Greenville County Attorney - Cable Television

The County Administrator's Office serves as the franchise office for cable television. There are two cable companies that provide service to the citizens of the unincorporated areas of Greenville County: Charter Communications and Galaxy Telecom. Charter Communications provides service to the majority of Greenville County residents, and Galaxy Telecom provides service to a smaller number of residents, located in the Southeast section of Greenville County. To contact your cable company regarding questions or concerns, call (864) 271-8526 or 1-800-273-8526, to reach Charter Communications, or 1-800-365-6988 to reach Galaxy Telecom.

If you experience difficulty contacting the cable company, or need assistance regarding a cable service matter, please contact the County Attorney's Office by calling (864) 467-7111, email (County Attorney's Office), or by clicking on the link below to get to the comment/complaint form.

Regulations governing cable television, wireless facilities and satellite services are established and enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) located in Washington, D.C.

Cable TV Customer Comment/Complaint Form

Governmental entities such as Greenville County are authorized by Federal law to charge cable companies for the use of the particular governmental entity's rights-of-way to set up cable. The FCC authorizes the cable companies to pass this fee along to their subscribers.

Franchise Fee Explained

Cable TV companies are for-profit entities that use public rights-of-way for a private purpose
Taxpayers pay for building and maintaining the public rights-of-way.
Federal law allows governmental entities to charge cable TV companies for "renting" space in the public rights-of-way.
Federal law allows cable TV companies the right to pass on to subscribers, as a line item on their bills, the franchise Fees that the cable companies pay to the governmental entities for "renting" space in the public rights-of-way.
Cable TV companies have the option of absorbing that "rental" cost as a part of the cost of doing business or "passing" the "rental" cost on to their subscribers. Charter Communications and Galaxy Telecom, like most cable companies, chooses not to absorb the "rental" cost as a part of the cost of doing business.