A bit of real world affirmation re: RCNC executing rather smartly.
<<<The Power of Choice
Starpower Bursts on the Cable TV Scene
By Jacquelyn Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 30, 1999; Page H01
The lighting was dim, the buffet table elegant and the crowd enthusiastic
and steady. It was Monday evening at Windsor House, the scene of a
different kind of Washington power party. That is because Windsor House
is a downtown apartment building, and the power was coming from
Starpower Communications Inc., the new cable company in town.
Starpower was hosting a "lobby event" at Windsor House, signing up
residents as they came home from work. Starpower, a joint venture
between Potomac Electric Power Co. and the phone company RCN
Corp. of Princeton, N.J., is the first full-service telecommunications
company to challenge District Cablevision Inc., which has dominated in the
District for 14 years. Using multifamily dwellings as its gateway into the
marketplace, Starpower is offering cable customers something they've
never had: an alternative provider with more than TV services.
Last fall Starpower wired three Wynn Management Co. buildings in a
complex in Southeast--Southern Hills, Atlantic Terrace and Atlantic
Gardens--for a total of 559 units. Albert Leacock, Starpower's direct
sales manager, said the sign-up campaign there in November "went very,
very well," with the company pulling in more than 50 percent of the tenants.
Now, in a partnership with Charles E. Smith Residential Realty Inc,
Starpower hopes to make a more sizable dent in the District by offering its
services in 16 of Smith's apartment properties in the city, some of which
had never had cable. The first Smith property wired was Connecticut
Heights in Northwest, which served as a test building. It met with approval
from the tenants, said Andrew Smith, the Smith company's business
development specialist. He is not related to the owners.
"We're always trying to be on the leading edge of the technology field in
bringing up the amenities on all our properties," Smith said. "With
Starpower coming into the D.C. area, it was just a nice match." Watching
the lobby event, Smith said he expects most of his company's District
buildings to have Starpower service by the end of February. One or two
should still be in the installation phase, he said. Meanwhile, he has been
getting calls from his tenants in the suburbs who want the service, too.
The timing of the new contender's entry into the area couldn't be more
opportune. District Cablevision's city franchise expires next year, at about
the same time that Starpower's interim agreement ends. "We have been
considering how to handle a long-term agreement with Starpower," said
Walter Adams, an attorney for the District's Office of Cable Television and
Telecommunications. Starpower is operating under an 18-month interim
[Open Video System] agreement, Adams said, while District Cablevision's
franchise agreement will expire March 14, 2000.
Terry Burka, property director of Windsor House, said his tenants have
long been eager for some cable competition. "People have been waiting,
salivating over this," he said. "It is one of the higher-profile amenities that I
present to prospective residents."
Starpower is putting its 96-channel basic cable plus high-speed Internet
access and local and long-distance phone services up against the
incumbent's 55-channel expanded basic cable. District Cablevision offers
no Internet access or phone service. On top of that, Starpower's basic
cable-TV prices are lower.
In addition to lower costs, Windsor residents are looking for more variety
in their programming line-up than District Cablevision offers, Burka said.
"The prevailing opinion was that the bang for the buck is not there," he
said. "The competing markets like Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery County
and Prince George's offer a better line-up for less money."
Another area of concern is the monthly cable bill, which many subscribers
say they simply cannot understand. Starpower sends one bill for Internet
and cable, one for local and long-distance phones, and "we itemize every
single detail," Leacock said.
Most important, tenants said they want prompt customer service, which
Burka called "contrary to my experience" with District Cablevision. "I had
to go to [the company's] public relations [department], which I shouldn't
have had to go to" for assistance.
Starpower is telling new subscribers they won't have such experiences
when they call for help. "They speak to a human, they don't speak to a
voice machine," Leacock said, adding that "they're not immediately thrown
on the hold button." Callers are promised someone "will be there in two
hours."
Although local cable companies say they welcome the competition,
attorney Adams said District Cablevision had "expressed concerns about
fairness regarding the operation of Starpower."
Earl Jones, general manager of District Cablevision, called Starpower "a
formidable competitor" and said his concern was that everyone is
"operating under the same set of rules. We are in an era of competition,
and I'm focusing on being able to meet the challenge they're presenting."
By 6 p.m. Monday, Jeffrey White could hardly wait to get upstairs to his
television. Starpower's team of installers had just handed him a
battery-ready remote.
During the two years he has lived at Windsor House, White chose not to
have cable. "I had it at my last place and said I would not get it again," he
said, citing "30 channels of the same thing" and the time "they turned off the
cable accidentally and it took two weeks to get it back up." This time he
did homework on Starpower and knew what he wanted. "The basic
channel, which is going to be $31, has, like, 120 channels. And then I got
the movie channels--I got all the movie channels--and I got an extra
channel" for $63 a month.
Sean Williams, who moved into Windsor House last April, was glad to say
goodbye to his digital cable, which required the use of a set-top channel
box for expanded service. "It was unreliable, it would go out frequently,
and the channel line-up was not as good," he said. At Monday's lobby
event, he "kind of went crazy." For $67.85 a month, "I bought the premium
channel plan, all the movie channels, the sports channels. I like the sports
channels, I like the fact that I can get Comedy Central," he said. Williams
also got high-speed Internet access, for $35 a month. Compared with the
$60 a month he paid for the digital cable, he thinks the Starpower package
"seems like an excellent deal."
Over the next year, as the clock runs out on District Cablevision's and
Starpower's contracts, Adams said the city will be watching and weighing
the issues surrounding such partnerships. "That's the reason we wanted
[the Starpower agreement] to be interim, so that we could address a lot of
these issues," he said.
Meanwhile, the real verdict on Starpower will be handed down eventually
by customers like Jeffrey White. Heading for the elevator, he motioned
with his remote control. "After tonight," he said, "you may not see me for a
couple days."
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
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