Time Warner emphasizes its local programming

Responding to customer complaints about Time Warner’s cable service, a company executive said Tuesday that Time Warner expects to improve service this year.

Patti Röckenwagner, the vice president of regional communications for Time Warner, said the company takes customer service extremely seriously.

“Since the acquisition, we’ve had very local commitment — we have a cable store in Costa Mesa, we have a studio in Costa Mesa, and we do a lot of local programming — something our competitors don’t do,” she said.

Röckenwagner added that since the company’s acquisition of Comcast’s business earlier last year, Time Warner has added more than five high-definition channels — with more to come — and increased the speed of the company’s Internet services.

“The city will get more value out of Time Warner Cable than they would against our competitors,” Röckenwagner said.

The City Council plans on putting a discussion of local residents’ complaints about Time Warner’s service on its agenda for a February meeting. Many say they are fed up with what they describe as incompetent service workers and spotty cable service.

— Chris Caesar