Are cable rates controlled by any government entity?
No. Cable companies are basically free to increase rates as they see fit, without any oversight. There is no longer a local contract in existence between Time Warner and the City to provide services to residents. All video franchising is handled through the State of Ohio, Department of Commerce. While our office is happy to answer any calls from concerned residents, you may also express your concerns directly to the Cable TV Consumer Hotline at 1-800-686-7826, or file a complaint online to vsa@com.state.oh.us.
What kind of problems can the City cable office help out with?
Our office is a good resource if you have an ongoing billing or service problem, and we can normally get their problems resolved in a few phone calls. Programming and rate issues are another story, and we have absolutely no control or input over those.
Will I need a cable box?
Time Warner is slowly removing analog channels from the basic tier, replacing them with digital signals. These signals are only available by using a converter box. New digital TVs will not receive these channels either. Under federal law, only the lowest tier, or the broadcast basic tier of only 22 channels, must be available without a converter box. The cost of that tier has risen from about $10 a couple of years ago to $23 today for new subscribers. Basic cable with a converter box is now about $75 per month, plus an additional $8 per month each for extra converters if you have multiple TV’s.
Why is there only one cable company in Brunswick? Can't we get a competing cable provider in the City?
There is not an exclusive contract with Time Warner for service in Brunswick. Most communities nationwide have only one provider.
AT&T U-verse has expanded in spotty areas, and has been the only real competition as of late, but it is not available to most residents. Brunswick residents along Boston Road (bordering Strongsville) have the AT&T option, but that is as far as it goes here. The reason the operators do not expand service is primarily one of economics. Multi millions of dollars in infrastructure would need to be installed like fiber optic cabling and coax cabling, and with under 11,000 subscribers in the City and Township, they would probably not be able to recoup their investment in an adequate amount of time to make it financially acceptable for their bottom line.
What about this fiber optic project I've heard about? Will that bring us cable?
The Medina County Fiber Optic project is not designed for cable television services. It is to provide high capacity data transmission along the business corridors in the County. It will bring much needed data service to our industrial park, and offer some competition to Time Warner for business services along Pearl and 303. It is not a residential service.
