Politics & Government

Council Approves San Bruno Cable Effort to Attract New Customers

The direct sales campaign looks to win over residents who either only have one of San Bruno Cable's services or have another cable provider. Also, PG&E has set up a $70 million trust fund for the city to help with costs related to the Sept. 9 fire.

For 7,500 residents, look forward to receiving a message in your mailbox soon from .

The city’s municipal cable company wants you to switch over to its service, promising to offer better rates and a more fulfilling experience than with other cable providers.

The City Council Tuesday approved San Bruno Cable’s proposal to launch a new two-month direct sales campaign meant to attract new customers before the fiscal year ends on June 30.

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But not before council members gave the cable company some harsh words about its last effort, which started in August 2010 to get new customers and ended a few months later after lackluster results.

Councilman Rico Medina said he received several calls from angry constituents about San Bruno Cable’s first effort—a door-to-door campaign handled by a third-party contractor—and talked to several families who said they switched over to other cable providers simply because they offered better incentives.

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“People were very taken aback by the people going door-to-door,” Medina said, suggesting that perhaps being more visible at community events and creating better fliers would help attract more people to go with San Bruno Cable.

“So what makes you think it will work this time?” Medina asked the director of the cable company.

“Part of the reason it wasn’t successful was because of the offer itself,” Tenzin Gyaltsen, the director of San Bruno Cable, responded. “So we took a look at that and asked, ‘What are customers really looking for?’ With that change, I think we’ll see some success.”

San Bruno Cable’s sales campaign will begin May 1 and looks to offer residents incentives to take advantage of the company’s cable, phone or Internet services. The incentives include entry rates for expanded cable and Internet packages for as low as $66.94 per month, for example, and setting the rates for all services at a fixed price for three years.

According to a city staff report, the cable company will be targeting 1,200 households that only subscribe to its Internet service and 6,300 households that have gone with another cable provider.

In other discussion, the council learned more about the trust fund Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has set up for the city to cover long-term costs related to the recovery efforts stemming from the Sept. 9 gas explosion and fire.

City Manager Connie Jackson said PG&E has set up a $12 million fund that could grow up to $70 million if the city needed it to cover costs responding to the aftermath of the disaster.

The funds, which will be managed by former San Carlos city manager Michael Garvey as the trustee and invested into a money market account, could be used to take care of any costs not covered by the city’s own insurance, including consulting services, travel, staff overtime, cleanup efforts and attorney fees.

Jackson said the funds would be most helpful in assisting the city with its process of handling residents’ plans to rebuild their homes in the Crestmoor neighborhood as well as in covering the costs to rebuild the infrastructure in the neighborhood that damaged in the explosion.

So far, the city’s costs to respond to the damage from the fire have exceeded $800,000, Jackson said, adding that PG&E has already covered most of those costs for the city.


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