Cablevision to Offer Low-Income Subscribers Two Free Boxes For Five Years
Low-income, Medicaid-eligible analog Cablevision customers on Long Island can get up to two free digital cable boxes from the company for five years as part of “a special offer,” Government Affairs Director Joan Gilroy told the Suffolk County Legislature’s Consumer Protection Committee at a recent meeting, according to minutes of the gathering. After the five years, those subscribers would have to pay the same monthly fee -- now about $7 per box -- that everybody else pays, she said. The amount won’t go up an onerous amount because the fee is “regulated” by New York state’s Public Service Commission, she said.
No mention of the offer was made in the notice that we received from the company, warning that all TVs would soon “require a digital cable box” (CED Oct 15 p3). Cablevision is “encouraging” customers in areas affected by its ongoing digital transition to call the company, go to its customer walk-in centers or visit the company’s website for clarification of what it’s offering, Gilroy said.
Ricardo Montano, D-Central Islip and chairman of the committee had said he thought the new Cablevision policy requiring digital cable boxes on all TVs would impact the elderly and “working poor” on Long Island the most. He said there still seemed to be “room for ongoing negotiation” with Cablevision. There was nothing in Gilroy’s comments that indicated the company was looking to offer digital cable boxes free to low-income subscribers on a permanent basis. Montano said the Suffolk Legislature had no jurisdiction over Cablevision’s plan.
The company’s offering for low-income subscribers was in keeping with what Cablevision agreed to win an FCC waiver early this year to become the first cable operator allowed to encrypt basic cable channels, the Media Bureau said in a January order (CED Jan 11 p6). The bureau said it was “concerned about the increased cost for those basic-only subscribers” using CE equipment such as digital TVs with QAM tuners to receive their programming. It also said Cablevision “committed to offer up to two set-top boxes” or CableCARDs “without charge for up to ten years to basic-only subscribers and to provide up to one set-top box for one year to those digital subscribers who have an additional television set currently receiving basic-only service.” Gilroy made no mention of boxes being offered free for more than five years to any subscribers, according to the meeting minutes.
It’s still not technically possible for only one digital cable box to provide service to the rest of the TVs in a subscriber’s house, Gilroy also said at the meeting. “I don’t know if that’s down the line.”