The public hearing into whether to renew the Comcast franchise agreement will continue Dec. 17.
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — Complaints about customer service and cable programming dominated a public hearing Monday on the renewal of Comcast’s franchise agreement.
The hearing will continue during the next City Council meeting Dec. 17 unless officials determine a special meeting will be required.
The cable company isn’t customer friendly or service friendly, and its local office is not welcoming to customers, according to council President Steven Stegman.
”It’s not the friendliest place to go into,” he said
Customer service “seems like it improves for a little bit, then it doesn’t,” Councilwoman Cynthia Ege said.
Several local customers who authorized the company to automatically withdraw payments from their bank accounts for their monthly bills got an unpleasant surprise when they were debited three or four times in one month, according to Ms. Ege, and one of them was her son. Another man, not from Lambertville, was debited incorrectly for $1,000, she said.
Many customers in Lambertville want to watch NBC’s Philadelphia affiliate, WCAU. If they do not have a digital box, they were out of luck as of Nov. 1 when the company moved WCAU from the analog lineup on Channel 10 to digital Channel 252.
”Who in this room would like Channel 10?” Mayor David Del Vecchio asked.
Of almost 20 people in the room, nearly all of them raised their hands, except two Comcast representatives.
Lambertville customers said for the money they’re paying, they want Channel 10.
”It just seems I’m paying the bills, and I’m getting no respect — no Channel 10,” said resident Tish Secula.
But that’s not Comcast’s fault, according to Barry Taylor, the company’s area director of government and community affairs. The Federal Communications Commission aligned Hunterdon County with New York, not Philadelphia. As a result, Lambertville’s analog customers can view New York channels, but not Philadelphia’s.
Because of a limited amount of bandwidth, the company cannot deliver both New York and Philadelphia on analog, according to Mr. Taylor.
”Our hands are tied,” he said. “But what we’re doing is we’re providing a free digital box to every resident who wants one.”
Removing one analog channel clears the way for six digital channels, Mr. Taylor said.
Customers can get a digital box free for 12 months along with about 10 additional channels, including WCAU, and video on demand programming.
The offer is good only for the primary television set in a home. Additional boxes for other sets cost about $5 each.
Customers will have to get used to dealing with digital, according to the company. Federal legislation says as of February 2009, all television broadcasts will be digital.
Viewers with analog television sets then will need a digital box to be able to watch TV.

