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Lawrence customers of Knology should expect to start seeing changes to their cable, Internet and phone services in the next 90 to 120 days following the announcement that Knology has agreed to sell itself to a Colorado-based company.
Englewood, Colo.-based WOW Internet Cable & Phone announced Wednesday it had reached a deal to purchase West Point, Ga.-based Knology, including its cable, Internet and phone operations in Lawrence.
“We’re very excited about going into all of the communities that Knology serves,” said Cathy Kuo, chief marketing officer for WOW, which is also known as WideOpenWest.
Kuo, though, said she had few details about what changes may be in store for Knology’s Lawrence operations. She said she expected the deal to be finalized and the transition to begin in 90 to 120 days.
Attempts to reach officials at Knology’s corporate headquarters weren’t successful on Wednesday. Local Knology employees, who were informed of the sale Wednesday morning, said they weren’t given details about what changes may be in store.
Kuo said the company hasn’t made any decisions about whether to keep the current Channel 6 local programming, including its nightly newscasts. Kuo said WOW currently does not have any cable systems that provide such local programming.
“We are very aware of the local news station and how popular it is in Lawrence,” Kuo said. “But we haven’t addressed our plans for that.”
Kuo also said WOW hasn’t made any decisions about whether Knology customers will be able to keep their current email addresses for the long term. Many Knology customers still have an email domain of @sunflower.com, which is left over from when Knology purchased Sunflower Broadband from The World Company in October 2010. The World Company is the parent company of the Lawrence Journal-World.
Kuo said in previous situations WOW has given email users a certain period of time to transition over to a WOW email address, which has a domain of wowway.com.
WOW announced Wednesday it had agreed to pay $750.5 million for Knology. With Knology’s debt included, the total deal was valued at about $1.5 billion. Knology’s board unanimously approved the buyout.
Publicly traded Knology, which will become a private company after the deal, has about 800,000 customers in Alabama, Florida, Kansas and Tennessee. WOW is a privately held company, and does not release subscriber totals. But published reports indicated the company had about 1.4 million subscribers in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. WOW is controlled by a New York-based private equity fund, Avista Capital Partners.
WOW CEO Colleen Abdoulah said in a statement that Knology and WOW are a “natural fit” and that the companies’ networks and infrastructure will aid growth.
WOW did not provide any details about the type of service packages or prices it will offer. But its website listed prices beginning at about $80 per month for 70 channels of cable, 2Mbps of Internet and phone service. More advanced service that includes 250 channels, 15Mbps of Internet, and phone service was listed at $102 per month in most markets.
Comments
mommaeffortx2 1 year ago
Well wow
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year ago
"Wow, which is owned by private equity firm Avista Capital Partners,"
Equity firms, AKA job eliminators. Look for more layoffs at whatever becomes of Knology. And look for levels of service to decline even further as a result.
snitty 1 year ago
exactly.
grammarrodeo 1 year ago
it's possible for it to get worse? i had a simple question and got passed off to no less than 4 people and ended up with a technician in Arkansas who told me that "we don't have that in Arkansas". helpful. very helpful.
itsalwayssunnyinlarry 1 year ago
I never thought i would miss sunflower....
however knology's customer service is better than at&t by a million...
Graczyk 1 year ago
I have to agree with you. You wouldn't believe the rigamarole I had to go through with AT&T just to get the service installed. Now they screwed up my billing. How can one company be so incompetent?
itsalwayssunnyinlarry 1 year ago
you wouldn't believe how often i've heard this. Literally that exact thing. They stop billing for a while, then increase your monthly fees, send the wrong equipment (then charge you for it), etc... it's horrible. They have a terrible business practices and despite being cheaper, i will never deal with them again.
Jayhawk1958 1 year ago
I think they are incompentent on purpose so if you have a problem you will eventually give out of frustration either to the service or the billing.
wowworker 1 year ago
I have been at Wow! for more than 8 Years and have never seen a layoff yet in fact we hire more team members on a monthly basis
seriouscat 1 year ago
Knology came in and gutted it. and now they are selling it for several times more than what the Simon's did what was it...one year ago?
lol
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year ago
We don't know the breakdown of what was paid for what used to be Sunflower. It looks like the $750 million is for all units of Knology, not just the "Sunflower" portions.
beatnik 1 year ago
i can't believe i'm saying this but i miss the simons
Soapbox 1 year ago
We're screwed!!
