WOW!

Infobox_Company
company_name = WOW!
company_
company_type = Private
company_slogan =
foundation = 1999
location = flagicon|USA Denver, Colorado, USA
key_people = Colleen Abdoulah
num_employees = Unknown
industry = Telecommunications
revenue = Unknown
net_income = Unknown
products = Cablecasting, Broadband Internet, Phone
homepage = [http://www.wowway.com/ www.wowway.com]

WOW! (formerly WideOpenWest), is the 12th largest cable provider in the United States.Fact|date=September 2008

The Back Story

During the 1990s, encouraged by the work on the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, a number of investors led by local telephone companies established competitive broadcast cable services into various cable TV markets. These entities became known in the industry as 'cable overbuilders',Fact|date=July 2008 meaning they would build new cable infrastructure into areas where there were existing operating cable systems. Some of the initial 'cable overbuilders' included Knology Holdings, Americast, and RCN Corporation. Yet, by the year 2001 less than 5% of the households in the United States had a choice of cable companies.Fact|date=July 2008

Room for expansion

Founded in November, 1999 in Denver, Colorado, WOW! initially served about 200 people in the Denver area after they had completed building their network in April 2001. In May 2001, a midwestern network owned by SBC telecommunications branded with the name Americast, was purchased by WOW! for an undisclosed amount per user-connection, estimated to have been at a cost of $1000 per user. This purchase opened WOW! to over 310,000 new users. The Americast cable brand was initially under control of Ameritech and served the markets surrounding the cities of: Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Denver; Cleveland, Ohio; and Columbus, Ohio. Americast has also been the brand name used for GTE's cable systems in Cerritos, California and Pinellas County, Florida, and for BellSouth's cable systems in the Atlanta, Georgia area; those operations were sold to different owners.Fact|date=July 2008

WOW! is no longer servicing the Denver area. WOW! is currently providing service in the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Chicago, Columbus, Cleveland, and Evansville, Indiana.

Awards

*2007 Residential Cable/Satellite TV Satisfaction Recipient [cite web|url=http://www.jdpower.com/telecom/ratings/cable-satellite-television-ratings/north-central|title=2007 Residential Cable/Satellite TV Satisfaction Study - North Central|publisher=J.D. Power and Associates|accessdate=2008-09-03]

References

(2) BusinessWeek, Cable/Satellite Providers; http://images.businessweek.com/tc/jdpower/cable_sat/index.htm
(3) The National Cable and Telecommunications Association, History of Cable; http://www.ncta.com/
(4) The Federal Telecommunications Commission, Telecommunications Act of 1996; http://www.fcc.gov/
(5) Business First of Columbus, Americast sale to reshape cable service; May 25, 2001
(6) The CATO Organization, Economic and Political Consequences of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, By Thomas W. Hazlett
(7) Consumers Union, Lessons From 1996 Telecommunications Act; http://www.consumersunion.org/

External links

* [http://www.wowway.com WOW! Website]