Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007 - 12:04:54 am CDT The Cable Advisory Board presented its report on local cable TV problems to the Lincoln City Council Monday, saying Time Warner Cable conducted beta testing of new software on Lincoln cable subscribers and found itself in the middle of a major community relations screwup. The advisory board looked into problems associated with Time Warner s decision to drop its old Passport channel guide last year and switch to a company-created guide called Navigator software that allows customers to get programming information and is the interface for video-on-demand and DVRs. The city got involved in March, when the City Council invoked its power to conduct a performance evaluation of Time Warner by the advisory board.
The board recommended that Time Warner give digital cable subscribers a 35 percent rebate on their bills for beta testing Navigator without compensation or notice, said the board chairman, John Rehm. The board considered, but rejected, a proposed 100 percent rebate. They did not get what they paid for: TV service, Rehm said.
I think there s a lot of outrage in the community about this issue. Time Warner has compensated customers on a case-by-case basis, often by giving them free services such as HBO, which one advisory board member called a marketing ploy. Rehm called it a public relations nightmare and encouraged the City Council to use its subpoena power to get answers the Cable Advisory Board was unable to obtain from Time Warner.
We re of absolutely limited resources. We have a copier in the mayor s office. We re not the 9-11 Commission here.
The Cable Advisory Board concluded that Time Warner s rollout of Navigator amounted to beta testing, which is typically done with software on a voluntary basis and for compensation. But some council members questioned whether the problems weren t just typical software bugs and a private sector issue. Advisory board member Art Zigielbaum said crashing and rebooting are symptomatic of beta tests.
Time Warner spokeswoman Ann Shrewsbury later told the Journal Star the software was beta tested by about 350 Time Warner employees using more than 1,000 cable boxes over the course of three to four months. But she said a lot of problems didn t occur until after the software was rolled out publicly. Advisory Board Vice Chairman Stuart Long said beta testing shouldn t be done by employees.
I think they were under a time crunch last summer and my theory is they just didn t have time to do a beta test to meet a corporate deadline, he said. Members of the Cable Advisory Board said things appear to be improving, although they still receive complaints and cable subscribers often say they ve given up on calling Time Warner due to long phone waits and the same response: Reboot. Councilman Jonathan Cook, who has pushed the issue more than any other council member, said he thinks the council should see if Time Warner and the mayor can reach a solution before the council considers its options, including legal remedies.
Last week Mayor Chris Beutler called on Time Warner to allow a third party mediator to help the city and company come to an agreement. Time Warner said it would meet with Beutler, but rejected mediation.
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