Andini 1 year ago
Hopefully we (Wow) will all be sucked up by Cox soon.
lawrence_citizen 1 year ago
If that happens look for about a 25% increase in your cost.
JayCat_67 1 year ago
Oh, I could TOS'ed right now by responding to that, but I'll refrain.
IgnorantYokel 1 year ago
In case you were thinking about it, now is an excellent time to cut the cord.
The Mohu Leaf is a wonderful indoor HDTV antenna that would allow you to get basic channels for free. There's also HuluPlus and Netflix, bot for for $7.99 per month.
There are numerous options for streaming media players including Roku, Boxee, WD TV Live Plus, Apple TV, et al. And just a few days ago, Walmart announced a partnership with D-Link to sell a sub-$50 box.
Food for thought.
Hooligan_016 1 year ago
I cut the cable cord long ago, I would like a new ISP though.
itsalwayssunnyinlarry 1 year ago
me too. After a terrible at&t experience and knology's price gouging i would love another option.
auntmimi210 1 year ago
Hooligan & Sunny, you should try a company called DSL Extreme (dslextreme.com). My understanding is that they use AT&T's lines. I've had their service for about a year & a half, and have been pretty happy with it overall. Reasonable price, reasonable speed.
consumer1 1 year ago
ISP? Intensive Supervision Probation officer??
bookemdano 1 year ago
Do you own the Leaf and live in Lawrence? If so, I would be very interested to know what channels you can pick up reliably with it. I needed a rooftop antenna + preamp to get the KC stations or an attic antenna to get most of the Topeka stations. An indoor antenna wasn't picking up anything.
jackbinkelman 1 year ago
bookemdano, There are very simple and inexpensive solution to your problem..
bookemdano 1 year ago
most non-useful response ever--thanks!
And to clarify, I don't have a problem. As I stated in my post, I invested in a ChannelMaster UHF antenna and pre-amp already.
I was more wanting clarification in case this guy's post encouraged someone living in Lawrence to buy an indoor antenna thinking that it would work for anything other than an expensive paperweight.
Alceste 1 year ago
bookemdano:
Alceste receives ALL KCMO channels in brillian HD using a 4bay bow tie UHF antenna. Were that antenna on a rotor, it would have no problem receiving all Topeka channels. The issue is somewhat complex relative to the channels being received because of the way the FCC had tv stations switch to digital. While it may say you're on channel 5, that is NOT the "rf" of the channel: Channel 5, which used to be in the VHF range is NOW in the UHF range, transmitting on "rf" channel 24.
Anyway, the good news for us in Lawrence is that ALL of the KCMO channels are in the UHF range, so you can focus your antenna on that frequency spectrum alone; you do not have to use a compromise antenna which includes the VHF spectrum. Here is a web link, as an example, for an antenna that will do just fine for you:
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=HD-4400&d=Winegard-HD-4400-4-Bay-UHF-Prostar-1000-High-Definition-TV-Antenna-(HD-4400)
If you're a COSTCO member, this antenna, while more expensive, may allow you to NOT have to outside mount the antenna: http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=C2&d=Antennas-Direct-C2-ClearStream2-Outdoor-Digital-HD-TV-Antenna-(C2)&c=TV Antennas&sku=5374800112
actually, that outfit's delivered price is cheaper than costco's! You have not really viewed HDTV until you've viewed it "over the air". Seriously.
PS: http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/ is an fcc website that splains thing a tad bit. Just put in your zip code in the upper left hand corner.
bookemdano 1 year ago
Thanks for the response. I actually already own a Channel Master 8-bay UHF monster up on my roof, and that with the addition of a pre-amp gets me all the KC stations (agree that we're lucky they are all UHF now--I get KMBC a lot better now than I used to). I use a DVR so a rotor isn't really practical since I'm not aware of any solution that would automatically rotate the antenna prior to recording a Topeka station (but that would be a cool idea!). It's OK I don't actually miss the Topeka stations much other than KTWU--but I can often pull that one in off the back side anyway.
