Our offices will be closing at noon on Friday, August 17 so that our employees may enjoy our annual company picnic together.  Customers are invited to join HCC for our annual Customer Appreciation BBQ on Friday, September 14.  If you need assistance please call 360.898.2481 anytime day or night.

Our offices will be opening up late on Tuesday, August 7 so that our employees may attend a staff training.  The Union office will open at 9:00 am and the Shelton office will open at 9:30 am.  If you need assistance please call 360.898.2481 anytime day or night.

In 2018, Hood Canal Communications is making improvements to our cable customers’ experience.  Recently, the onscreen guide was upgraded on the majority of digital cable boxes (with the exception of model DCT 2000 boxes).  The new guide is now in HD and features a sleek modern look and feel but the same functionality.  The new guide is visually appealing and includes a simplified font for better text rendering at all resolutions.  The volume and mute now have a simplified display for better visibility.

Adjust SD Picture Size.

The upgrade instinctively changes many of the settings for you.  As an example, the guide automatically defaults to an HD format on HDMI and other HD compatible connections.  While, connections that are not HD compatible are automatically set to SD.  If you notice that your SD channels now have a black border on all four sides you can adjust that setting by following the instructions below.

• With your TV on
• Press CABLE on the HCC remote
• Then press POWER (to turn off cable box)
• Press the MENU button on the remote
• The user setting menu will display on your TV
• ARROW DOWN two times on the HCC remote to 4:3 Override
• LEFT ARROW one time to Stretch
• Press the POWER button two times on the HCC remote
• Press the CBL button once on the remote to return it to CABLE mode

HD Autotune.

Another new feature is HD autotune.  This handy feature streamlines things when customers are flipping through or directly inputting channel numbers.  It redirects you to the HD version of the channel instead of the standard definition version.  Would you like to take advantage of this feature?  Use the instructions below.

• With your TV and cable box on
• Press CABLE on the HCC remote
• Then press MENU two times
• Arrow down one time until you highlight Setup
• Press OK/SEL
• With Guide Setup highlighted hit OK/SEL
• ARROW DOWN four times to tune for HDTV
• RIGHT ARROW one time to Yes
• Press EXIT on the remote
• Press the CBL button once on the remote to return it to CABLE mode

Closed Captioning.

Accessing the close captioning options is now easier than ever.  You can quickly access the closed captioning settings directly from the guide menu.  Use the instructions below to turn on the closed captioning.

• With your TV and cable box on
• Press CABLE on the HCC remote
• Then press MENU two times
• ARROW DOWN one time until you highlight Setup
• Press OK/SEL
• ARROW RIGHT one time to highlight Closed Captioning Setup
• Press OK/SEL
• RIGHT ARROW one time to On
• Press EXIT on the remote
• Press the CBL button once on the remote to return it to CABLE mode

You can also delete multiple DVR recordings all at once from the DVR menu.  Just go to DVR Cleanup and it will show you a list of recordings that you can quickly select which ones to delete.  For additional features and instructions please see the quick reference guide.  For a more in-depth dive into the new guide please see the user manual.  We hope our customers enjoy the new guide as we continue to make improvements to our cable service.

Independence Day is almost here.  In observance of the holiday, our offices will be closed on Wednesday, July 4.  Be sure to look for info about local fireworks shows and festivities at explorehoodcanal.com.

Spencer Jones is our July Employee of the Month.  His willingness to jump in and resolve after hours service issues make him an all-star!  Continue reading below and see which employees have HCC-iversaries in July.

Spencer Jones is an all-star!  He is always will to help resolve service outages even on the weekends.  Some weekends he’s volunteering with the local fire department and manning the support escalations for HCC.  His co-workers appreciate him getting a jump start on resolving tech support calls over the weekend too.  He’s even been known to save a co-workers dropped toast.  #WhatWouldWeDoWithoutSpencer

Congratulations to the following employees having work anniversaries in July- Rick Buechel (48 yrs), Kelle Oblizalo (27 years), Robin Redman (8 years), Cody May (4 years), and Dustin Crawford (2 years).  Happy HCC-iversary!

Carly Yates is our June Employee of the Month.  Being dependable and willing to help out even on weekends is worthy of recognition by her peers.  Keep reading below to learn more and see which three employees are celebrating HCC-iversaries in June.

Carly Yates is a tremendous asset to our customer service team.  Her willingness to come in even on the weekends to assist our Saturday staff in the Shelton office is greatly appreciated.  The CSR manager knows she can depend on her to help out with any task.  Even though she has her own busy work load, she always steps in when she senses that her supervisor is stressed out and needs a hand.

Congratulations to the following employees celebrating work anniversaries in June- Travis Sheetz (22 years), Carly Yates (11 years), and Cara Treadwell (1 year)!  Happy HCC-iversary!

Congratulations to Chris Hasek in our IT department.  His extensive knowledge and experience with networks was recognized when he received his CompTIA Network+ certification on Friday, May 4, 2018.  This performance-based certification helps IT representatives to validate the hands-on skills they have to troubleshoot, configure, and manage both wired and wireless networks.  Additional information about this certification is available at certification.comptia.org.

Our Shelton office will be closed on Wednesday, May 16, 2018 so that customer service representatives may attend a training event.  However, customer service representatives will be available to assist customers from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in Union and over the phone on this day.

Our offices will be closed for the Memorial Day weekend.  On Saturday, May 26, 2018 our Shelton office will be closed and both offices will be closed on Monday, May 28, 2018.  If you need assistance please call support at 360.898.2481.

Congratulations are in order for Dalton Hutson our May Employee of the Month.  Dalton is very helpful around HCC and he’s super subtle about it.  It’s like he’s not even really looking to be recognized but is just naturally helpful.  He always lends a hand cleaning up after our staff meetings which is greatly appreciated.  In the winter he always shows up early to de-ice the walkways before everyone else arrives.  He always says hello and is in a generally good mood all the time which is so refreshing!  He does excellent work on the construction crew doing a professional job every time.  Who’s got two thumbs and passed his CDL?  #ThisGuyDalton

Congratulations to Lorenzo Determan on two years at HCC in May.  Happy HCC-iversary!

Quest is coming to HCC cable TV and IPTV!

On Wednesday, April 4, Quest was added to the HCC IPTV lineup. On Wednesday, April 11, the network will be added to HCC Preferred Cable on channel 312.

According to the network owners, Tegna and Cooper Media, the content will include adventure and exploration programming.  The network will capture the wonder, imagination, and excitement of the natural and man-made world and feature shows about natural history, engineering and science, as well as military history and man’s greatest achievements.  It will be the only broadly-distributed factual-entertainment multicast network.  Quest will show how the world really works and will not only entertain but will inform and educate viewers as well.

Brandon West is our April Employee of the Month!  Continue reading below to see why he’s being recognized by his peers.

Brandon is always helpful!  He’s very motivated and keeps himself busy.  He is the first one to jump in to take care of things, even outside the scope of his job.  He volunteered to be the go to person for issues at the Union gym.  He’s constantly handling minor maintenance issues and more.  Recently, he even came in over the weekend to help man handle the large mats (without being asked) for the cleaning person, which they greatly appreciated.  Did we mention he set the WA State Class 1 Raw Bench Press and Deadlift Record?  Go Team Brando!

Congratulations to Spencer Jones (17 yrs), Kyle Johnston (10 yrs), Brandon West (6 yrs), Gwil Wiley (5 yrs), Josh Heideman (2 yrs), and Mikey Thompson (1 yr)!  They are all celebrating work anniversaries in April.  Happy HCC-iversary!