Charter Cures Cable Theft -- By Not Offering Cable To Anyone Michigan apartment buildings informed they're not worth the trouble...
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Charter-Cures-Cable-Theft-By-Not-Offering-Cable-To-Anyone-104921 Charter's been having a problem with people stealing cable at two apartment buildings in Michigan. Their solution, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette? Terminate service to the entire 400-unit apartment complex. According to Charter, they no longer believe the apartment buildings are viable TV/broadband or VoIP revenue generators after having to spend $20,000 in "repairs and improvements" over the last few years. "If the paying customers outnumbered the nonpaying customers, it would be a different story," says Charter. According to the report, the majority of the residents are elderly and on fixed incomes. Charter says they're willing to offer service to the entire complex if all apartment dwellers pay $15, but because the units are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the law says cable can't be included in monthly rent payments. A few locals have an ingenious idea: To prevent such pirating, and continue the cable service, several Interfaith tenants interviewed by a Kalamazoo Gazette reporter Wednesday suggested installing stronger locks on the cable boxes and locating them in harder-to-reach places. Of course from Charter's perspective the amount they're going to make on a low-income housing complex filled with elderly individuals on fixed incomes isn't worth the money spent to secure service. Aside from over the air signals, what's the solution? *********************************** * POST TO MEDIANEWS@ETSKYWARN.NET * *********************************** Medianews mailing list Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
