Cable One reaches out and links to NBC affiliate

[cablewithaview]

Cable One customers should be able to see Mobile NBC affiliate WPMI clearly now; a fiber-optic link has been installed between the station and Cable One.

Work was completed on the link installation Friday, Cable One Biloxi general manager Scott Randall said.

"We're very excited for our customers," he said.

Cable One has experienced poor quality with its NBC feed ever since Hurricane Katrina struck nearly two years ago, damaging the tower of WDSU, the New Orleans NBC affiliate.

In the lead-up to a Saints playoff game earlier this year, Cable One switched to WPMI in hopes of getting a better signal, but the Mobile affiliate's tower turned out to be too far away from the receiver to ensure a quality transmission, and Cable One customers have experienced pixilation, freezing and loss of audio on NBC programming.

Cable One had been working with WPMI for a couple of months to obtain and install the fiber-optic link to improve the quality of the NBC signal.

"Cable One approached both WPMI and WDSU about a possible fiber link to the respective broadcasters' studios and WPMI stepped up to the plate to work with us. We will continue to explore the possibility of fiber-optic solutions with WDSU and other broadcasters," Jim Perry, Cable One general manager of Gulfport/Long Beach, said in a news release.

Randall said if they can secure a fiber-optic link with WDSU, customers in Harrison County would receive that feed and customers in Jackson County would continue to receive the WPMI feed.

"A fiber link directly to a broadcaster's studio some 60 miles away is a good example of our commitment," Randall said in the news release.

He said he does not anticipate any rate increases.


SunHerald.com : Cable One reaches out and links to NBC affiliate