You've posted a lot of great info that could help others in the same boat though, so kudos! But I am a regular and loyal Costco member, and have never seen any antenna for sale in the warehouse--are they with the TVs or were you talking about their online store?
Cheers.
Alceste 1 year ago
Those Antenna Direct antennas are over in the computer section of all the COSTCO warehouses in KC metro. However, could be they've sold out and aren't selling them anymore....but they were there 3 weeks back.
That being said, the SolidSignal price was better. I was kinda sorta astounded when I finally got their pricing (Solidsignal.com don't list the price: You gots to add it to the shopping bag to get the price....and that is like $44.99 plus $7.00 for shipping which is less than the COSTCO price......that antenna is most excellent, too. Just point any of them at 77° and in comes the over the air signal. I have an incredible tree line and other stuff in my way.....but full foliage not withstanding, the stuff comes in fine and dandy.
average 1 year ago
I have the slightly more classic beam VHF and Yagi-UHF combo antenna with a pre-amp pointed to the KC stations. The VHF side of that is omni-directional enough that I get KTWU near-perfect off the back (good, probably my most-watched, especially 11.2) but barely get WIBW's VHF signal unless I rotate the antenna.
But, I'm just about at the highest spot in Lawrence (behind the Merc). I've tried to hook friends up with antennas in some neighborhoods (Marvonne) where you don't get anything from either KC or Topeka.
Alceste 1 year ago
....after trying....did they get signal? The UHF spectrum is pretty particular when it comes to trees and other "impediments" to signal. Trust me: The antenna's I've listed will do anybody just fine. That Antenna Direct antenna I've listed did swell on a tripod inside the house. I'm surronded by a VERY high tree line and other obstructions too. Point that thing at 77° and KCMO WILL come in. Be certain whatever antenna you're going to use is a dedicated UHF antenna for the KCMO stations. Each and every last one is transmitting on a UHF frequency. See for yourself, again, here: http://transition.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/maps_current/Kansas_City_MO-KS.pdf
awesomex 1 year ago
Roku Box with Amazon Prime is a pretty good combo too. I just cut the cord two weeks ago and haven't looked back. I generally buy TV show DVDs (usually 30+ dollars a season), now I am just buying the season pass from Amazon for about 40 - 50 dollars. I now own the shows I actually watch and won't have to bother with purchasing the DVDs once they are released. Plus you get the episodes the next day after they air so it isn't like you are having to wait a long time to watch the shows you enjoy.
whats_going_on 1 year ago
We have a digital antenna...its great. We get CBS (sports! Criminal Minds, etc) and Fox I think, ION and a few others. Enough for us with both Hulu and Netflix, and limited TV watching in the first place :)
truthbetold7 1 year ago
Thanks for the info! I do currently have antenna TV, but I heard free TV by way of antenna was going to be blocked by 2015 by cable companies. I only get about 23 channels but it's free, I love it, & want to keep it! Anyone have info on this?
sad_lawrencian 1 year ago
It's only a matter of time before Time Warner, Comcast, Charter or Cox comes in and buys Simons/LawrenceBroadband/Knology/Wow. My money's on Cox. Knology's phone-based customer service is an insult to the customer-service and cable industries. Oh and hey, "Wow" is a lot better than "Kuh-GNAW-luh-jee".
bartstop 1 year ago
Really? How did I know the Tea Party would be here to insult people? Get a life.
madcow 1 year ago
Does this mean I will be able to watch a full hour long episode of anything without the most important parts turning into a pixelated sound-garbled mess.
gccs14r 1 year ago
No, it means that you'll soon long for the days when only the important parts turned into a pixelated sound-garbled mess, instead of the entire program being that way.
awesomex 1 year ago
Yep this is why I dropped Knology two weeks ago. When I would call about my service it was always just "We will send a refresh signal out."...
