Comcast Redux

Since Consumerist published the email address of Comcast's CEO yesterday, I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his company's handling of the MLB Extra Innings package:

From: Christian Ruzich
To: brian_roberts AT comcast.com
Date: May 3, 2007 11:30 AM
Subject: Comcast And Extra Innings

Dear Mr. Roberts,

I'm writing today to try to get some information from you regarding Comcast's carriage of the MLB Extra Innings package. A few weeks ago I went through a long series of calls with various Comcast Customer Service Reps, because at the time my Comcast system was not carrying all of the channels in the Extra Innings package. Eventually, this problem was corrected in my area (Harrisburg, PA) but I know that it is still the case in Boston and other places that not all of the channels are available to people who subscribe to the package. Not only that, there have been multiple instances of Comcast refusing to give partial refunds to people, even though Comcast is not offering the full package to them.

Throughout the process I was confronted with Comcast employees who seemed to have no idea exactly what was going on. At various times I was told:

* The missing channels (GAME 11-14) would show up on the GAME 1-4 channels
* The channels would be added once the NHL playoffs were over
* The channels would be added "tomorrow"
* There wasn't enough room on the system to add the channels, and they would never be added
* The addition of the channels was a "regional" decision and no one at the corporate office was involved in the decision
* Comcast was only offering 10 channels, not 14, throughout the country (despite the fact that, at that moment, people in the Chicago area were getting all 14 channels) and therefore mo one was eligible for a partial refund

None of those responses turned out to be correct, and though (as I said) this problem was eventually resolved for me, I wonder why it has not been resolved for everyone, throughout the country. I know that Comcast received the right to broadcast MLB games at a very late date, but it seems to me that even with that the situation could have been handled better. Comcast should have proactively offered the package at a reduced rate for those people who were not able to receive the entire package, or at the very least your customer service representatives should have been instructed to give refunds to people who called to complain that they were not receiving the channels they had been led to believe they would receive.

I have another question about the Extra Innings package as well. The MLB 07 launch memo from iN DEMAND to its affiliates included a paragraph about games available in high definition:

"iN DEMAND will again be providing a High-Definition version of select games already included in the MLB EXTRA INNINGS package. These bonus HD games (approximately 5 per week) should be made available to all existing package subscribers with HD set-tops and television sets."

However, when I inquired about the availability of games in HD, I was told repeatedly that these games were not available and, in fact, would never be made available to me. Why is it that Comcast has chosen to ignore the request of iN DEMAND, and not make these games available to its subscribers?

Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Christian Ruzich

I got an email back from Cynthia Asbury in the Executive Office in the afternoon, and I'm awaiting an actual response to my questions.