Suddenlink Communications, formerly Cebridge Connections[1], is a top-10 cable broadband services provider in the United States with approximately 1.3 million subscribers.[2] Suddenlink operates in 19 states in primarily medium-sized communities. Its corporate headquarters are located in St. Louis, MO and is part of Cequel Communications, LLC. Cequel III, an affiliated company, was founded in January 2002 by Jerry Kent, Howard Wood, and Dan Bergstein as an investment and management firm that focuses on development of cable and telecommunications companies.
History
Suddenlink traces its origins to February 2003, when its senior management team assumed responsibility for the assets of Classic Communications, which served remote suburban areas, smaller towns, and rural communities. Starting in 1992, Classic completed a series of acquisitions of various cable systems. In 2001, it filed for bankruptcy and emerged from bankruptcy in January 2003. [1]Suddenlink's parent company, Cequel Communications, reported it would invest in and assume management of Classic Communications on February 12, 2003. At the time Classic was the twelfth largest MSO with 325,000 customers in nine states (Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado, and Ohio). Classic’s customers had been largely deprived of advanced services like high-speed Internet access.[3] The new management team claims to have invested tens of millions of dollars to upgrade Classic systems and improve the quality and quantity of services they offered.
The company was re-named Cebridge Connections and continued to acquire new cable companies and new cable systems. [2] As Cebridge, the company acquired cable systems previously owned by Alliance, Tele-Media, Thompson and USA Media. In 2006, Cebridge became Suddenlink Communications after the deals to acquire cable systems from Cox Communications and Charter Communications closed. [3]
Nortel
On June 21, 2006 Suddenlink began providing cable VoIP services using Nortel Technology. Suddenlink uses Nortel's VoIP solutions to provide digital telephone services to customers from California to North Carolina, including 30,000 acquired customers from Cox.
Sprint Nextel
On November 8, 2006, Suddenlink and Sprint Nextel announced a five-year agreement to enable wireline VoIP solutions to residential and commercial Suddenlink subscribers.[4] The new contract awarded Sprint Nextel the right to facilitate Suddenlink's residential telephone service, available to approximately 2.2 million households in Suddenlink franchise areas, with more than 200,000 active customers as of March 2009.[5]
TV Programming
After Suddenlink completed the purchase of cable systems from Charter Communications in West Virginia, the right to retransmit two local stations, WCHS-TV and WVAH-TV, expired. Parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns WCHS but operates WVAH under a local marketing agreement, wanted to pull the two stations on July 1, 2006 unless Suddenlink paid $40 million to Sinclair up front in retransmission fees and $1 per subscriber. Suddenlink countered that FCC rules prohibited Sinclair from pulling the two stations during the middle of Nielsen Media sweeps week.[6] Suddenlink was allowed to carry the stations in Charleston and Parkersburg until July 26, 2006. Sinclair pulled the stations on July 1 from viewers in the Beckley, WV market. [4]
After several weeks of negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement that allowed WCHS and WVAH to continue transmission over the Suddenlink cable system and both stations were restored to the Beckley market. The terms of the agreement were not released to the public.[5]
WVAH blackout
On October 20, 2006 WVNS-TV filed for both non-duplication and syndication exclusivity protections for Fox programming in the Beckley, Princeton, Lewisburg and Hinton, WV, markets. In these areas WVAH-TV, the Fox affiliate from Charleston, is also carried on Suddenlink cable systems. Suddenlink reported the only programming that will not be available from WVAH is Fox programming. All local news and other programming will still be available to customers. [6]
NFL Network
Suddenlink, like many other top-ten cable providers, is in a dispute with the NFL Network over carriage. NFL Network wants to be carried on Expanded Basic while Suddenlink and other cable companies want to put the network on a digital sports tier.[7]
NFL Network offered a free preview from December 24 through December 30, 2006, to West Texas area cable systems run by Suddenlink Communications[8] and to New York area cable systems run by Time Warner Cable and Cablevision. The package included the Texas Bowl and Insight Bowl, but not that week's NFL game between the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, which was shown on WNBC for New York viewers. However, the free preview did not lead to long-term carriage agreements between the three cable companies and NFL Network.