Coach_Eric 1 year ago
I see what you did there...
Soapbox 1 year ago
WOW CUSTOMER SERVICE didn't even know they had bought Knology until I called them at: 866-469-9669 to ask about services and pricing. They really didn't want to discuss pricing but did discuss services and limitations.........WOW
difference_of_opinion 1 year ago
Give them time. They just announced the merger today, they haven't actually made the conversion yet.
Alceste 1 year ago
Now why is it Lawrence doesn't merit competition from outfits like Time Warner Road Runner; Comcast; Cox; Surewestkc.net etc.? All three are readily available in KC....why not Lawrence?
itsalwayssunnyinlarry 1 year ago
I would love it if surewest was available here!
consumer1 1 year ago
The Simons Kept them out. you know monopoly.
Alceste 1 year ago
Ding! Ding! Ding!! We have a winner!!! And the granting of this monopoly has now come back to bite the Lawrence public in the rear end. Look at other "unversity communities" and you'll find all have great options for accessing the world wide web. Not Lawrence. shrug
haplo 1 year ago
False & misguided statement. Cable companies are not required to lease their copper/fiber plant like telcos are, thus Comcast/TW/Surewest/Cox would need to make agreements with all cities that they wanted to provide service to and then come in and lay their own fiber & coax network. To set up a single node would potentially cost millions of dollars between equipment costs & labor, not to mention the possibility of cutting other services during the work. And that would be to provide service to a handful of customers.
So, let's lowball the number by a lot and say that it's $500,000 to set up a node. There's approximately 50,000 homes in the Lawrence area and you could feasibly service 400ish homes per node. That slices Lawrence up into about 125 areas. That puts the cost of covering all of Lawrence at $62.5m.
Now, to recoup the cost of expansion, you would want to start turning a profit within 5 - 10 years. To do that within 5 years, that would require 100% penetration (converting every single home in Lawrence) at $250.00 per month. In 10 years that would be $125.00. Realistically though, with an incumbent provider, AT&T and Dish/DirecTV in the area, you can assume a rolling 25% penetration rate after several years. That means that it would require $1000 a month p/ customer to hit your 5 year return or $500 a month for 10 years.
Double the numbers if the cost is closer to a million p/ area of town. Now, through the magic of math, you can understand why it is not feasible for a cable company to come in and just overbuild Lawrence. AT&T doing it for U-Verse right now is different because all of their lines were already laid and they are simply installing V-Rads around town to provide video service.
local_interest 1 year ago
The market is pretty small for the other players. The same problem rural internet has. The price of the tech has to drop to make it cost effective to server such a small group of people. 100k isn't a huge market for these bigger companies. Dolph was pretty good at protecting his borders from intrusion, though.
clovis_sangrail 1 year ago
At least Knology's customer service and tech support aren't in some third-world crap hole. When I have had internet connectivity problems, I got someone in the U.S., someone whose first language was English. They also weren't reading from a script, and they weren't crammed into some sweat-shop call center where I could hear dozens of other conversations going on at the same time.
This was a big improvement over my previous internet service provider. I guess I'l have to wait and see what will come with Wow, but if they send their support calls off-shore, I'll be looking again.
grammarrodeo 1 year ago
I disagree. Arkansas is a third world craphole.
Pywacket 1 year ago
"At least Knology's customer service and tech support aren't in some third-world crap hole."
Apparently you missed Grammarrodeo's earlier comment about calling for assistance and getting a know-nothing technician in Arkansas.
(smile)
clovis_sangrail 1 year ago
When I had connectivity problems, I got a pretty decent tech who was in South Dakota, or maybe North Dakota, but not Arkansas. This is as compared with an English-challenged Earthlink phone hack reading from a script in phone sweat shop in Bangladesh or Bangalore or Bombay or Mumbai or whatever it calls itself now.
And for customer service, I ferreted out their corporate number and talked to a nice lady there; she actually called back multiple times to make sure the problem was fixed.
