Those who run the county's three access channels say the new rules, which would severely impact their revenue streams, would likely put them out of business and deprive the public of valuable programming available nowhere else.
Since taking over Time Warner in 2014, Spectrum has consistently provided less for more. That double-edged practice requires attention from both legislators and the Five Town Advisory Committee.
"Without these stations, Berkshire County residents lose access to Massachusetts-specific information that matters to them, including Boston sports and news from their state capital, which is not reported on by an Albany station in New York." U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, in a letter to Charter-Spectrum
Incumbent Andrew Petersen replaced Rene Wood, who, in 2015, opted not to run for re-election. Now Wood has decided to try to get back on the Selectboard again.
In a letter to the editor, Dennis Sears writes, "In addition to her many positions in local governance, Rene has performed years of hands-on support for local institutions including the senior center, local churches and Fairview Hospital."
In her letter to the editor, Linda Miller, chair of the Five Town Cable Advisory Committee, writes: “Charter/Spectrum has not been honest with subscribers.”
There was also considerable grumbling about Berkshire County being included in the Albany, New York, television market, resulting in very few stations from Springfield or Boston in the channel line-up and, therefore, a dearth of news coverage concerning Massachusetts.
In her letter to the editor, Linda Z. Miller of Lenox writes: "If you subscribe to Spectrum and do not have a decrypting device from them connected to your TVs, you will have no signal on your sets."
The newly formed Spectrum (previously Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications) will be encrypting its signals and all subscribers will soon be required to have converters in order to watch TV.
