Sun outages may be affecting your TV service

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What are sun outages?

  • Twice a year, you may experience some degree of television interference due to "sun outages." Such outages are caused by a phenomenon called a “solar satellite interference." These brief outages occur when the sun passes directly behind satellites transmitting cable signals. When the sun is aligned with a satellite, solar radiation, an energy the sun is emitting, interferes with the satellite’s signal and thus causes a brief signal outage.

When do sun outages happen and how long do they last?

  • Sun outages occur every year, in Fall and Spring, and last about a week each time. This Spring, sun outages are expected March 4 - March 9.

What kind of outage/interference can I expect?

  • During the sun outage, you may experience a pixelated picture, picture freezes, or audio distortions for a brief period of time.

How can I tell if it’s caused by a sun outage or if something is wrong with my cable?

  • The sun outage happens only during the day between 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (no sun, no interference) and is brief, lasting for a few minutes—from 3 minutes, up to 10 minutes.

Networks raise fees on programming

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FPB forced to increase rate for Classic Cable

The FPB Board of Directors was forced to approve a $3.50 increase in the Classic Cable rate. This is a direct pass-thru increase – meaning that FPB doesn’t keep that money. It goes directly to the networks on Classic Cable for increased programming costs.

Cable television has so much to offer. At any time of the day, you can find news, sports, movies, concerts, dramas, sitcoms, educational shows, documentaries, kid’s shows, and reality shows and contests.

All of this programming costs money.  And as the availability of content grows, so does the price.

The media conglomerates (seven companies own nearly all of these networks) that provide this content raise their prices to cable providers like FPB every year. That’s what drives this increase.

For example, the media company responsible for about 25 percent of the price change is Disney/ESPN. Sports programming is a major offender. The fans pay the salaries associated with those high-paying athlete contracts. When a sports franchise announces a new TV deal, that means more money coming from the pockets of subscribers. The networks raise the rates to pay for these deals, and cable providers must raise theirs to cover the cost.

All pay-TV providers have had to accept significant price increases from programmers to carry their channels. It has been 24 months since FPB last asked for an increase in Classic Cable rates. FPB has absorbed as much of the increase as possible before passing it on to the customers.

In fact, in the past 16 years, while programming fees FPB pays to the networks has increased almost $61, FPB has managed to decrease operational expenses by more than a dollar per customer each month.

FPB only keeps 17 percent of your Classic Cable bill for operating expenses. This includes maintenance on the system, equipment and paying the cable installers to get you hooked up and serviced when needed.

The rest of your bill, 83 percent, leaves Frankfort and goes directly to the network programmers.

Rate increases for programming content are not unique to Frankfort or FPB. In the past two months, companies such as DirectTV, AT&T, Comcast, Charter and Dish have all raised prices for 2019.

Virtual operators such as DirectTV NOW, YouTube TV and Hulu Live have also either raised their prices or have announced coming increases.

Even Netflix isn’t immune to the increased cost of content. Their most popular plan will increase by nearly 20 percent next month – their third increase in the last three and a half years.

While the FPB Board of Directors would prefer to hold down costs for cable customers, it is committed to providing the programming customers demand. Unfortunately, that means setting rates to keep pace with the increase in the wholesale license fees that FPB must pay.

 
Classic Cable Programming and Operational Expense
 

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For news and updates, please go to http://fpb.cc or follow @fewpb and @fpbalerts on Twitter and like us on Facebook.


FPB Seeks Cable Advisory Volunteer

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The Frankfort Plant Board is seeking a volunteer to serve on the Cable Advisory Committee (CAC). This panel meets quarterly and assists the FPB staff and Board of Directors with cable TV programming decisions. The position is open beginning April 1.

The CAC consists of five members including a student representative. Terms are for three years and are eligible for one reappointment by the FPB Board.

 Applicants must be an FPB cable subscriber and should send a letter of interest and resume to contact@fewpb.com or via mail to:

FPB Cable Advisory

P.O. Box 308

Frankfort, KY 40602

Application deadline is March 31, 2019.

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 For news and updates, please go to http://fpb.cc or follow @fewpb and @fpbalerts on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Boil Water Advisory lifted for Holt Lane

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The Water Department of the Frankfort Plant Board is notifying you that the Division of Water of the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection has now canceled the Boil Water Advisory.

The advisory was issued 2/10/19 due to the loss of pressure in the water main caused by FPB crews repairing a water main break.

The affected area was:

885 Holt Lane to 1416 Holt Lane

If you have any questions or problems with normal service or water quality, please call 502-352-4372.