Cary Residents Speak Out About Cable Service

"As long as they have a monoply and there is no competition, there is no incentive for them to step to the plate," explained one citizen.

The bills keep getting higher, but Cary residents say their cable service is only getting worse.

"We have thunderstorms in this area, and we are losing one of the vital services we've got," said a concerned citizen.

Monday, the Cary Cable Commission and officials from Time Warner cable listened to the residents' concerns.

"We are trying to do more than just the minimum. We are trying to do more that we have been doing in the past. It's on the board; it's been designed; it's going to happen," said Brad Phillips from Time Warner.

Phillips says Cary viewers will see more channels and new services in the next year.

But town councilman Glen Lang says that Cary is not waiting on Time Warner any longer. A $60 million plan is in the works to run new fiber-optic cable alongside Time Warner's old copper cable and then invite other cable providers to compete with Time Warner.

"They had better get on the stick and provide higher quality services at lower costs. Otherwise, when the fiber-optic network is in, they are going to have a complete abandonment of the Time Warner co-ax and people will foot on the Town of Cary fiber network," said Lang.

"We've had probably 20 or 25 e-mails. Up to this point, all of them have been negative towards to Time Warner cable," said town spokeswoman Susan Moran.

Moran says Cary residents are fed up. As they have flipped through the channels over the past four years, cable rates go up about 35 percent, and service has not improved.

TheFCCrequires the community to document the public concern with the company before they can take away their contract with that cable company. The current contract has been extended through September.

It will be about two more years before residents will see the fiber-optic network in Cary.