City Wants Time Warner to Fix Poor Cable-TV Reception

For more than two months, residents have been complaining about poor TV reception, a problem they say began when the city’s cable provider installed new transmission equipment.

That’s been two months too long, City Council members said this week. Because of widespread technical glitches, “our people feel they’re being totally abused,” Councilwoman Alice Jempsa said.

The council is demanding that the provider, Time Warner Communications, fix the problem immediately and schedule a public hearing so residents can speak directly with company officials.

If the problem is not remedied soon, city officials said, Los Alamitos will consider revoking its franchise agreement with the company before it expires in May.

“We want to be reasonable, and we want to be fair,” said Gerard Goedhart, assistant city manager. “However, there is a limit to our patience. We can’t wait forever.”

The company has about 1,600 cable subscribers in Los Alamitos.

Goedhart said the city met with Time Warner officials two weeks ago to discuss possible solutions, including subscriber reimbursements or deductions. He said the city will meet with Time Warner officials later this month to get the company’s response.

Time Warner spokesman Don Weddle, who is handling negotiations with the city, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Cable subscribers in other cities, including Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, also have reported poor cable reception since May 2, when Time Warner rearranged channels and installed a digital signal converter.