As you may have read in my post a few weeks ago, HTC was in the throes of remodeling our 38th Avenue location in Myrtle Beach. As of today, the remodeling is now complete and this HTC location is again fully operational.

Now that this project is complete, we have downsized to half of the approximately 7,000 square feet that made up the location. However, there is no need to worry. Just because we've trimmed the size of this location doesn't mean we're cutting back on continuing to provide you the best in communications products and services.

As in the past, the 38th Avenue location will continue to serve as a retail office with staff on hand to help with all of your cable television, landline phone, home security and mobile phone needs. In addition, HTC has also installed new demonstration areas for High Definition cable TV and high-speed internet services.

Remember that you can stop by Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to pay your bill, talk to a CSR or add another great HTC communications service.

We're happy with the end result of this project and hope you will be too.

Until next time, feel free to let me know your thoughts on what's happening at HTC.

Best, Tom

I'm sure as you'll notice, your HTC Digital Cable may cost a little bit more this month. Believe you me, it was not an easy decision to increase the cost of your monthly bill, especially in such difficult financial times.

As in past years, television programming fees make up the majority of the expense involved with offering you the best in cable services.

Each channel in our lineup has an associated expense that HTC must pay for each customer per month. Many of these fees have increased this year. In addition to typical cable network programming fees, we are also dealing with retransmission consent. This is the process in which a cable operator must now negotiate with local network affiliates to get permission to carry their programming. Up until now, HTC has been able to operate under agreements that did not require cash compensation to local stations. As a result of this combination of fee increases, our Basic and Plus rates will be adjusted to help offset the cost of increased programming fees.

On the bright side, the rates on our Digital Passport service and set-top boxes remain the same as in 2008.

Moving forward in 2009, HTC Digital Cable wants to continue to make sure you get the best value for your services and has created many new bundle packages that can save you money across all of our products.

Until next time, feel free to let me know your thoughts on what's happening at HTC.

Best, Tom

The excitement regarding this year's NCAA Final Four is so electric you can feel it in the air.

Here at HTC, we're excited because we're able to bring the games, highlights and background stories to you this year in High Definition (HD) thanks to our partnership with WBTW-HD (channel 813) and CBS College Sports Network-HD (channel 898).

Make sure to tune in beginning Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. for Michigan State versus the University of Connecticut, followed by the North Carolina Tarheels taking on Villanova. The winners of these two games will square off Monday night, April 6.

In addition to the conclusion of "March Madness," through the CBS College Sports Network, HTC will be able to bring you thousands of hours of original college sports programming, features, talk shows and documentaries, as well as extensive women's sports coverage. Its regular season and championship event coverage draws from every major collegiate athletic conference and division, in addition to nine NCAA championships. CBS College Sports Network televises 35 men's and women's college sports including football, basketball, baseball, Ultimate Frisbee, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling and volleyball from every major conference. The network holds multi-media and marketing rights for the Mountain West Conference, the Atlantic 10 Conference, Conference USA, the Big West Conference, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Navy athletics. Don't forget, HTC NetRacer customers can watch many of the CBS College Sports programs online via CBS College Sports XXL. It is free for HTC NetRacer customers.

We're excited about being able to bring so many sports options to you and hope you enjoy our sports channel line-up, whether it is on your TV or on your PC.

Until next time, feel free to let me know your thoughts on what's happening at HTC.

Best, Tom

If you haven't recently visited our 38th Avenue location in Myrtle Beach, you're missing the construction that's currently underway!

Since we opened our new Towne Centre location in Carolina Forest last fall, we've been transitioning many Business Services staff to the newer, more spacious location. With this said, we have not been utilizing our space on 38th Avenue to its fullest potential. What can HTC be doing to remedy this you say? Remodel.

We're in the midst of remodeling and when the project is complete, we'll be giving up half of the approximately 7,000 square feet that made up the original location. But don't fret. Just because we're trimming the size of this location doesn't mean we'll be cutting back on continuing to provide you the best in communications products and services.

38th Avenue will continue to serve as a retail office with staff on hand to help with all of your cable television, landline phone, home security and mobile phone needs. In addition, HTC will be installing new demonstration areas for High Definition cable TV and high-speed internet services. Stop by Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and on Saturdays from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

The remodeling should be complete by mid-April and we're excited about these changes. We hope that you find them convenient for your routine business with HTC and continue to bear with us as we complete this project.

Until next time, feel free to let me know your thoughts on what's happening at HTC.

Best, Tom

HTC isn't just about cable and telephone services. We offer a full line of the best, most reliable communications products currently available. These include: cable television service; wireless cell phone service; Internet service; home security monitoring; and home phone service.