I've had no complaints with Knology, but I fear those days are over.
wowworker 1 year ago
WOW! does not send there calls off shore they have call centers in Colorado and Alabama
Alceste 1 year ago
Nah....it has to do with the sweetheart deal Sunflower made with them that are in the City that is right here in River City. Sunflower cashed out, sold to Knology; Knology is now cashing out and these other boys are going to inherit the sweetheart deal. shrug
difference_of_opinion 1 year ago
It's not really cashing out when they are in debt 752 million and only selling for 750.
Joshua Montgomery 1 year ago
I imagine the deal is for $750M in cash + assuming current debt.
difference_of_opinion 1 year ago
Yet Knology has been servicing the Tongie, Basehor, Bonner and Leavenworth areas...
FlintlockRifle 1 year ago
I just hope the internet service inproves, getting s----l---o---w---e----r , each month
Hooligan_016 1 year ago
++++ this, so much.
MarcoPogo 1 year ago
We were having cable problems a couple weeks ago and when I talked to the customer service girl, she was having problems looking at what was going on. After several instances of long pauses, she said "I'm so sorry, our system is running like garbage."
Michael Stanclift 1 year ago
I wonder what their plan for 6News is?
consumer1 1 year ago
Cha Ching! Get your creditcards ready.
cheeseburger 1 year ago
Are you serious - that comment was removed?
Alex Parker 1 year ago
No ninnies suggested removal. Your comment gave no insight that your mother appreciates the service in Wichita. Often I can only speculate at the motivations behind comments, many of which are snarky and suggestive.
cheeseburger 1 year ago
But this one was permitted?
he_who_knows_all (anonymous) says… I want a Dicks so bad I can taste it!
Where's the consistency?
Subjectivity rules!
cheeseburger 1 year ago
and this:
Andini (anonymous) replies… And Dicks sporting goods.
Did you realize that Frank Martin coaches the South Carolina Cocks now?
ljwhirled 1 year ago
WOW!
Look at that pricing:
2 Mbps for $40/Mo 15Mbps for $50/Mo 30Mbps for $70/Mo 50Mbps for $90/Mo *Does not include overage charges. https://sales.wowway.com/OnlineStore/PricingAndPackaging.aspx
I'll stick with Lawrence Freenet: 20 Mbps Down http://www.netindex.com/download/3,196/Kansas/ 8 Mbps Up http://www.netindex.com/upload/3,196/Kansas,-US/ No bandwidth caps $29/Mo
itsalwayssunnyinlarry 1 year ago
I've been thinking about trying freenet. It's reliable for you?
Joshua Montgomery 1 year ago
Depends on where you are. Call Lionell and chat with him, he'll give you a straight answer for your location: (785) 371-4214
jmadison 1 year ago
NY Times reports $750 million plus $750 million debt assumption = $1.5 billion deal
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/wow-buys-knology-for-750-million/?src=twrhp
Alceste 1 year ago
perhaps, but Lawrence Free Net ain't got no wire....it's all wireless. They'll tell ya it ain't hackable.....but trust Alceste on this: Yes, it is...and very easily so.....very easily.....copper wire baby.....stick with that copper (for Lawrence). Fiber's where you wanna be, but that will be in Lawrence for the masses by 2099; irrespective.....don't do wireless....NOT wireless.....
Hooligan_016 1 year ago
I can't tell, what is the data allotment? Those rates are staggering though.
wowworker 1 year ago
WOW! has no overage charges or bandwidth caps
ladyoneill 1 year ago
So, Knology just changed the look of their bills last month and changed the webmail today just in time to sell. Great. The new webmail is not an improvement. The only way to move to a new message is go back to the inbox and click on it.
When the Uverse came by in January to tell me my neighborhood could now get it (and that four show dvr which I would love), I decided to stick with Knology because it's already set up, you aren't locked into a contract and can make changes at any time to your cable/internet packages, and I've had my sunflower email address for a dozen years and I love that it's the unique word sunflower (and I have my first name, too and not a name with a bunch of numbers after it). If WOW takes away the sunflower address, I'm out of here. That'll be the last straw of many, many since Knology took over with their shoddy customer service.
