Growing number of consumers who are cutting the cord

Two months and counting. That’s how long Yuma customers of Spectrum Cable have been blocked from watching KYMA, KSWT and Estrella TV.

As a result, at least two of those customers have decided to join a growing number of consumers who are cutting the cord.

Customers of Spectrum cable have been blacked out from KYMA, KSWT and Estrella TV since February 2nd.

This has led Karen Konde to cancel Spectrum cable for good.

“I watch a lot of CBS and a lot of NBC and here I am paying this huge amount of money and not getting the channels I want,” said Konde.

Konde cut the cord and plugged in Roku. It’s a thirty-dollar streaming device that allows her stream movies, network programming, and plenty of free content.

“Between Netflix, Hulu, CBS All Access, my monthly bill is now like 80 dollars.”

Konde is one of an estimated 15 percent of adult consumers who have “cut the cord” by canceling subscriptions to cable or satellite TV services.

“I just got to the point where I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to do something,” said Marilyn Young, a Yuma resident, who is fed up with not having local channels. She decided to switch providers.

“I’m tired of people taking advantage of small communities like Yuma. Because the four communities that are involved are all small and have only one cable provider. And they’re taking advantage. And I call it greed,” said Young.

Young finds the contentious fee dispute between Spectrum cable and Northwest Broadcasting which owns the local channels unfair to customers.

“The thing that is unfair is that there should be rebates coming especially for these people who are still waiting,” said Young. Spectrum cable released the following statement about the blackout: “Charter did not violate the FCC’s notice requirements to customers or local franchise agreements because the removal of Northwest Broadcasting TV stations – KYMA, KSWT and Estrella TV – was not in our control but rather was a result of Northwest Broadcasting no longer authorizing Charter to carry its stations. As soon as Northwest terminated its authorization for Charter to retransmit the broadcast signal, Charter notified affected customers.” For customers who are affected by this blackout in the meantime, KYMA and KSWT programming remains available over the air with an antenna. You can also watch our newscasts live on kyma.com.

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