CableVision chairman Rod Hansen yesterday said his company does not fear competition ? nor does it give it much attention.

CableVision, which was long the Island?s only cable TV provider, is now getting a run for its money after World on Wireless (WOW) opened its doors late last month.

Mr. Hansen also ruled out a price war with WOW. ?I don?t see that happening. We don?t have any plans to lower rates at this time,? adding that he saw CableVision?s rates as ?extremely competitive?.

He is also not concerned about the chance that customers could leave CableVision in favour of signing up with WOW.

Indeed, he said the company?s subscriber base ? with its service said to be in about 17,000 homes across the Island ? had not changed significantly in the month since WOW opened its doors.

?WOW is no different than any other competition. We have had competition since we have been here. People have been renting videos or buying the dish network or direct TV. That whole concept of competition, people are talking about it as if it was new; it is not new in any way.?

Mr. Hansen continued: ?We have not had any net loss in subscribers.?

When asked how that was possible with WOW reporting that it had sold out of 2,600 of the boxes necessary for its service, in the first days after opening, Mr. Hansen said: ?I don?t know where they are but I can tell you that the number of people that have left Cablevision is less than 50. That number is terribly insignificant as far as I am concerned. ?I also can tell you, as we have been improving our product and service we have been getting new subscribers everyday. My suspicion is that we have had a net increase since WOW started but I cannot prove that until the end of the month when we get our reports.

?We really do not pay a lot of attention to them. We are more concerned with taking care of our own customers than we are about what they are doing. And let me say they may be taking their customers from Dish Network or Direct TV. And some are putting WOW on their boats, it is wireless technology that works for that and it makes sense.?

Although CableVision has been plagued by complaints over poor service through the years, Mr. Hansen said it is getting better. Disgruntled customers have complained first about the quality of service in their homes. But secondly, viewers have cited the company as also delivering poor customer service when there is a problem with billing or service.

But yesterday Mr. Hansen said the company is ?very close? to meeting its goal of resolving each customer issue that comes in, within 72 hours.

He said CableVision had improved their response times and level of customer service dramatically last year, but Hurricane Fabian dealt the company?s network a severe blow.

But the company?s build out of a new multimillion dollar network, and roll out of digital service, was said to be back on track and due to be in place across the Island by the end of the year.

Mr. Hansen said that would take care of many issues surrounding the quality of cable people get in their homes, as well as reduce the chance of storm damage after CableVision replaced the old system of wiring with more durable and wind-resistant stainless steel cables.

Mr. Hansen, who lives in the Caymans but travels to Bermuda about once a month, said Bermuda CableVision also has sister companies in the Cayman Islands (West Star) and in France (France Cite Vision).

Mr. Hansen?s group ? which is a part owner of the CableVision along with KeyTech (the parent company of BTC, Mobility and Logic Communications) and other individual shareholders ? has been managing the company since they took over the shares of long-time shareholder McDonald Consulting in 2001.