Survey Results:Do You Like What You See On TV
Of the respondents that indicated that they did not have cable, 58%
cited cost, 19% said availability, 19% were dish subscribers and 4% had
other reasons for not subscribing.
Survey Questions:
In general, do you think there is too much violence on tv?
Yes 80% No 16% N/A 3% Somewhat 1%
Do you think there are too many shopping channels on the basic channel
lineup?
Yes 75% No 20% N/A 2% Somewhat 3%
Are you receiving adequate value for the money?
Yes 29% No 62% N/A 3% Somewhat 6%
Have you had problems with billing in the past year?
Yes 11% No 88% N/A 1% Somewhat 0%
Have you had problems with signal quality in the past year?
Yes 35% No 62% N/A 2% Somewhat 1%
Are service technicians and CSR’s knowledgeable and courteous?
Yes 74% No 8% N/A 15% Somewhat 3%
Is the waiting time excessive when you call for service?
Yes 22% No 52% N/A 22% Somewhat 4%
Is the service appointment process reasonable?
Yes 57% No 11% N/A 29% Somewhat 4%
Do you subscribe to premium channels?
Yes 17% No 73% N/A 10% Somewhat 0%
Do you watch the public access channel 2? Ave. hr/wk = 1.67
Would you like to see more local programming?
Yes 71% No 23% N/A 1% Somewhat 5%
Do you watch the government access channel 5? Ave. hr/wk = 1.55
Are municipal meetings on TV important to you?
Yes 70% No 26% N/A 1% Somewhat 3%
Do you watch the educational access channels 7 & 16? Ave. hr/wk = 0.7
Are school board meetings on TV important to you?
Yes 46% No 46% N/A 2% Somewhat 6%
Do you know you could receive training and sign out video equipment to
produce Programming about the community for free:
Yes 43% No 51% N/A 3% Somewhat 3%
Do you know that satellite dish services are not required to carry these
local channels?
Yes 56% No 39% N/A 3% Somewhat 2%
Do you agree that franchise fees received by the towns should be used to
support these local channels?
Yes 92% No 4% N/A 3% Somewhat 1%
Would you like to see a Statewide community TV channel?
Yes 64% No 29% N/A 4% Somewhat 3%
Demographics
Age Groups: 15-25 = .8%
26-45 = 12%
46-65 = 44%
Over 65 = 40%
No Answer = 3%
Respondents by Town:
Buxton = 37%
Standish = 25%
Hollis = 14%
Waterboro = 10%
Limington = 7%
Limerick = 6%
No Answer = 1%
Are there children under 18 in your household?
Yes 14% No 83% N/A 3% Somewhat 0%
Do you work for, participate in, or use any services of a non-profit
organization that may be receiving free publicity on SRC-TV
Yes 20% No 79% N/A 1% Somewhat 0%
Written Responses
What changes would you like to see with your cable TV service?
References to more channels or more choices (without cost increase):
(34%)
References to excessive cost: (30%)
Want a la carte service, i.e. pick your own channels: (11%)
Reference to too many shopping channels: (10%)
Request for senior discount: (3%)
Other suggestions: (12%)
See spreadsheet for complete results
What changes or improvements would you like to see on these local
channels?
References to requests for more local programming: (31%)
References to a need for accurate program guide: (10%)
Other (59%)
Summary
Clear indications:
People (62%) feel they are not receiving adequate value for the money,
especially since several channels on the basic tier were removed and
additional shopping channels were added without an accompanying decrease
in cost. Only 17 percent of the respondents subscribe to premium
channels presumably due to cost. Additionally, 80% of the respondents
felt that there is too much violence on TV. Unfortunately, since the
de-regulation that occurred as a result of the 1996 Telecommunications
Act, municipalities are not permitted to negotiate for better pricing or
programming. Instead they are forced to rely upon the good judgment of
the cable operator to make the necessary changes that will satisfy their
customers.
The largest percentage (92%) indicated that people agreed that the
franchise fee received by the towns should be used to support the local
channels.
Time Warner Performance
A small amount reported billing problems (11%) while a larger number
(35%) reported problems with signal quality. Since the completion of the
survey, Time Warner has pushed ahead with digital implementation and
there has been recent anecdotal information that signal quality is an
increasing problem due to compression of the signals to conserve
bandwidth and a delay in installing additional optical nodes resulting
in poor node balancing.
People (52%) generally did not think that the waiting time was excessive
when calling for service and they agreed (57%) with the service
appointment process. Once they are in touch with a service technician or
Customer Service Representative, people (74%) generally give these
representatives high marks for their knowledge and courteous behavior.
Local Programming
Average weekly viewing of PEG channels amounts to approximately 1.5
hours for Public and Governmental Access and just over half an hour a
week for Educational access programming. While this number may seem low,
it corresponds to 3 half hour programs per week on the PG channels, and
half an hour on the Ed channels. This favorably compares with the amount
of time that is spent watching any one of the other channels available
on cable. Coupled with a 71% positive request to have more local
programming, a 31% written request to have more local programming and a
70% indication that Government meetings are important affirms that
programming on these channels is in great demand. The importance of
school board meetings was equally split at 46%.