must also do a significant amount of cleanup work associated with the citywide cable infrastructure overhaul.
“There’s still a portion of the old system in place that Charter needs to completely remove,” Kline said.
Charter is paying the city $152,000 to hire an outside civil engineer to document the hardware around town that needs dismantling and removal, Kline said.
If the work is not done, Charter risks getting fined by the City of Gilroy by up to $500 a day. However, Kline said, the city would likely hold off on fines until the collectable amount was greater than the cost of the legal fees it would take to process the levies.
Fines could accrue starting from June 30, 2003, the end of the six-month grace period after the Dec. 31, 2002, deadline.
A Charter Communications representative did not return phone calls before deadline.
It’s also unlikely the cable company would lose its cable rights in Gilroy, says Mayor Tom Springer, one of Charter’s most vocal watchdogs.
“Even if we can kick Charter out, we may not have another taker,” said Springer. “We’re a high-maintenance area because we’re so spread out. Cable companies would much prefer dealing with a more urban area. And satellite TV has exploded onto the market, so cable companies are struggling.”
While the upgrade work was supposed to be complete by Dec. 31, 2002, Charter Area Vice President John Adams estimated in January that about 55 percent was done. At the time, he promised Council that the rebuild would be done in eight weeks’ time, save “minor cleanup” or “a home here or there.”
By April, the project was 87 percent complete with 27 of 31 Gilroy service areas, also called “nodes,” operational. At that time, frustrated City Council members directed staff to send a letter to Adams, reminding Charter they were out of compliance and the city could fine the company.
By August, Adams left the company and a new manager for the area hasn’t been named.
“It’s a ‘Who’s on First’ situation, and I don’t know who to turn to,” Springer said. “Jennifer (Cunningham, the company’s local spokeswoman) is doing the best she can, but we need management level attention.”
Springer said he may be ready to call for fines by fall. He said he would be willing to withdraw at least a portion of the fines if a specified amount of work was completed by a certain “drop dead date.”
Management level attention would help Bellagio Villas apartment complex manager Catherine Jones. The multi-family housing unit on Monte Bello Drive off of Wren Avenue has one of the “pockets” of service areas that do not get digital cable or high-speed Internet.
In at least some cases, pockets exist because cable boxes on particular properties are outdated, although the cabling outside the complex has been upgraded.
“We still have a portion of the property that doesn’t get serviced,” Jones said. “I think it’s discouraging for tenants who work from home or students who need full access.”
Jones, whose complex does not permit satellite dishes, said she did not know of any tenant who left because of the cable snafu.
“As far as I’m aware, no one has left because of it,” Jones said. “But I think we are one of the last areas to be addressed and my tenants have had many frustrations.”
Springer believes that cable companies serve apartment complexes and homeowner association developments last because many do not permit satellite dishes.
“They have a captive audience,” Springer said. “But I don’t think that can last very long. Already, I’m seeing apartment complexes change their rules to allow for satellite dishes.”
