Windjammer Cable (yes, again!)

[Greg Goodfellow]

WELL...
I mentioned a while back that the locals were returned to our cable system, beginning about three weeks after the transition date, and that reception was much better than normal. So far, so good, although the reception returned to pretty much what we had before the transition.Then, WTOV (Steubenville, Ohio) completed their transition early yesterday afternoon, so I now have a blue screen for them. To 'TOV's credit, they again stated a day or so previous that Windjammer WOULDN'T be ready for this, so we knew. Before making another call to the antenna installers, I called Windjammer last night and again this morning. A very nice lady took my information about the the loss of WTOV, plus WDTV being in and out, along with WNPB (Motown's 24). She also gave me her cell number; I'm to call in case everything isn't in place by tonight.

I told her that her company could have made the transition much easier explaining to its customers what their plans were. You may remember I posted that their owner, Tim Evard, would essentially sell the system for a dollar, and finance the buck, just to get out from under this mess of a system. She said that all the customers received a letter stating they were in talks with DirecTv concerning carriage of local signals. Again, I told her that we received no such information, as then-owner Time Warner didn't consider us as customers, stating we hadn't paid our bill and that we had been disconnected (all this, while I was holding a statement saying we had a CREDIT). She mentioned the work at the headends and that rescanning had to take place, cementing what Genlock had posted about just installing digital converter boxes.

I told her that if we lost any more locals, I would be calling an independent contractor concerning an antenna. I also told her about my in-laws that installed an antenna. They would NEVER have done this, had they only known how things have seemingly played out. They like their reception-on what I believe are three channels. I just don't have the heart to tell them what they may have lost (and I'm on good terms with them!) This expenditure hit them really hard, as they live close to the vest, and medical concerns don't allow for luxuries other than their former cable service. A lot of folks in my area were needlessly alarmed, and several of them are receiving programming exclusively by satellite, or have opted for antennas. I could tell you much more, but you've got the basic idea. The word CLUSTERFLUCK would be appropriate here.