In 2007 Suddenlink set up a section on its website called Play Fair. Suddenlink claimed that it wanted to carry the network while being fair to the customers who want the NFL Network and to the customers who don't want it. The site claimed that Comcast and Cox can carry NFL Network on a sports tier while Suddenlink would like to have the same option. Placing NFL Network on the sports tier allows customers who want the network to pay for it. The site further claimed that NFL Network doesn't have the kind of year-long programming that justifies putting it on basic cable service.
In November 2007, Suddenlink made several offers to the NFL Network, one of which included giving the NFL Network a free channel that would be widely available to the customers who wanted it. The NFL Network could make that channel available for free or for a set price that the network would want, while keeping all revenue from it, including advertising revenues.[9] With this option Suddenlink would make no money carrying the network.[10] The NFL Network denied this and other offers on November 27, 2007.[9] In rejecting the offer, Suddenlink claimed that the network was "reiterating that they [NFL Network] would accept nothing less than the same $100 million ransom they demanded more than a year ago.[10] Suddenlink states that it is ready to make a deal with the NFL Network and asks "the citizens and leaders of the communities we serve to contact the NFL and ask them to accept Suddenlink's generous offer of a free channel, widely available to customers who want it." [9][10]
The other offers Suddenlink proposed were to carry the network on its digital sports tier, at a reasonable fee." The second option was to make NFL Network’s eight live NFL primetime games and the NFL Network’s Texas Bowl and Insight Bowl coverage available on pay-per-view at a rate determined by the network, with all revenue remitted to the NFL Network.[10]
In May 2009, a long-standing feud between NFL Network and Comcast was resolved when the two agreed to a deal that might pave the way for other cable companies to reach similar deals and end the long-standing holdouts. [7]
Carriage agreements for Austin, Texas, NBC affiliate KXAN and Albuquerque, New Mexico, CBS affiliate KBIM-TV expired on December 31, 2007. LIN TV and Suddenlink were unable to reach a new agreement for both local stations. Suddenlink proposed an extension to the current contracts so the two parties could continue negotiations.[11][12][13]
This was denied along with two offers proposed by Suddenlink on January 2, 2008, which included Suddenlink's offer for KXAN only, in areas with no duplicate NBC station, and an offer to provide KXAN its own, stand-alone channel for which LIN-TV could set the price and from which it would keep all money generated, including all customer fees and ad revenues.[14]
On January 3, Suddenlink reached a deal with Temple, Texas-based KCEN to retransmit its signal to Suddenlink's central Texas customers. Additionally, KCEN offered NBC in high definition (HD) while the original carriage with KXAN did not.[14] KXAN claimed that Suddenlink placed little value on local stations and said it would work closely with competitors like DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse to give viewers better options "than the cable monopoly that currently exists".[13] The station was restored on March 25, 2008, after LIN TV and Suddenlink reached an agreement. [15] Both the standard and HD feeds of KXAN are now available to Suddenlink customers in Georgetown, Leander and Pflugerville, Texas. In all three cities the HD feed of KXAN replaced KCEN's HD feed and customers in Pflugerville lost KCEN altogether at the request of the station owner. In Georgetown and Leander, KCEN moved to channel 16 while KXAN took over its previous channel position on channel 4.[16]
Suddenlink customers in Clovis, New Mexico, were instructed to turn to KFDA-TV for CBS programming, a local station on channel 5.[14] Unlike sister station KXAN, KBIM/KRQE did not enter into a media battle with Suddenlink by encouraging subscribers to switch to a different service.[12] The station was restored on March 25, 2008.[15]
Acquisitions
- February 12, 2003 Cequel III invested in Classic Communications, Inc. [17]
- June 30, 2003 Cequel III acquired cable systems from Shaw Communications, Inc. [17]
- January 26, 2004 Cequel III acquired cable systems from Alliance Communications Partners.[18]
- April 5, 2004 Cequel III acquired cable systems from Thompson Cablevision.[18]
- June 3, 2004 Cebridge acquired cable systems from Tele-Media.[19]
- August 19, 2004 Cebridge acquired cable systems from USA Media.[20]
- May 5, 2006 Suddenlink acquired cable systems from Cox Communications.[21]
- July 3, 2006 Suddenlink acquired cable systems from Charter Communications.[22]
Logos
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Suddenlink Logo 2006-present.
