Time Warner talks to council

A representative of Time Warner addressed the Costa Mesa City Council hoping to dispel concerns about the quality of service in the city Tuesday, though many in attendance remained unimpressed by the cable giant’s presentation.

The council requested the hearing following the airing of several grievances by residents, including spotty service, allegedly incompetent repair staff, and long waits on hold.

Time Warner Cable became Costa Mesa’s primary joint cable, Internet and telephone provider in August 2006, when the company switched holdings with Adelphia and Comcast in a national trade-off.

Kristy Hennessey, vice president of government and community affairs for the region, said that the company met some hurdles during a transitional phase about a year and a half ago. She added, however, that the cable provider had “absolutely” reached a state of normalcy, with only minimal changes left to smooth over.

“This transition was a mammoth deal for us, because we took on quite a bit,” she told the dais. “It did not go as smoothly as we had hoped; our call volume spiked unfortunately our back operations could not manage that, so upon reflection, we decided to slow things down tremendously.”

But for some residents, the reassurances were hardly enough.

John and Wilma Feeney, who were among the initial complainants calling for the City Council to take action on Time Warner during a Jan. 2 meeting, said they still face consistent problems with their cable service, despite two calls by the branch’s repairmen.

“This is the worst cable provider that the city has ever had,” Wilma said.

After hearing both sides, the council voted 5-0 in support of Councilwoman Katrina Foley’s proposal to request Time Warner to provide information about the number of subscribers who have dropped their cable services following Time Warner’s acquisition, and the number of complaints the giant has compiled from the city.

“I think it’s helpful to have it because, if for no other reason, these levels affect our revenue,” Foley said.

Mayor Eric Bever also expressed interest in exploring how the city’s streaming video capabilities could provide residents with public access programming often excluded from satellite television.

The Feeneys and others in attendance, however, said they remained dissatisfied with the hearing.

“There was nothing accomplished,” John said. “I think there was a presentation, some of us had our say about it, and then [the council] received and filed it.

“I’ve been around long enough to know what ‘receive and file’ means — you and I call it ‘throwing it in the trash.’”

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com.