The days may be numbered for Sunflower Broadband

A Kansas cable system notorious for Internet Overcharging is nearing a deal to be acquired by a cable overbuilder that does not usage cap broadband customers.

Sunflower Broadband, an independent cable system providing cable, phone, and broadband service to 30,000 Lawrence residents, is expected to be acquired by Georgia-based cable overbuilder Knology, which has been on a buying spree of late.  The asking price – $127 million dollars, according to a report in the cable trade journal Multichannel News.

Sunflower has been overcharging their broadband customers for years with schemes like usage caps and a flat rate service plan that delivers speed throttled broadband service to customers.  Sunflower has remained a hot topic for Stop the Cap! because we hear so many complaints from their long-suffering customers.  In fact, no independent cable operator has generated more reader complaints than Sunflower Broadband, almost all targeting the company’s unjustified usage caps.

Broadband Reports reminds us Sunflower was among the first to implement the idea of low caps and high overages ($2 for each additional gigabyte).  Customers also routinely complain about Sunflower’s stingy upstream speeds, maxed out at just 1Mbps for their $60 Gold tier.

None of the details about Sunflower Broadband’s impending sale can be found in the local newspaper — the Lawrence Journal-World or the local “Channel 6” news operation.  That’s ironic, considering the same parent company that owns Sunflower Broadband, The World Company, also happens to own the newspaper and Channel 6.  It took a cable trade publication based hundreds of miles away to break the story — not exactly a shining moment for journalism in Lawrence, especially considering an LJWorld reporter need not break a sweat to chase the story.

Part of the reason for the sale may have been AT&T bringing U-verse competition to Lawrence.  U-verse does not have customer unfriendly usage limits.  With AT&T ready to usher away many of Sunflower’s customers, management may have decided now was a good time to sell.

The good news for Lawrence residents is that none of Knology’s cable systems engage in Internet Overcharging schemes, so Sunflower’s usage caps may be gone after the sale.

Still, some Lawrence residents are concerned about the implications of a Knology takeover.  The Lawrence Broadband Observer is among them:

I browsed Knology’s corporate web site and was actually pretty unimpressed. To put it mildly, Knology is well behind Sunflower both geographically and technically. Knology offers service in rural areas much smaller then Lawrence, like Storm Lake, Iowa and Dothan, Alabama. They also offer service in a few towns that are equal or larger then Lawrence like Charleston, South Carolina.

Technically, Knology is well behind Sunflower in what they offer customers in other cities. Top internet speeds (albeit cap-free) are only in the 8-10 megabit range, five times slower then Sunflower’s new DOCSIS 3 offerings. On the television side, while it varies from city to city, Knology generally offers only 30 or so HD channels, which is less then half of what Sunflower offers. Knology offers a rudimentary DVR, but nothing like Sunflower’s multi-room options.

Perhaps Knology is interested in buying Sunflower to learn how to offer more advanced services, knowledge they can take to their other markets. I don’t know, but it seems like this is a case of a large buggy-whip manufacturer buying out a smaller company that makes automobiles.

Most of Knology’s network of systems have been acquired from other companies and providers.  Technically, they are a cable “overbuilder” because they do overlap other providers in some areas, such as Knoxville, Tenn., where they compete with Comcast.  In many communities, they are most common in rental parks and apartments.

Knology’s customers in other cities have usually suffered some transitional glitches (Knology uses a more “advanced e-mail system” they eventually forced their PrairieWave customers to join), but overall they have usually increased broadband speeds in their markets and add lots of new HD channels.  Knology is aggressively deploying DOCSIS 3, something Sunflower already has, so few changes should be expected there.  They do not have a history of downgrading customers.

Clues about the impact of a Knology buy can be found in communities like Rapid City, S.D., who saw their cable system switched from Black Hills FiberCom to PrairieWave to Knology.  Rapid City residents first saw changes to the cable system’s technology and billing.  That was followed by the introduction of new services and packages, and then finally the name change to Knology.

With the anticipated sale, existing Sunflower customers (and ex-customers) might want to impress on the new owner that Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps and throttled speeds are unacceptable, and you want an immediate end to both.

Remember too it could be worse — Mediacom could have been the buyer.

Severe thunderstorms have knocked out several utilities for residents in parts of Alabama tonight including PCL Cable, broadband, and telephone service.  A large number of PCL customers in Decatur and Athens have lost service tonight.

Customers trying to get answers from PCL Cable are getting the usual result when major service outages strike: endless busy signals.

PCL Cable was acquired by Knology Cable last November.  For the record, Knology was answering their customer support lines with no hold time this evening in Huntsville.

A power outage in northern Madison County caused by the thunderstorms moving through the area tonight knocked out power for 600 customers, but service has since been restored.

PCL Cable's logo and website appear behind the times

Knology, the company that competes with other cable and phone companies by overbuilding their service areas, has purchased the assets of Private Cable Co. LLC, which serves Athens and Decatur, Alabama for $7.5 million, creating new competitive headaches for bankrupt Charter Cable, which serves both communities.  The company said it expects to close the deal by the end of 2009.

Acquiring PCL Cable, which serves areas adjacent to existing Knology service areas, would seem a natural fit.

Decatur City Councilman Gary Hammon said he expects the acquisition to benefit Decatur residents, especially because PCL Cable appears to have frozen operations in place and not expanded their reach.

