Cox contract set to expire, parish looks at alternatives

… cable service options limited in parish

With St. Charles Parish’s contract with Cox Communications set to expire later this year, the parish council has begun plans to invite other companies to provide service for area residents.

“Since the Aug. 6 public hearing, we’ve been in discussions with AT&T,” said Tim Vial, chief administrative officer of the parish. “The company merged with Bell South recently and they own all of the telephone lines in the parish.

“Right now, the company only offers the satellite service customers can sign up for.”

Though legislators have been in talks with AT&T about the possibility of providing St. Charles Parish customers with cable service, the problem is that Cox owns all the hardware in the parish.

Vial says that switching the hardware, and all of its components, will be costly for whoever comes in. This could potentially leave residents without cable for several months.

Brad Grundmeyer, manager of public affairs at Cox, confirms that luring a new company to the area would be hard for the parish to accomplish.

“Any cable company coming into St. Charles Parish would have to build their own network,” he said. “We’re considering every possibility to give the residents quality service, but whatever company decides to provide service to the parish will have this issue to contend with.”

So far, Grundmeyer has answered 26 emails from residents parishwide. Resident’s complaints ranged from pricing and servicing, to denial of channels like the TV Guide station and EWTN (a religious channel).

Another potential problem will be the government-mandated switch from an analog format to a digital one. That process could leave many residents in the dark.

According to a letter sent to the St. Charles Parish Council on Aug. 17, Grundmeyer writes: “Congress has mandated by Feb. 17, 2009, that television broadcast stations must return their analog spectrum to the government and broadcast their signal in digital format over the airwaves. The result will be that viewers who still have analog television sets will not be able to receive the local television signal. Besides freeing up room, the government is enacting the transition as it will significantly enhance the picture quality and makes possible over-the-air delivery of several simultaneous services for viewers.”

Council chairwoman April Black will be calling another public hearing to give residents another opportunity to express their concerns and learn about the transition to a digital format.