AMC Contract DIspute

UPDATE: 1/1/16

We have always pointed to New Years Day as the likely timeframe for needing a new contract or losing the AMC and WE signal. While don't have an agreement in place there has been enough positive discussion over the past 24 hours that AMC Networks (owners of the AMC and WE channels) is not requiring Mitchell Telecom to pull those signals at this time. Negotiations are set to continue through the weekend and we expect an update from our programming partner NCTC early next week.

We apologize again for any issues this dispute has caused you and thank you for your patience and ongoing support. As new developments happen, we will be sure to update this post.

Thanks and Happy New Year!



UPDATE: 12/21/2015

Letter to cable subscribers potentially impacted by an ongoing programming contract dispute with AMC Networks.

Dear Mitchell Telecom Cable Subscriber:

In the course of our business year, several programming contracts come due for renewal and nearly all of those deadlines are never seen as Mitchell Telecom is able to find terms that satisfy the programmer and fit the needs of our customers. In the past decade, we have had two agreements expire (or very nearly expire) requiring us to notify customers of the possibility they could be losing those channels until an agreement could be reached.

The most recent addition to that group is AMC Networks, which represents two channels on our programming lineup: AMC (Channel 56 / 653) and WE (Channel 54). Without a new agreement before the end of the year, those channels will go dark at midnight 12/31/2015, because of what we consider as unreasonable rate demands and new channel requirements on the part of AMC Networks.

This is a worst case scenario for these contract negotiations and we apologize for the issues this will cause you and your family. We are continuing active negotiations with AMC Networks along with our programming partner, the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), which helps represent Mitchell Telecom and 5 million other cable subscribers across 800 other cable providers at risk of losing the carriage.

We will continue to work to find an agreement that satisfies all the parties involved, while keeping your bill as low as possible. We will post updates as they become available at www.MitchellTelecom.com and if you have questions on this or another matter, please contact our office at info@mitchelltelecom.com or by calling 990-1000.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Telecom

What I learned over the summer

With the announcement of our Project: Do Good winners early this week, it marked the unofficial end to my summer. Over the summer in support of Project: Do Good, I made nearly 60 visits to community group, service organizations, committees, boards and individuals asking for great ideas to improve the Mitchell community. 

That request was met with over 65 ideas for the community to make Mitchell a better place to live, work and play. On Monday, we announced eight award winners from 55 submissions in two of those categories. During the announcement, on a number of occasions I mentioned that we had far more good ideas than we had money available. That is what I learned over the summer, Mitchell is a vibrant place and our community has tremendous ideas for growth. 

When we give people a voice and allow them to chart a direction for our community, anything is possible. I look forward to working with the award winners to take these ideas and turn them into reality. I’m also excited for the potential and possibility that can come from the ideas we weren’t able to fund.

Please keep an eye on our progress as we’ll updating you as we go and if you have ideas for community please share them. If you have a personal stake in the improvement of Mitchell, please work to take on one of these projects and help make a difference.

Ideas? Check!

A portion of Project: Do Good closed earlier this week, as we cut off submissions for our LIVE and PLAY categories on Tuesday. The final tally? 55 ideas split between the two categories, an amazing response from the community. We currently have every submission displayed on our windows just inside the main entry of the mall (photo below) and invite you to stop out to see what ideas people have conjured up!

The next step is to review all of the submissions and select finalists (that is set to happen next week). We plan to meet with the finalists of the LIVE category on Monday, September 16th and convene with PLAY category finalists the following week on Tuesday, September 24th. From the finalists, we'll whittle it down a little further by choosing our winners and how we will divvy up the $7500 available in each category. Those winners will be announced at an event at the Highland Conference Center on September 30th.

Keep an eye on your email and the newspaper and an ear on the radio in the next week to learn who has earned their way into the finals.

Channel 90 Coverage

We're back for the fall season with our coverage of local sports from Mitchell High School and DWU. This week we kick the action up a notch with Kernel football LIVE from Joe Quintal Field on Tuesday, Thursday and the Varsity opener Friday (vs Harrisburg).

We get our first look of the Kernel volleyball team in action over the weekend when Harrisburg comes to town on Saturday.

As usual, you can follow all the action on Channel 90. 

Check our full fall schedule here - http://www.switchtomitchelltelecom.com/localtv/schedule.php

Make a SPLASH!

Our annual community summer fun day is coming back later this month for it's third year. SUMMER SPLASH is set for Saturday, July 27th and offers FREE admission to the Mitchell Aquatic Center along with fun and games all day capped off by a poolside showing of HERE COMES THE BOOM after sunset (around 9pm).

When we prepare for events like Summer Splash, I'm reminded how great of a community we have in Mitchell. Let's keep that rolling and you can help make Mitchell a better place to LIVE, WORK and PLAY by sharing your ideas during PROJECT: DO GOOD (read more here: http://mit-tel.blogspot.com/2013/06/doing-good.html).

There is still time to participate and we encourage to check out www.DoGoodMitchell.com for more details and to submit your ideas to improve Mitchell. And, if we can ask you to do one more thing, please spread the word about Summer Splash and Project: Do Good.