Community Responds To LocalTel Shutting Off Free Local TV

Seniors on fixed incomes say they lost access to important news and information, can't afford the cable packages LocalTel is telling them to purchase

In mid-June, LocalTel shut off about 30 standard-definition television channels in the region. For folks using simple TV antennas to tune into basic channels like ABC, CBS and NBC their access to news and information was cut off.

While the decision has gone largely unnoticed by those with the money to pay for cable or streaming services, seniors and those with limited funds say it has removed one of their touchstones to the wider world.

“I am 81, retired and on a fixed income, so I was very pleased when I discovered I could access some of my favorite channels through a small indoor flat wall antenna from my tiny house (without wheels) in East Wenatchee, that is, until LocalTel (BTW, my Wi-Fi provider) cut off access,” Mary Boyter wrote. “I definitely cannot afford the cost of any cable service.”

Boyter said she misses the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, the PBS Newshour and the British series Downtown Abbey. She also said she was really looking forward to catching some of the Olympic Games in Paris.

LocalTel is the largest Internet Service Provider, or ISP, in the region and provides television, phone, internet and security services for tens of thousands of households across a large swath of rural North Eastern Washington.

In June, LocalTel owner Dimitri Mandelis told the Wenatchee World the reason they shut down the free TV channels was because “almost all of them weren’t being used” and maintaining the equipment needed to broadcast was “very expensive,” costing “thousands of dollars” a year to maintain.

In 2017, LocalTel bought the old Wenatchee Federal Building at auction for $3.9 million, began a renovation project on it, and then sold a part of the building to the City of Wenatchee for $2.5 million the following year.

Wenatchee City Hall is now located in the building it co-owns with LocalTel.

Since the shutdown, community members have taken to local online forums to say that many tuned in to those channels and complain about the decision.

“So I’m not the only person that is all of a sudden missing ALL TV CHANNELS!” Dave Wright wrote in a local Facebook group. “TV channels we have had since the 1950s.”

Wenatchee resident and disabled senior Louise McEwen said she’s not happy with LocalTel, or their response when she reached them on the phone.

“They told me to subscribe to a cable TV provider,” she wrote. “I told them I couldn’t afford it. They just said, ‘Sorry.’”

East Wenatchee resident and senior Effie Lyons said after she moved here in 2018 she’d watch the NCWlife channel in the mornings and that’s how she learned about the valley. When her grandchildren were visiting she would turn on PBS in the evenings.

She wanted to share the following message with LocalTel:

“Dropping free local channels effects the low income house holds. It is a very selfish move on your part. It's not like there was many channels to watch as it was. Now there's NONE! Great community company... I think not,” she wrote. “I will not use your company and will try to get anyone I know that does to drop your services.”

Some seniors, like Cheryl Adkins, have urged those affected to advocate for themselves and get lawmakers involved.

“FCC has been notified. I want to make sure Kim Schrier knows about it and see if LocalTel is required by law to provide those,” she wrote. “They clearly want everyone to switch to that online and/or cable, saying that’s what most people use for access.”

The Wenatchee World’s article on the matter what light on details so I reached out to Mandelis with some questions.

The following is an email I sent six days ago:

“Hello Dimitri, 

I had a couple of questions about the SD channel service LocalTel discontinued recently. 

Older folks on fixed incomes and poor folks have reached out to me and said the decision impacts them greatly. So I asked the community about it in Together Wenatchee, the Facebook group I administrate here locally with about 20,000 members. 

Your employee Diana Zumini suggested that the folks affected pay to upgrade the equipment themselves, which made me curious how much that would cost. 

What is the equipment they would need to purchase and how much would it cost?

Would that be more or less than the amount LocalTel paid hackers when they hijacked your system in 2021? From what I recall Rachel (Mandelis) telling me that was a ransomware attack, right? 

Was the community given any heads up about the channels going dark before that occurred? 

Is LocalTel offering any sort of guidance to those affected on how they can view the channels and programs they lost? Customers have reported they’re being prompted to upgrade to your cable package but these folks say they can’t afford that on fixed incomes. 

What will happen to NCWlife once Ziply purchases LocalTel? Are they buying NCWlife too?

Thanks and best regards,”

Mandelis did not respond. But Zumini, a LocalTel employee and NCWlife account executive, did.

“Have all those people who got free service ever thanked Local Tel?” she wrote.

When asked if part of the rationale behind ending the service was because the community was not sufficiently grateful, Zumini did not respond. She also refused to answer any questions about the 2021 hack and how much LocalTel paid to regain access to their system.

But LocalTel Spokesperson Russ Alman did.

“I don’t see what the issue in 2021 has to do with the shutting down the relay transmitters,” he wrote.

I responded that the hack is germane because it speaks to what LocalTel is willing to pay for. I also asked if Ziply Fiber, currently in negotiations to acquire LocalTel, is aware of the hack.

In response to one of the online posts about LocalTel shutting down the service, he wrote that the company was “providing this as a community service, even though they were not required to do so” and the pending sale of LocalTel to Ziply had no factor in the decision to retire the equipment.

You're welcome to contact specific channels in Spokane and Seattle to see if they might be able to service this area. NCWLIFE Channel will no longer be available over the air.

During the course of reporting this story, I went to NCWlife’s online feed on three different occasions and the free stream lagged and then stopped broadcasting each time – at one point the broadcast froze for about 20 minutes.

On July 29, Alman said he would ask Mandelis about my questions and get me more information. As of the time of publishing I have not heard back, but I’ll update this article with a response if I do.

When reached for comment, Nancy Murphy with the Federal Communications Commission said no law or policy requires LocalTel maintain the SD service in the region.

“LocalTel voluntarily surrendered their broadcast licenses and there is no federal requirement that all US residents be able to receive broadcast stations because some people live in areas that are too remote and/or sparsely populated to support the economics of providing service, and there are too many sources of interference (like airports, wind farms, etc.) that make reception difficult, if not impossible,” she wrote.

That means poor folks and retirees will have to find new ways to access programming without paying LocalTel to upgrade to cable.

And that’s exactly what Cashmere resident Steven Hostetter has done. He said he and his wife bought a Roku device for $50 and have been using that, but they still have to figure out how to watch some of their favorite sporting events.

“With a lower income, we couldn't afford to keep paying for cable or satellite, so we bought an antenna and went with the SD channel,” Hostetter wrote. “By cutting it off, those with lower income lose out. That is not serving those with the greatest need.”

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