Cablefax The Magazine - July 2012 - 35

2012 Top Ops Awards
INDEPENDENT CUSTOMER CONNECTION AWARD
Frankfort Plant Board,
Frankfort, KY
Rate increases and happy customers
usually don't go hand in hand. That's
why we take our hat off to John
Higginbotham and his team at the
Frankfort Plant Board, who turned
a year of hefty retrans hikes into a
golden opportunity to communicate
with customers.
The Frankfort, Ky.-based utility
that serves the greater Lexington and Louisville DMAs was
hit with its fi rst retrans increases three years ago and learned
some salient lessons about the power of educating customers
about why they had to stretch their wallets a little further.
" Last time we couldn't come to agreement with two or three
stations, and we had to drop them for short period of time.
That created signifi cant backlash. This time we wanted to tell
the story of what [retrans] was and what it really means, to prep
customers for what might be a signifi cant increase but also
the possibility of losing channels they were used to getting, "
Higginbotham says. " We wanted to make sure the community
understood the money that comes in to us goes directly back
to the media companies in Louisville and Lexington. "
The Frankfort team instituted a carefully stepped plan
beginning last September and including open letters to the
community in the local paper, cross channel announcements
on cable, bill stuffer alerts and a heightened digital presence
on channels including the Website, Facebook and Twitter.
Retrans Math: Frankfort takes it to the people.
Additionally, the Plant breaks out the
rate increases on every bill, delineating
one rise for retrans, and the other
for " everything else, " says Higginbotham.
The
" everything else " this year
includes a new VOD service Frankfort
Plant rolled out on the heels of its
programming increases. " We fi nished
up retrans and started the new rates
Jan. 1, and we rolled out VOD on
Jan. 9, " Higginbotham says. " We did
our darndest to have those coincide
so in some way there could be some sort of quid pro quo.
Even though they really weren't related, we wanted customers
to see they were getting a little more for their money, so
the VOD was in some ways supportive and helpful. "
The result of Frankfort's communications strategy, in the
face of competition from DirecTV and Dish for video customers,
and AT&T for voice and data? " This time around we lost
fewer customers, and had signifi cantly fewer phone calls and
email complaints from rate increase standpoint, " Higginbotham
says. " A lot of that has to do with communication. "
Indeed. " Cable companies don't always do a great job
connecting to the customer, and John realized this and
focused on it and was able to thrive during a very painful rate
increase because his customers were behind him, " says ACA
COO Rob Shema.
Although Frankfort Plant is a municipal utility-you're
Fast Facts
✦ Number of Frankfort Plant cable customers: 16,300.
✦ Number of years Frankfort Plant has offered cable
service: 60.
✦ Customers who take at least two services-voice, video or
data-from Frankfort Plant: 70%-plus.
as likely to fi nd a boil-water advisory as cable news on its
Website-and all its decision-making is a matter of public
record, its open meetings don't usually draw a big crowd,
says Harvey Couch, programming executive at the Board.
" But we get feedback through every avenue, " he says.
" Customers make phone calls, come into the offi ce, Facebook,
the comment section of the newspaper. They even
stuff handwritten notes in their bill when they send it back.
Opening up the social media channels, in particular, really
helped the communication. " As is the case in many smaller
markets, more than 50% of Frankfort customers come to the
plant offi ce to pay their cable bill in person.
" There isn't a month that goes by that I don't get a call at
my home, " Higginbotham says. " I'm in the book, and so is
everyone else here... The guy installing your cable? Chances
are his kids on your kids little league team. " ✴
- Cathy Applefeld Olson
CableFAX: The Magazine
July 2012
cablefaxmag.com
35
http://www.cablefaxmag.com
Cablefax The Magazine - July 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cablefax The Magazine - July 2012