In recognizing that a person's home is their sanctuary, today I'd like to share some info about our home security monitoring services. HTC Gate Keeper Security, our home security product, provides incomparable 24-hour protection for your family, home, property and possessions. Each HTC Gate Keeper system is designed to provide you with customized protection - the right protection, at the right price. The Gatekeeper security system is great because it has several standard features that can keep your mind at ease, whether you're going on vacation or just to the grocery store. They include: a control panel; motion detector; sounder; keypad; and two motion sensors.

In addition, there are several upgradeable features for Gatekeeper. They include: passive infrared motion (PIM) sensors; glass break detectors; smoke detectors; carbon monoxide detectors; gas detectors; rate of rise heat detectors; and environmental sensors.

If you're in the market to make your home more secure, HTC is offering a $99 installation special now through April 30. In addition, there are different tiered monthly monitoring fees which are: $22.99 a month for a three year contract; $27.99 for a two year contract; and $34.99 for a one year contract.

To learn more about Gate Keeper, or to set up your installation, call 369-SAFE.

Until next time, feel free to let me know your thoughts on what's happening at HTC.

Best, Tom

At HTC, we have more than 50 years of experience in providing the best, most reliable communications products available. These products include: cable television service; wireless cell phone service; Internet service; home security monitoring; and home phone service. And we're ready for the "Big Switch."

In case you haven't heard, the "Big Switch" from analog to digital for television stations in the U.S. has been postponed until June 12, 2009.

After a U.S. House of Representatives vote of 264-158 and the sign-off by President Obama, the switch has been postponed amid growing concerns that many Americans would not have been ready by the February 17, 2009 deadline, which was set by Congress in 2006. Again with just four months until the "Big Switch," there is no need to panic, especially if you're already an HTC Digital Cable customer.

Being an HTC Digital Cable customer, you're prepared for the switch and have nothing to worry about due to having HTC Digital Cable in your home, regardless of whether you have an older analog set or a new digital television.

However, if you're reading this and are not an HTC Digital Cable subscriber and are watching television via over-the-air signal with an antenna, you will be affected. To make sure you are prepared, you have a few options. The easiest and most convenient option would be to subscribe to HTC Digital Cable so that we can take care of all the necessary preparation for you. If subscribing to cable is not a viable option, you can also continue to receive your signal with an over-the-air antenna, but you might have to make a few adjustments.

Keep in mind that if your TV is labeled "digital ready," this doesn't mean you are ready. It means you will need to buy a digital-to-analog converter box, which costs anywhere from $50 to $75. There's a $40 coupon here to help offset this cost from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, but please be mindful that there may not be enough money to provide enough coupons for everyone. If you plan to buy a converter, get yours ASAP from your favorite electronics retailer.

In addition, keep in mind that on March 6 we'll also be launching www.netracer.net , which will be the new site to which sccoast.net and htcnetracer.com users will be redirected. As a note, the old domains will continue to stay live, so there's no need to reset your bookmarks.

We encourage you to check out the beta version for yourself at http://online.htcnetracer.net/ and let me know if you have any feedback by leaving comments below.

Best,

Tom

This week, we here at HTC are furiously working to finalize the redesigned www.sccoast.net , and www.htcnetracer.com These redesigns are currently in the beta-testing phase and are scheduled to be fully relaunched the second week in March.

There's no need to reset your bookmarks, once the site is live and as user friendly as we can make it, you'll automatically be directed to the new site.

With the upgrades that are being implemented, the new site will give HTC customers, and non-customers alike, every reason to use it for your homepage when accessing the Internet.

The sites are being reformatted to provide new customization features and an improved overall viewing and searching experience for Internet users. They will include a Google® search toolbar and navigational tools for local news, weather, television listings and classified advertising. In addition, there will also be a wide variety of RSS feeds for national news, financial and stock news, entertainment news and health tips and lifestyle sites. Users can also add any RSS feed of their choice to their customized page. So if you follow a particular topic or Web site, you can add that RSS feed.

Another new feature will give users the ability to post their own news content. If you'd like to post news from your neighborhood, church, civic organization or social club, just click on the "Local" button under "Today's News" and follow the instructions. All content will be reviewed prior to posting. If you'd like to become a trusted provider of local content, stay tuned for more information.

HTC-specific content on the site will include HTC member information, HTC Webmail access, access to HTC My Account and HTC alerts. The new site also will include online games, communications tips and links to HTC's corporate Web site, www.htcinc.net and this blog.

