Outdated cable boxes

THE EDITOR: It is obvious to me that some companies in this country do not understand the meaning of the term “Developed Nation Status” and one such company has to be the Cable Company. Here we are being reminded regularly by various government ministers about the 2020 Vision; and here is this company going backwards at a very fast speed.

Imagine in this 21 Century, cable subscribers are being given “cable boxes” that are definitely outdated. They overheat, they prevent you from using the features of modern day televisions ie your picture in picture, to name one such feature. You now fumble with a handful of remotes; and they have turned stereo sound into mono and have made the very basic use of a VCR, which is to watch channel while taping another, obsolete. And now to add insult to injury, some subscribers have found themselves having to rewire to receive a better picture. I am certain that many complaints have been made to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, and the Bureau of Standards, about these cable boxes, but these seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Could the answer be to get one of the old rotary televisions, remember the ones in which you had to get up every time to change the channels, or perhaps sit back and wait for 2020? After all it’s only 17 years away.

C PETERS
Port-of-Spain