Representatives of Greenwood’s cable television provider appeared before the Greenwood City Council Wednesday to defend the rising costs for their service.
George King, a general manager of Suddenlink, the cable company contracted to provide telephone, television and Internet service to Greenwood through 2017, answered heated questions from the council about rising rates. LaDawn Fuhr, manager of communications and government relations for the company’s Mid-South region, joined him.
Ward 6 City Councilman David Jordan said he has gotten several calls from constituents complaining about the cable rates, which he said are rising monthly.
Thomas Gregory, the city’s chief administrative officer, prepared a bar graph comparing Suddenlink’s rates to other cable companies in the region, including CableOne, Comcast and MetroCast. The chart shows the rates for both basic and expanded cable. Suddenlink’s rates, according to the chart, are well above those of the other companies.
King disputed the numbers, saying they compared “apples to oranges” and didn’t present the services each company provided.
“First, our rate for expanded cable is $68, not $81,” he said.
Ward 1 Councilman Johnny Jennings said he could see King’s point about comparisons.
“I understand that if you get a steak at Lusco’s for one price and a steak at the Crystal (Grill) for another, they might be different steaks,” he said.
Jordan, for his part, was not so sympathetic.
“Why are your rates higher than any of these others?” he asked. “Do you realize that you are coming to one of the poorest regions in the state? You’re not considering people on fixed income, who have to choose whether or not they want the news.”
King said he did not know whether his company’s rates were the highest because he was unsure of where Gregory’s numbers had come from. He said he did not bring Suddenlink’s rate sheet to the meeting because he did not know what the council would be providing.
He asked if he could come back later with a rate sheet.
Fuhr explained why the rates for basic cable were rising.
“We have to pay the programmers, and they charge us a lot to carry the different stations. Over the past year, they charged us a rate increase of 4 to 4.5 percent,” she said.
She said those charges, plus transmission fees mandated by local news channels, were causing the rising rates.
Ward 2’s Lisa Cookston mentioned that Suddenlink’s service frequently cuts out at her home. Other members of the council agreed.
Fuhr said the shortages and cutouts were the result of work being done to refurbish the Greenwood network.
“It’s sort of a ‘pardon our dust’ thing,” she said.
Fuhr added that Suddenlink does not have a monopoly on th cable market in Greenwood and that any other cable company was welcome to come into the city.
“Can we make a motion to bring in more representatives from other cable companies?” asked Jordan.
Cookston reminded Jordan of the contract the city has with Suddenlink, which is not set to expire for another five years.
Jennings added that another company’s rewiring the entire city would cost thousands of dollars.
Council President Ronnie Stevenson urged his colleagues to move past the issue. He requested a motion to reschedule the cable discussion to allow King time to return with a rates sheet.
After the meeting, Fuhr and King said that even if it turns out that Suddenlink’s rates are unfairly priced, the company won’t be able to lower its costs or prevent rates from rising.
In other business, the city closed its financial books for the year with a surplus of $400,000.
Mayor Carolyn McAdams briefly discussed the sale of Viking Range Corp. and said she was pleased to hear that many members of the council were on board with the company’s new ownership.
The council also approved a motion to add two more dilapidated Baptist Town houses to a list of structures to be demolished. Demolition has been on hold because of the bad weather.
The council agreed to donate $250 to Greenwood High School football player Korey Robertson. The money will help pay for Robertson’s trip to California, where he is currently participating in a football combine for athletes from all over the nation. Coverage of the combine aired on CBS this morning. The $250 will come from the mayor’s fund.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
