HomeMy WebLinkAbout0428.092,
September 24, 1992
The Honorable city council
Palo Alto, California
Cabl. Co-oe 1"1 ADDU.l Repo~
Members of the Council:
ROpgrt iD Irl.t
This is an informational report and does not require Council action. In
Accordance with the Cable Coop~rative (Cable co-op) Restated Franchise
Agree.ent Section 11.3, Periodic Ev~luation and Hearings, and section
11.4, O~her Reports, they have submitted a written report covering the
significant events relat~ to the company's performance.
pi.cu.,ion
cable Co-op bas submitted the following reports to the city of Palo Alto
in compliance with the Restated Franchise Agreement:
• Letter from cable Co-op management discussing system upgrades and
customer service enhanGements
• Lettor listinq channel line up changes and additions
• 1991 Sumaary of Complaints Received
• 1991 Annual Report
~ 1992 Summary Review of 1991
The two letters and Summary of Complaints ar~ attached. The 1991 Annual
Report and 1992 Summary Review of 1991 are available for review in the
city Clerk's Office or the Information Resources Department. with the
submittal of these r~ports, cable Co-op has met the reporting
requirements of the Restated F~anchise for 1991.
Respectfully submitted,
:Pa:~f1if
Directors Information Resources
Attachments
CMR:428:92 1
-.
Dianab Neff
city of Palo Alto
Information Resources Department
No. IR!:>20001
250 Hamilton Avenue
P.O. Box 10250
Palo Alto, CA 9430)
Auquot 31, 1992
Enclosed in this packet are the Cable Co-op reports
necessary to complete the 1991 Annual Report to the city or
Palo Alto.
'Ibis inclUdes:
A letter from mana~ement
A copy of 1991 aud~ted financials.
A copy of an internal 1991 ~~ual Report
A copy of an internal 1992 Summary Review (blue sheets)
A copy of an internal Complaint Analysis
A copy of the HCTA Seal of customer Satisfaction
In addition, the Franchise Aqreement asks for an update
on our billinq system, phone system and staff training.
1991 is the year in which we secured r.efinancin~. This
allowed Cable CO-O~ to restructure the company for ~mproved
customer and techn~cal service, including significant capital
purchases necessary to achieve these qoals. Many of these
issues are discussed in other reports (enclosed).
While the phone system was upgraded, it is important to
note that Cable co-op invested over $110,000 in hardware
upgrades. ThO! ~hone system was upgraded to a digital s:~{stem
and an automat~c response unit (ARO) was also ~nstalled to
exploit many of the features of the new phone system. The
impact of this. in ... ·estment was that customer hold time was
literally reduced from minutes to seconds and busy or "no
answer" called were almost eliminated. In addition, the new
phone system featured important manaqement tools vital to
success~ul staff training and call management.
Concurrent with upqradin~ the phone system, cable Co-op
revie~ed all computer operatlons and determined the existing
billing system to be inade~ate. Conversion to a new billing
system is a major undertak~n~ that re9uired a thorough review
of all operations and financ~al activlty. Much of 1991 was
.; l:-i ·8.X) • RIBI
Letter to City of Palo Alto, paqe 2
dedicated to preparinq the database for this convarsion. The
iBDediate result of this was improvement in all onqoing oper
ations, a reduction in our accounts receivable (although this
only ~came apparent in January 1992), and a reduction in
custom~r complaints caused by billinq system errors.
Finally, Cable Co-op was completely reorganized to im
prove all aspects of customer and technical service. Upon
refinancinq in Febrpary, 1991, title and .anagement of the
cable plant vas transferred from Pacific Bell to Cable Co-op.
A seasoned enqlneerinq staff was retained to audit, repair
and upqrade the plant to indu,stry star.cJards.. This reduced
outages and imprOVed response time to technical problems. At
the same tiDe, customer service was reorganized to provide
increased phone coverage. Management also implemented
regular staff traininq to reinforce technical, service, and
safety competence.
cable Co-op is pleased to have accomplished, and in some
cases, exceed the goals presented to the City of Palo Alto in
1990-1991. The Amended and Modified Franchise Agreement is a
reflection of the joint participation bet~een Cable Co-op,
the City of Palo Alto and the Joint Powe~s and demon~trates
the commitment to our common qoals of serving the co~unity.
RespectfUlly.
Bob Green
General Manager
Oianah Neff
city of Palo Alto
Information Resources Department
No. fRD20001
250 Hamilton Avenue
P.O. Box 10250
Palo Alto~ CA 94303
Auqust 3.1,. 1.9~2:
Cable Co-op has changed the channel line up to include a
variety of changes and additions. For your records:
CH 58 will be Science Fiction Channel (effective 9/24/92)
ca 62 (ACTS has aerged with CH 61 (Vision) and will be
removed to create one channel rCH61)
CH 66 is now QVC
eft 68 is now vIdeo Jukebox Network
CH 69 is now Spice
ipay-per-view , $4.95/event)
CH 7Z is new Viewer's Choice
(pay-per-viev @ $4.95/event)
CH 73 is now Action Pay Per View
(pay-per-view , $3.9S/event)
PM 106.3 is now Otherworld Radio
DMX is a new audio service sepa~ate from TV & PH and
will be available after September 1, 1992.
From time to time we offer special pay-per-view events
on available channels not used for regular proqramming~
These changes are effective beginning September. Please
feel free to call me it you have any questions.
Respectfully,
Bo):) Green
General Manager
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1991 Summar'y of Complaints Received
for Complaints Escalated Internally
Number of Complaints to Cable Co-op
100
80 -
60
40
20
0-
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
ESCALATED COMPLAINTS
• Complaints
.. Oral, Written & Escaiated Complaints
.. An complaint requiring management Intervention's considered ·escalated.·
.. 80% 01 all complaints were billing related. 20% were for service problems.
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