“PCL hasn’t put any money into Decatur in the last five years,” Decatur City Councilman Gary Hammon told The Decatur Daily. “There are a lot of places in the city where you have Charter cable or no cable. I think competition sharpens the sword.”

PCL Cable’s website appears outdated, outlining a service package that offers fewer channels than many larger cable systems, and a broadband service promoting unlimited access for 5Mbps and 10Mbps tiers of service.  The “full package” includes about 100 channels with no need for a set top box for $93 a month (or $73 if bundled with telephone and/or broadband service).  The last status updates were published in August 2008.

The incumbent cable operator in PCL Cable’s service area is Charter Cable, which also competes with Knology in several southeastern cities.  The buyout, and eventual conversion of PCL Cable into Knology’s family of services, means additional competition for Charter Cable in the two Georgia cities.

Knology Vice President of Communications Tony Palermo talked with The News about the purchase:

Decatur, Alabama

Palermo said it was premature to predict whether the company would expand PCL’s limited footprint in Decatur.

“It’s pretty early on,” Palermo said. “Coming out of the chute, we’re looking at bringing the (existing) PCL footprint into our fold.”

He said Knology already has optical fiber running to PCL, which provides data services.

“Within a relatively short period of time, we’ll be able to bring up products and services to the level of what we’re offering in Huntsville,” Palermo said, to businesses and residents already within PCL’s footprint.

He said the acquisition gives Knology the ability to increase its revenue with investments already made in Huntsville.

“The first step for us is to get the deal done,” Palermo said. “The second step is to transition over to our network and our method and our ways of doing business. That will include checking on the integrity of the distribution network.”

Only after that, Palermo said, will Knology look at expansion in Decatur.

“We will not go in immediately and do any kind of construction work,” he said.

AT&T provides telephone service in Decatur and is on the list for U-verse service at some point in the future, but like Knology, has no immediate plans to roll out service.  AT&T received a video franchise from the city of Decatur to provide service.

Even with immediate service expansion still out of reach in many parts of the community, Palermo is still excited about the prospects for the future.

“Anytime there is good strong competition,” Palermo said, “that always results in goodness for the consumer.”

[Correction: Article adjusted to reflect Decatur and Athens are in Alabama.]

Auburn, Alabama

Residents of Auburn, Alabama will one day have a choice for cable television service.  Incumbent cable company, Charter Cable, which has been in bankruptcy, will eventually face competition from Knology, a cable “overbuilder” servicing more than a dozen cities in the southeastern U.S.

The Auburn City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday night to begin a non-exclusive cable franchise agreement with Knology, based in West Point, Georgia.  The cable company already serves several other Alabama communities including Dothan, Huntsville, Lanett, Montgomery, and Valley, and expects approval to construct a system in nearby Opelika shortly.

The decision to bring competition to the city of 56,000 was an easy one because residents demanded more choice:

“Thank goodness this has finally happened.  It is time that people in this area had a choice regarding their cable.  Charter has provided poor customer service as well as poor cable and internet service for years.  I am surprised that my internet has stayed up long enough for me to type this!” — psych1

“This makes my day, now all we need is for satellite to have rights to the local channels and we’ll truly have the competition and choice we deserve…this is a huge step though!” — Matt

“I will dump Charter the second Knology is here.” — lp95

“Now we just need this in Opelika. I hate Charter with all my being.” — jackburnt

“Thank Goodness!  Charter is surely the worst cable company in history. I hope nobody reading this fell for their BS “contract” pricing lately.  They knew this was coming and tried to tie folks down for at least another year. This is truly a victory for the people of Auburn.” — tboone

“I am glad to see competition is coming in,” Ward 1 council member Arthur L. Dowdell told the Opelika-Auburn News. “I wish there was more coming in.”

One question remains on the table — When will Knology commence service in the area?

Chad S. Wachter, general counsel for Knology, said he didn’t know when Knology will be available for city residents.

“We’ll provide those answers with the city when we get them,” he said.

Ward 7 council member Gene Dulaney, the News noted, encouraged Wachter to build as fast as possible.

Charter Cable representatives followed the usual playbook cable operators use when competition is imminent.

Skip James, Charter’s director of government relations, addressed the council during citizens’ communications to express the company’s support for competition.

“We competed with Knology in the past and we will continue to in the future,” he said.

Knology provides customers with cable television, telephone and broadband services.  Most of their systems offer broadband at around 8Mbps and there doesn’t appear to be a limit.  Knology is quietly upgrading their systems to DOCSIS 3 to provide “wideband” service, cable’s designated turn of phrase for next generation broadband speeds.  But the company is also following a familiar pattern of not spending the money to upgrade where competitive pressure doesn’t exist.

Knology chairman and CEO Rodger Johnson told investors during a 1st quarter 2009 earnings call that the company was prepared to upgrade, but isn’t going to jump the gun.

“We are enabling our markets to deliver Docsis 3.0 when we decide the time is right to push the trigger,” Johnson said. “A very expensive piece of that proposition is the transition of the cable modems to 3.0 cable modems. We will make that move at the time that we’re feeling competitive pressures to move to a 3.0 environment, but not until that time.”

Johnson should be careful about waiting too long.  Pinellas County is one of Knology’s service areas in Florida, and it has Verizon FiOS and Bright House Networks fighting for customers in an upgrade war Knology cannot win with slower broadband.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Knology – Choices Ad.mp4[/flv]

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p style=”text-align: center;”>Knology “Choices” Ad (30 seconds)