Big Island residents are finally getting another option for cable television service.

The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs announced Tuesday it has approved Hawaiian Telcom’s request to offer TV service in Hawaii, Kauai and Maui counties, a move the company and DCCA say will benefit thousands of consumers.

In a statement, Hawaiian Telcom said the DCCA’s approval “is a major milestone, giving neighbor island residents a choice of TV service provider for the first time in more than three decades.”

Prior to the approval, Spectrum Oceanic was the only provider that had a cable franchise to serve those counties.

Hawaiian Telcom’s Fioptics+ TV service will be available to fiber-enabled households beginning Monday.

“The DCCA’s approval opens new doors for more Hawaii residents, giving them a choice of TV providers for the first time,” said Hawaiian Telcom President Su Shin in a statement. “Our fiber expansion helps to improve digital equity in Hawaii and level the playing field for neighbor island residents.”

The DCCA’s action grants Hawaiian Telcom the right to use public rights of way to deliver cable services to consumers. In return, the company is obligated to utilize digital technology to offer a diverse array of programming and services to the public.

“These new markets will introduce competition in cable services, giving consumers more options when choosing their cable service provider and encouraging cable providers to provide affordable, reliable and diversified broadcasts,” the DCCA said in a statement.

Through the 15-year franchise term, Hawaiian Telcom is required to submit technology upgrade plans every five years for DCCA approval. These plans may result in amendments and modifications to the franchise conditions.

The DCCA’s decision comes after a comprehensive review process that began with Hawaiian Telcom’s application submissions late last year, followed by public hearings on Hawaii Island, Maui, Kauai in February and March 2024.

During the hearings, community members had the opportunity to provide feedback about the company’s applications.

“After a thorough evaluation of public testimonies, the submitted applications and all related filings, DCCA has concluded that granting Hawaiian Telcom’s request to extend its cable franchise to the neighbor islands is in the public’s best interest,” Nadine Ando, director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, said in a statement. “This expansion will not only improve the video and communication infrastructure throughout Hawaii but will also address the needs of underserved communities across the state by increasing access to communications services.”

According to the DCCA, neighbor island subscribers will receive ample guidance as they become accustomed to a new incoming cable television provider, including customer service, new service installation and technical support.

Hawaiian Telcom will provide dedicated public, educational and governmental channels for such things as academic lectures, cultural events, emergency broadcasts and informational content. There are 12 franchise-required channels that will be available for state, county and educational organizations.

The company also will provide 2,000 public service announcements for use by the governor and lieutenant governor’s office, state Legislature, county councils, Department of Education, public broadcasting channels and the University of Hawaii, so they may relay crucial information to the public.

Consumers can save money by bundling Fioptics+ TV with Hawaiian Telcom’s 100% fiber internet service, which offers the fastest upload speed in the state, according to the company.

For information, visit hawaiiantel.com/fiopticsplus or call Hawaiian Telcom at (808) 643-3456.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – In East Oahu, more than 20,000 homes and businesses lost power from Aina Haina to Waimanalo on Tuesday, according to HECO officials.

Officials say the electricity went out just before 8 a.m.

Hawaiian Electric says all but about 500 customers have been restored.

HECO said in a post on X that customers should prepare for an overnight outage, and power should be restored by Wednesday morning.

Officials say this was not a Public Safety Power Shutoff Program, which is aimed at preventing wildfires.

HECO says the outage was due to minor system damage and that crews are working to repair underground cables.

This is an ongoing story.

This story may be updated.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

• Nearly half of Maui residents say their financial situation has worsened since the Lahaina fire.
• More than two-thirds of fire survivors have struggled to afford groceries in the last year.
• Nearly half – 45% – of fire survivors said they were “very seriously” or “somewhat seriously” thinking about leaving themselves.

Nearly half of Maui residents say their financial situation has worsened since the Lahaina fire and 1 in 5 are “seriously considering” leaving the state, according to a new report that paints a troubling picture of the challenges facing fire survivors – and the county as a whole.

More than two-thirds of fire survivors have struggled to afford groceries in the last year, and half have cut back on medical care for financial reasons.

“We don’t use the word ‘poverty’ very often to talk about the situations in Maui County and we should,” said Lisa Grove, lead researcher of the Maui Together Wildfire Assessment.

More than 2,000 county residents and 1,000 fire survivors participated in the assessment, which is being published by the Hawaii State Rural Health Association and drew on both written surveys and in-person and online focus groups.

The vast majority of respondents – whether they lived in West Maui or Lanai or Molokai – said they were more worried than hopeful about their future in Hawaii.

Perhaps most troubling, it’s the people with the deepest roots in Hawaii who expressed the most uncertainty about their future here, Grove said.

“It’s our Native Hawaiian community. It’s our kupuna. It’s the long-time residents,” Grove said during a presentation Thursday on the survey. “And that is tragic.”

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Fire Impacts Wide, But Unequal

The percentage of residents across the county who said they had been directly and indirectly impacted by the fires – 72% – was startling, said Grove, a Lanai resident who has been conducting polls and surveys in Hawaii since 1990.

“Those who have been directly impacted by the fires have experienced greater financial, mental and physical hardship than the rest of the county, though circumstances on all three islands have worsened over the past two years,” the assessment points out.

The mood of people surveyed across the county was grim. “Stress,” “uncertain” and “stressful” were among the most common words respondents countywide selected to describe their life. For fire survivors, “concerned,” “struggling” and “frustrated” were some of the most-used descriptors.

Fire survivors reported higher rates of being unemployed or under-employed than the rest of the county. They also tend to be younger, more likely to have children living with them and were less likely to have a college degree.

Just over half of fire survivors surveyed were living in West Maui, and those who had been able to stay on that side of the island appeared to be faring better than those housed in other places.

Housing instability was, unsurprisingly, a top issue for people displaced by the fire. Roughly 50% of fire survivors said they had moved at least three times since last August, and 11% had moved six or more times.

Mental health is also a significant issue, Grove said, and is something that needs to be prioritized in recovery efforts.

An Exodus Coming?

Though there is no definitive data on how many people have left Maui since the fire, the exodus of residents is a significant concern for many in the county.

A majority of people – 81% of fire survivors and 65% of county residents – have had friends move away from Maui since the fire, while 30% of fire survivors had family members leave.

Nearly half – 45% – of fire survivors said they were “very seriously” or “somewhat seriously” thinking about leaving themselves.

While people of all socioeconomic backgrounds said they were contemplating leaving the state, fire survivors who moved in the last year are more likely to be white, older and in a higher income bracket. People who had only been in the state a short time were also more likely to have departed after the fire.

Grove said that in past statewide surveys she’s conducted, there are generally three things people say keep them in Hawaii: ohana, a sense of aloha and the multi-ethnic and diverse nature of the state.

There’s going to be a tipping point, Grove believes, where those wonderful things are outweighed by the struggles of trying to live here.

“I feel like we can only go so far with those intangibles when you’re talking about people saying that they’re barely surviving,” she said.

This story was published in partnership with Honolulu Civil Beat, a nonprofit newsroom doing investigative and watchdog journalism relating to the state of Hawaii.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation. Civil Beat’s community health coverage is supported by the Cooke Foundation, Atherton Family Foundation and Papa Ola Lokahi.