As Davidson and other area towns draw closer to a decision on whether to buy the local cable TV and internet system, Time Warner Cable officials are mounting their own campaign to show why they deserve to own the system. Their message: Yes, the system needs improvement and we’re ready to do it.

Davidson, Mooresville, Troutman, and Cornelius are expected to vote Monday, June 11, on whether to buy the 10,730-subscriber system. Cornelius appears likely to opt out of the deal, but officials have said they’ll transfer Cornelius customers to the consortium.

The system is up for grabs because of the 2002 bankruptcy of the former Adelphia Communications. The towns won a court ruling last year upholding a clause in their contracts with Adelphia that gives them the right of first refusal if the system is up for sale.

Time Warner Cable and Comcast bought Adelphia’s assets out of bankruptcy, and Time Warner has been operating the Lake Norman-area system while it waits for the towns to decide on the purchase. If they should decide against the idea, Time Warner would take over permanently.

Local officials having been making their case for buying the system at a series of public meetings recently. They’re keen to own the system, because they say it will give them more control over capital spending on badly-needed improvements and will allow them to improve customer service. Adelphia limited spending on system improvements; poor customer service helped keep subscribership to about 35 percent – well below the national average of 65 percent.

In a commentary this week on Davidson News & Notes and in other publications, Davidson Town Manager Leamon Brice said, “Money made in our communities will stay here to upgrade the system and benefit citizens. We won’t send profits to shareholders. Our shareholders are our citizens, and we will be accountable only to them.”

PROMISED UPGRADES

But Time Warner is making its own case. At recent public hearings on the purchase deal, Time Warner officials have argued that if what the towns want is a better system, they’re ready to provide it.

“We already have budgeted more than 50 million dollars to upgrade the system within a year,” Michael E. Tanck, director of government affairs in Time Warner’s Charlotte division, said at a May 21 meeting in Davidson.

And this week, Mike Munley, president of Time Warner’s Charlotte Division, has written to local officials, including those in Davidson, pledging to match the towns’ plans for upgrading the system. And he outlined the Time Warner services that would be available in this area – telephone service over cable, digital TV recorders, home security and more than 400 cable channels.

“This upgrade work will be completed within a year if the franchises are transferred to Time Warner Cable,” he wrote.

Mr. Munley also argued that as a larger company, Time Warner would be better equipped to respond to storms and disasters and to negotiate for better deals on programming.

Monday’s votes by the town boards of area towns will be at 6 p.m. at the Charles Mack Citizens Center in downtown Mooresville.

READ THE LETTER

Read the letter to Mayor Kincaid from Time Warner’s Charlotte president, CLICK HERE>