The Rancho Murieta Association Communications Committee received an upbeat report about recently completed cable system improvements and reviewed plans for a new channel line-up Wednesday.
"Projects 1 through 8 have been a very large success," General Manager David Stiffler told the committee. "We are well under budget for the project. ... We have found that our service calls have dwindled down to very, very few. ... We're very, very pleased with the outcome and we're ready to launch."
There was no acknowledgement of an announcement by organizers of the drive to make participation in the cable system voluntary that they have collected more than half the proxy votes needed to force the change. The proposed bylaws change would prohibit the use of dues for the system. RMA members currently pay about $30 for basic cable service as part of their monthly dues assessment.
There is a question whether the cable system can survive without dues support. The cable system provides TV programming and broadband Internet access.
The "soft launch" of the new digital programming is expected to begin early next week. The high-definition and digital program offerings will be added over a launch period of about two weeks.
The committee approved adding new high-definition channels to basic cable after Stiffler handed out a revised channel line-up he and cable consultant Justin Jordan, a former committee member, had prepared. Stiffler declined to provide a copy to RanchoMurieta.com.
"Over the course of the last several months, HD programming has basically gone wild," said Stiffler. "There are 12 channels out there that we can get for free, and what we want to do is put those as part of the basic tier so our basic subscribers, who already get about eight HD channels, will get about 20 at no additional charge. These programs include A&E History, ESPN and ESPN 2 for free. ... This is really a big win for not only the Communications Committee but the members. ...
"If we look back to May of 2007, one year ago today, the entire cable TV department was broken. We had no employees. ... We have rebuilt the communications department not only from a personnel aspect but also from an infrastructure aspect. In one year we have rebuilt it from scratch."
Premium channel subscribers will receive the new programming free for 30 days. That will be followed by free service for 30 days for the first 100 sign-ups. Anyone signing a one-year service contract will receive a new set-top box and 30 days of free service.
For $24.99, subscribers will receive 75 channels of new TV programming and 50 channels of music, Stiffler said. The complete range of cable TV offerings will be 229 channels, including premium channels, at a cost of $108, he said.
He said he told the board at a closed-session meeting Tuesday that in his opinion, "We could never be in competition with DirectTV and Dish Network, but what we can do is offer a comparable product."
He said promotional material will be going out to members in the coming weeks.