One member of the public stepped forward to speak at a public hearing regarding Emporia’s cable television franchise agreement during the city commission’s meeting Wednesday night.
Mark Jurgens addressed concerns he has with certain aspects of CableOne’s service, mainly the unavailability of a wide array of high definition channels and access to local programming from other cities, such as Wichita and Kansas City.
“In years past, we used to get all the channels,” Jurgens said. “Now we’re only able to get Channel 10, Channel 12, and I realize that they’re a duplicate channel, but they come from different areas, so when the weather’s bad in their area, you can’t change over and watch something clearer.”
Mayor Jeff Longbine said commissioners had received e-mails regarding those same issues, but otherwise most of the feedback he’s gotten from the public has been positive.
Longbine explained that the reason some channels get blocked is because the dominant television stations in an area have the right to determine whether or not duplicate channels are shown.
“If you want to watch a CBS station out of Wichita instead of a CBS station out of Topeka, since we’re in Topeka’s area, the Topeka station will have to agree to allow the cable provider,” Longbine said. “So it’s the station that we have that regulates the stations that we don’t have.”
Terrence Matlock, a CableOne associate, addressed the concerns about high definition signals.
“The local networks take precedence over the distant,” Matlock said, using Topeka’s Fox affiliate as an example. “The local translators don’t do HD programming, so we’d love to have Fox HD on there, but it’s not available to us on that translator.”
Matlock said locally there are 33 available HD channels, three of which are paid services such as HBO and Showtime.
The city is in the process of negotiating a new franchise ordinance that will replace the current one, which expires on June 9.
In other business, commissioners:
- Passed an ordinance authorizing the city manager to suspend timed parking for certain events.
- Approved a proclamation declaring March as 2010 Census Month in Emporia.
- Approved a proclamation recognizing Amanda Dura, Krystee Pearson and Dr. Gaelynn Wolf Bordonaro, who will travel to Brazil next month as part of the Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange.
poolguy (anonymous) says...
I hope the new agreement allows other companies such as Verizon(Fios) to come into town and offer their services.
Also, regarding the High Definition channels, I looked up Cox Cable for Pittsburg Kansas, and that site shows 150+ HD channels, and Pittsburg is about the same size as Emporia. Eagle Communication in Hays has 49 HD channels.
In the past, you used to be able to get channels such as ESPN HD in emporia without the need for a box or a cablecard. I purchased a new digital tv when my old tv crapped out for that reason, only to discover that those channels had been moved to the digital tier, and therefore requiring a box or card.
March 18, 2010 at 1:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nks (anonymous) says...
Cable One has been taking advantage of no competition for years. The product you receive for the price is terrible.
March 18, 2010 at 2:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
We can't get cable out in the country. We watch the channels we can get over the air with the antenna and digital convertor. When the weather is bad, we don't get get signal now anyway. Ain't progress great? We turn on KVOE when it storms and listen to the spotters.
March 18, 2010 at 3:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
I don't watch TV anymore, its a bunch of propaganda. The news media is controlled by the economic elite.
March 19, 2010 at 1:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sunshine (anonymous) says...
Darn, I wanted to go to that meeting and I forgot all about it. I am sick to death of Cable One, their ever increasing rates, and inability of customers to do anything about it. I don't want to go with a dish network kind of thing...been there and hated that, but I sure wish that I was getting my dollars worth out of cable tv.
March 19, 2010 at 10:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
Hell, everything in the world today is contolled by the economic elite/wealthy !
March 19, 2010 at 11:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
But you obviously spend a lot of time on Youtube..... no propaganda there!
March 19, 2010 at 12:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Cable One gets their signals off the same satellites Dish Network and Direct TV do, so they do in fact have local competition. I've had DTV for 16yrs now, only problem is when there is a real heavy rain, usually only a brief signal interuption. I switched when my then local cable company charged more for 32 channels than satellite charged for 120.
March 19, 2010 at 4:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
solong (anonymous) says...
reddong, it gives me comfort knowing your tidbits are propaganda free.
March 19, 2010 at 6:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
solong (anonymous) says...
reddog, I am generally good for at least one error a day and I misspelled your name today, excuse me please partner.
March 19, 2010 at 6:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
biscuitboy (anonymous) says...
I only wish my misspellings would be so appropriate....LOL
March 20, 2010 at 6:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justthefacts (anonymous) says...
Ditto
March 20, 2010 at 11:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodjoss (anonymous) says...
Reddog - 100% agree w/ you there.
Cable is dead. Satellite is dead. I barely watch tv. Hulu and ESPN 360 and I'm fine.
Kid can watch DVD.... cartoons he wants when he wants.
These organizations should start merging if they want to survive. In 10 years, all data will be wireless - and free w/ advertising.
Sound familiar?
March 20, 2010 at 1:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )