Wide Open West

WideOpenWest (doing business as WOW![2]) is the sixth largest cable operator in the United States.[3] The company offers landline telephone, cable television, and broadband Internet services.[4] As of June 30, 2020, WOW! has about 844,500 subscribers.[5]

WideOpenWest, Inc.
Public
Traded asNYSE: WOW
Russell 2000 Component
IndustryTelecommunications
PredecessorAmericast, Knology
Founded1996 (1996)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Headquarters
Englewood, Colorado
,
U.S.
Area served
Key people
Teresa Elder, Chief Executive Officer and President
ProductsBroadband
Cable television
Digital cable
Digital telephone
HDTV
Internet
Internet security
VoIP phone
BrandsWOW!
RevenueUS$1,145.8 million(2019)[1]
US$37.9 million(2019)[1]
US$36.4 million(2019)[1]
Total assetsUS$2,471.6 million(2019)[1]
SubsidiariesNulink
Websitewww.wowway.com

After a 2017 initial public offering, WideOpenWest is publicly traded with Avista Capital Partners and Crestview Partners retaining significant stakes.[6] As of August 6, 2019 Avista Capital Partners sold their shares in the company, leaving Crestview Partners WOW's largest shareholder holding a 37% stake in the company.[7]

History

WOW! was founded in November 1996 in Denver, Colorado. After building a network in April 2001, WOW! initially served about 200 people in the Denver area. In November 2001, WOW! purchased Americast, an overbuild system in the Midwest built and operated by Ameritech New Media for an undisclosed amount per subscriber, estimated to have been at a cost of $600 per sub. This purchase opened WOW! to over 310,000 new customers in metropolitan areas surrounding the cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Denver, and Evansville.[8] WOW! no longer serves the Denver market.

Avista Capital Partners completed its acquisition of cable operator WideOpenWest (“WOW!”) from Oak Hill Capital Partners and ABRY Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.[9]

On August 23, 2011, Wave Broadband and WOW! announced that they entered into an agreement to purchase substantially all of the assets of Broadstripe LLC, a provider of residential and commercial bundled communications services. On January 14, WOW! completed the acquisition of Broadstripe's cable systems in Michigan.

In April 2012, WOW! purchased Knology, a broadband company, operating in 13 markets. With the merger the combined customer total will be over 800,000.[10]

In June 2014, WOW! sold its cable, Internet and phone systems in the South Dakota markets to Clarity Telecom. Part of the multimillion-dollar deal, worth $262 million, included the markets in Iowa and Minnesota previously served by Knology and PrairieWave Communications.[11] In March 2015 these markets would officially become known as Vast Broadband.[12]

In September 2016, WOW! purchased NuLink, a cable company serving Newnan, Georgia with approximately 34,000 customers at the time the deal closed.[13]

In October 2016, WOW! came to an agreement with Midco to sell its systems in Lawrence, Kansas. These systems currently pass approximately 67,000 homes and businesses in the area.[14]

On June 28, 2017, WOW! officially no longer serves the Lawrence, Kansas area.[15]

On March 6, 2018 WOW! announced that they had deployed DOCSIS 3.1 to 95% of their footprint, one of the first cable operators to reach that near-ubiquitous threshold.[16]

Internet availability by state
StatePopulation Covered by WOW![17]
Michigan1,856,779
Ohio1,506,425
Alabama624,286
Illinois1,604,922
South Carolina260,628
Florida804,085
Indiana316,534
Georgia494,673
Tennessee139,600
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See also

References
  1. "WideOpenWest, Inc. 2019 Annual Report (Form 10-K)" (PDF). ir.wowway.com. Wide Open West. March 2020.
  2. "WOW! Internet Cable and Phone - Bundle offers and support". WowWay.com. Wide Open West. Retrieved 2016-08-20.
  3. "WideOpenWest, Inc. - investor relations". ir.wowway.com. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
  4. "About WOW!". WowWay.com. Wide Open West. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
  5. "WOW! Reports Second Quarter 2020 Results". WideOpenWest, Inc. August 3, 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  6. "News" (PDF). wowway.com. WideOpenWest.
  7. "10-K" (PDF). wowway.com. WideOpenWest.
  8. "SBC Sells For a Song". Multichannel News.
  9. "Waller Advises Sale".
  10. "WOW! to Acquire Knology for $19.75 Per Share in Cash". BusinessWire.com. 2012-04-18.
  11. "WOW! sells off SD systems to Clarity for $262M". Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  12. "Vast Broadband Launches In SD". Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  13. "WOW! Closes Acquisition of NuLink to Provide High-Speed Internet, Cable TV and Phone Service to Metro Atlanta" (PDF). www.wowway.com. September 12, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  14. "Midco to Acquire WOW! System in Lawrence, KS" (PDF). www.wowway.com. October 21, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  15. "MidCo". www.wowway.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  16. "WOW! 1 Gig Internet Speeds Now Available to More Than 95 Percent of Customers" (PDF). WOW!. 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  17. "WOW! Availability by State". broadbandnow.com. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
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