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'Triple-play' package enters first phase
(Chattanooga Times (Free Press, TN) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Nov. 26--PIKEVILLE, Tenn. -- About two-thirds of homes with digital phone lines in Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties now have access to part of Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative's "triple play" entertainment service, officials said.
"Triple play" refers to the use of high-speed, digital phone lines for telephone, television and Internet services, General Manager Greg Anderson said.
Customers with digital phone lines, called "DSL" in the industry, are being connected to the network, Mr. Anderson said. Digital Internet is the first service available, he said.
"We still lack about 300 DSL customers that haven't been moved to the new network," he said.
Over the next two years, Bledsoe Telephone is looking to provide Internet and television service to anyone in Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties with a digital telephone line, officials said.
The first phase is getting digital lines to all the customers, and the remaining work involves providing equipment needed for customers to use the services, Mr. Anderson said.
Television service packages will start at a monthly charge of $12.95 for 14 channels, 57-channel "basic" is $31.95 a month and a third tier of more than 80 channels will cost $47.95 a month, according to Network Operations Manager David Mercer.
Standard Internet will cost $55.90 a month, Mr. Mercer said.
The cooperative began the $8 million to $10 million project over the summer, but the technology is so new that officials are finding a growing number of hoops to jump through, Mr. Anderson said.
Television programming companies want assurances about capacity and security because the service is based on the same technology used for the Internet, he said.
"It all depends on how soon we can satisfy ABC, Disney and ESPN," Mr. Anderson said.
The cooperative's employees are being used as test subjects for the television service, Mr. Anderson said. "I'm hoping that by the first of the year we'll have a lot of these issues dealt with. And I hope we'll be able to start providing video to some real customers beyond our employee test base," Mr. Anderson said.
Al and Kathy Little, who over the years have had satellite and cable feeds for television, are one of the test households for the new service.
"We went through four different vendors," said Mrs. Little, who works at the cooperative. The cooperative chose OCCAM Networks as the triple play vendor.
"Now, we have no problems with the weather knocking out our signal like it did with satellite," Mr. Little said. He likes the system's channel guide, which he said works similar to satellite television guides.
"If I can do it, anybody can," Mr. Little said. "I'm not digitally inclined."
E-mail Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com BY THE NUMBERS Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative 12,489: Telephone lines 3,832: Current traditional cable TV customers 2,308: Current Internet customers (includes dial-up and DSL) 797: Current DSL Internet customers 11,500: Potential "tripleplay" customers Source: Bledsoe Telephone
Copyright (c) 2006, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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