We're very proud of the redesigns and hope that everyone finds the sites to be more helpful than ever when they're launched.

We encourage you to check out the beta version for yourself at http://online.htcnetracer.net/ and let me know if you have any feedback by leaving comments below.

Best,

Tom

From my previous posts, you know that the days of having a landline phone in your home are far from over (click HERE , HERE and HERE to find out why). As a further commitment to HTC customers who keep their landline phones and have cellular phone service through HTC Horizon, we have our %u21CVoice Rewards%u21D program.

Voice Rewards allows HTC customers to get the most out of their phone services by providing bonus minutes to multiservice users. Depending on where you call, you could realize up to 30% more minutes in your calling plan.

How easy is it to take advantage of the Voice Rewards program? Very easy!

If you have an HTC landline phone and an HTC Horizon wireless plan of $49 or more per month, you are eligible for free and unlimited calling within all of Horry County and most of Georgetown County through both phone services. This gives Voice Rewards customers an expanded local landline area and more available monthly wireless airtime minutes.

To ensure that you can take part in Voice Rewards, you need to consolidate your phone bills because both services must reside on the same billing account or be referenced between multiple accounts. Please keep in mind that Voice Rewards enrollment is not automatic and must be requested by you.

With Voice Rewards, calls made from an HTC landline phone to any measured, extended area service (MEAS) exchange in Horry and Georgetown counties are free. In addition, calls made to an HTC Horizon wireless phone from any MEAS exchange in Horry and Georgetown counties will not count against monthly airtime minutes and calls originating from an HTC Horizon wireless phone, while within the regional calling area of South Carolina, North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and coastal Georgia, to any HTC-billed customer will not count against monthly airtime minutes.

If you have any questions or feedback about Voice Rewards, let us know by leaving me comments below or contact HTC customer service at 365-2154.

Best,

Tom

From all of us at HTC, we hope you had a great holiday and that 2009 has started on a positive note for you.

In this installment of "HTC Talk," I'd like to share with you the latest additions HTC has made to our stellar high definition (HD) channel line-up. These additions should be especially inviting to those of you who may have received a new LCD or plasma HD television from Santa!

After gaining much feedback from HTC customers, we're proud to announce that we've added eleven new HD channels to the HTC Digital Cable line-up.

These include: ABC Family HD; QVC HD; Disney HD; Toon Disney HD; ESPNews HD; ESPNU HD; Major League Baseball HD; The Golf Channel HD; VERSUS HD; G4 HD; and E! HD. All eleven HD channels are free and available to most HTC customers, as long as they are subscribers to the corresponding cable package that includes the linear channel equivalent to the HD channel.

With these new HD networks, HTC Digital Cable now has a total of 49 HD channels in the line-up. As we move forward in 2009, we're also exploring the possibilities of adding even more HD channels for our customers to enjoy.

To make sure you're up-to-date on the latest HTC news and HD additions to HTC Digital Cable, make sure to check us out through "HTC Talk."

Best,

Tom

This is the final installment of my three-part series on the reasons it is important to keep your landline phone service. If you haven't had a chance to yet read parts one or two of this series, you can do so by clicking here or here.

This week I'll be focusing on reasons three and four: superior call quality and alarm monitoring services.

Reason Three: Superior Call Quality Reason three for keeping your landline phone is to retain superior call quality. Despite the cost-saving associated with digital phone and wireless services, landline phone service still provides superior voice quality. This is due to digital channels relaying calls through the Internet, utilizing user datagram protocol (UDP) and wireless phones using line-of-site transmission through cellular towers. Landlines, on the other hand, have a dedicated and reliable line for verbal conversations. In addition, landlines do not face the same issues such as echo or dropped calls like many digital and wireless systems.

Reason Four: Alarm Monitoring Services Reason four for keeping your landline phone is for alarm monitoring services. As mentioned above, digital phones require continuous power. Without power, digital phones cannot send security system signals to monitoring centers, leaving homes and businesses unprotected. In addition, software changes and updates service providers send to individual alarm systems may not be transmitted through digital phone services during power outages, rendering alarm systems useless.

While digital and wireless services may be the wave of the future, here at HTC, we strongly encourage users, as well as those who have switched to digital or wireless exclusive phone services, to stay or return to traditional landline service for safety, connectivity and ease of use. Landline phones are a time-tested, reliable service that is essential to any home or business owner.

I hope that this series has helped to shed some light on the importance of landlines, and if you were thinking of ditching your landline, hopefully now you'll reconsider.

Until next time, Happy Holidays from all of us here at HTC.

Best,

Tom