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References
- ^ Stroud, Jerri (April 25, 2006). "Cebridge chief will rename cable company Suddenlink". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. http://www.cedmagazine.com/cebridge-chief-will-rename-cable.aspx. Retrieved on 2009-04-29.
- ^ "Top 25 MSOs". NCTA. March 2008. http://www.ncta.com/Statistic/Statistic/Top25MSOs.aspx. Retrieved on 2009-04-29.
- ^ Suddenlink: Seizing Next Opportunity
- ^ Suddenlink Reaches Sprint VoIP Deal
- ^ Suddenlink Crosses Phone Milestone
- ^ Suddenlink, Sinclair in Retrans Clash
- ^ NFL Network Holding On The Line
- ^ "NFL Network and Suddenlink Cable Reach Agreement". Texas Tech. 2006-12-22. http://texastech.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/122206aab.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
- ^ a b c "NFL: We Don’t Want Our Own Channel". Suddenlink Communications. 2006-12-14. http://suddenlink.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/nfl-network-declines-free-channel/. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
- ^ a b c d Reynolds, Mike (2007-11-28). "Suddenlink’s NFL Network Passes Fall Incomplete". Multichannel News. http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6505965.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
- ^ "LIN TV’s Negotiations with Suddenlink Unsuccessful". LIN TV. 2007-12-31. http://www.lintv.com/news/images/PDFs/news_releases/TVL%20-%20LIN%20TV's%20Negotiations%20with%20Suddenlink%20Unsuccessful%2012-31-07.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-01-05. (PDF)
- ^ a b "Important Message for Suddenlink Subscribers". KBIM-TV/LIN TV. 2007-12-31. http://www.krqe.com/Global/story.asp?s=7560129. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
- ^ a b "Suddenlink Carries Waco Station Instead Of KXAN". KXAN/LIN TV. 2007-12-31. http://www.kxan.com/global/Story.asp?s=7547931. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
- ^ a b c "Central TX NBC Update". Suddenlink. 2008-01-03. http://suddenlink.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/central-tx-nbc-update/. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
- ^ a b "LIN TV, Suddenlink Talk Retrans". MediaWeek. 2008-03-25. http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003732772. Retrieved on 2008-03-35.
- ^ "KXAN back on the air for northern Central Texas". Austin Business Journal. 2008-03-25. http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/03/24/daily7.html?jst=b_ln_hl. Retrieved on 2008-03-35.
- ^ a b Baumgartner, Jeff (February 21, 2003). "Cequel III to buy Shaw's Texas systems". CedMagazine.com. http://www.cedmagazine.com/cequel-iii-to-buy-shaws-texas.aspx. Retrieved on 2009-02-18.
- ^ a b Business Wire (January 26 2004). Cequel III Closes Alliance Acquisition; Announces Agreement to Purchase Thompson Cablevision. Press release. http://www.allbusiness.com/media-telecommunications/telecommunications/5566102-1.html. Retrieved on February 18, 2009.
- ^ "Cebridge Connections buys cable systems from Tele-Media". St. Louis Business Journal. June 3, 2004. http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2004/05/31/daily45.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-18.
- ^ Business Wire (August 19 2004). Cebridge Closes Acquisition of USA Media Systems.. Press release. http://www.allbusiness.com/media-telecommunications/data-transmission-broadband/5203984-1.html. Retrieved on February 18, 2009.
- ^ Nortel (June 21, 2006). Suddenlink to Provide Cable VoIP Services Using Nortel Technology. Press release. http://www2.nortel.com/go/news_detail.jsp?cat_id=-8055&oid=100202451&locale=en-US. Retrieved on February 18, 2009.
- ^ "No. 13: Suddenlink Communications". St. Louis Business Journal. March 28, 2008. http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/03/31/focus15.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-18.
External links
