Hope Cable ends signal

HOPE — The area’s sole cable television provider unexpectedly shut its doors last week, leaving approximately 100 customers without service or answers.

 Hope Cable, which has provided cable in eastern Bonner County for years, abruptly discontinued its services last Wednesday due to financial problems, according to owner Kim Gunter.

Gunter, who purchased the business in 2005, said she had been losing money for years. The company has been up for sale for more than a year, but Gunter said she received no firm offers.

“Basically, the business only broke even from the time we bought it,” Gunter said. “It was one step forward and two steps back, no matter what we did. In hindsight, I should have never bought the business.”

Gunter said her customer base has dwindled since buying the company, dropping from nearly 250 to less than 100 customers in three and a half years.

The business has been turned over to Gunter’s bank, but she hopes someone eventually comes along with a desire to bring quality service to her former customers.

“I would love nothing more for the business to stay in Hope and be successful for somebody, but it just wasn’t something that I could make happen and at some point you have to cut your losses,” she said.

Sheri Lara, a customer service representative at Sandpoint’s Northland Cable, said her company has not offered service in Hope or Clark Fork for years and has no affiliation with Hope Cable.

Before the closure, Lara said she periodically received calls from Hope residents complaining about poor service.

“I know that when people would call here, they would say (Hope Cable was) very hard to get a hold of and that it seemed like it always went to voice mail and they didn’t usually get their calls returned,” Lara said.

Lara said Northland Cable has no plans to expand to Hope or Clark Fork because the area’s cable lines are old and would need costly upgrades.