Red Tape Hot Box on cable tv

One of our readers has turned my attention to cable TV providers. Or rather, to one company that gives its clients access to television channels from all over the world. This company, which advertises itself as the biggest and most popular cable and Internet provider in Warsaw, has had a few major changes in its offer over the last few months.

This is due to new copyright regulations law, which came into force at the beginning of the year. One January morning this operator's customers woke up and, after turning on their TV sets, realized that many of their non-Polish channels had gone. German expats must have been especially disappointed, since almost all of their channels were no longer part of the provider's offer. The missing television programs were replaced by TV-shopping channels or boards displaying the frequencies of the remaining channels. What's interesting is that this obvious decrease in the quality of the product didn't have any effect on the prices charged - contrary to what one might expect. What's more, the cable provider never informed its customers about these drastic changes. Recently, this operator changed its name and logo and, as our reader writes, the clients have hardly been informed of this fact. I should add that in the last weeks some of the channels, which have been missing since January, have been restored. But at the same time, bills have gone up a few złotys.

Wasn't it the company's duty to provide the missing channels that were in the original offer chosen by the clients? This reminds me of communist times, when customers existed for the companies, instead of companies existing for their customers. Luckily, those times are gone and now there are other operators on the market who will be glad to gain new clients. Roll-on EU Accession and the eradication of all "customer-unfriendly" companies!