COURTESY : The Daily Commercial

By Megan Shannon

Published November 22, 2005 

THE VILLAGES — Comcast Cable Corporation and The Villages of Lake Sumter Inc. have been reviewing the list of Villages residents who receive free cable after realizing some residents should be paying for service.

Villages residents’ service could soon be dropped if they are wrongfully receiving free cable.

Comcast has been hearing from The Villages monthly to revise the list. Comcast Director of Operations Fred Fuller estimated that 800 home owners in Orange Blossom Gardens received the free service originally. That list has dropped to 300.

In the late 1980s The Villages offered free cable, garbage collection and some other amenities to Orange Blossom Gardens property owners. Property Owner Association President Joe Gorman said this deal was used as an incentive for property owners to build homes on their lots.
“See, they used to be able to build when they wanted. They could leave their lots vacant until they wanted to build,” Gorman said.

He said service is being cut off without proper notice and some people who are just now returning to their homes might not be aware that their agreement has expired.

“The agreement was not handled quite as well as it should be,” he said.

Fuller said several customers were receiving free service too long. He attributes this to those original residents selling their homes and the purchasers picking up the deal.

This is not the first time this deal has been up for debate. Gorman said that in 1991 President and CEO of TVLS Gary Morse tried to break the deal because he could no longer afford to pay for service. The Orange Blossom Garden’s home owners and the developer entered into a lawsuit and agreed that the services should be reinstated. The services include trail fees, storage, recreation hall usage, and garbage collection. The agreement states that units one through 13 in Orange Blossom Gardens are eligible for the free services.

The 1991 agreement states the following, “those parties who have historically been provided free garbage and cable television service shall be assured continued free garbage and cable television service so long as they own their properties and any member of their immediate family to whom they devise or make a gift of the property shall likewise receive that free service.”

Then in 1993 the agreement was specified to only include those residents who closed on their homes after December 31, 1990 and prior to March 14, 1991. The agreement also states that no person living outside of units one through eight shall receive free cable and no one outside of units one through 12 shall receive free garbage service.

Gorman said the agreement does not clearly state how long the service should be provided and that anyone whose service was wrongfully terminated will be reimbursed by Comcast.