Can't believe I miss a Simons run company, but Sunflower had really good customer service and the geeks right here in town.
Dave Greenbaum 1 year ago
Come on Google Fiber and IPTV!
Liberal 1 year ago
agreed
chootspa 1 year ago
Yes. This.
Alceste 1 year ago
Yee Haw! I'm with you.....but since it'll never happend PAID to bring in a personal fiber and haven't looked back. SPEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDD yee haw!
bartstop 1 year ago
+1
Soapbox 1 year ago
http://www.digitalplusideas.com/
johnwoods 1 year ago
Don't bother going to the link above. Has nothing to do with anything and makes no sense.
bartstop 1 year ago
The girl looks like she has a carrot up her @ss!
FlintHawk 1 year ago
Uhhh. Wasn't a Knology sale a rumor a few weeks ago? And didn't the company strongly deny that we were on the market? Or am I making this up?
Trust.Is.Everything.
Alceste 1 year ago
Ummm.....it was reported in the Wall Street Journal as a bona fide search for a buyer. Nothing hidden here http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/02/28/cable-operator-knology-explores-potential-sale/?mod=WSJ_qtnews_wsjlatest
FlintHawk 1 year ago
I should have specified the LJW. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/feb...
I did misremember Knology's response: There wasn't one.
Apologies to Knology for an imperfect memory.
tolawdjk 1 year ago
The Denver area company is a deceptive description.
Wow isn't Denver. Avista Capital Management is Denver. Wow is Ohio, Michigan, Illinois (where the heck in Illinois I have no idea, I thought that was purely comcast territory.), Indiana.
Denver is Comcast or Century Link.
FlintHawk 1 year ago
Yes.
FYI: http://www.wowway.com/internet-cable-phone-company/company-information/
Avista: New York, Houston, London???? http://www.avistacap.com/portfolio
We've now become a birdie in a high stakes badminton game.
mikekt 1 year ago
They (Knology) just recently raised my bill & i suppose that here comes some new leveraged purchase debt that i will be receiving another billing increase for. Happiness is?! Am considering my options, as i should.
JamieJ83 1 year ago
After parting ways with Sunflower/Knology's price gouged monopoly 2 years ago, We went with AT&T for our ISP and DirecTV. Been totally blown away (in a good way) with DirecTV customer service but AT&T makes me homicidal even just to pay my monthly bill. Because there are literally no other options for an ISP, we're going back reluctantly to Knology (or Wow, I guess?) with our tail between our legs.
auntmimi210 1 year ago
Don't know what your needs are, but check out DSL Extreme (dslextreme.com). I've been pretty happy with them for a year and a half now.
Alceste 1 year ago
Thanks for this information. Is your area "eligible" for their fastest connection? I checked out location and we're only good for the 3megs down package. Is that all of Lawrence or only parts relative to your distance from their switching station?
oneeye_wilbur 1 year ago
And what would the Color Press deal back in the 70s really be worthnow?
That history and sale should give a real J/W reporter something to do.
BlackVelvet 1 year ago
Guess it's time to sell the tvs and computers and go back to reading books.
hear_me 1 year ago
Lesson learned. Pay attention and appreciate local businesses. Growth isn't all it's cracked up to be.
KRichards 1 year ago
I personally have loved ATT Uverse. The customer service is not good, but I only had to call once in 13 months.
handlon 1 year ago
We got hoodwinked into going to ATT U-Verse last summer by a U-Verse salesperson who as it turns out would say anything to make his sales commission. My wife and I have had ATT out as many times in as many months to get our system running. We commonly lost all connectivity and just finally gave up about a month ago and went to Knology. While this new purchase by Wow is creepy, so far we have been extremely happy with Knology. I hope they don't go down the tubes.
Andini 1 year ago
I'm glad I still use my old RCA and rabbit ears
overplayedhistory 1 year ago
That is just mean. Not that I have not thought about doing the same thing with a god peddler, but I never actually dive in. I would have to have some serious issues, and have had a bad day to go through with batting cold seller around for an hour. I would of only messed with them for about 5 mins.
You must be working through some issues. Next time pick on someone who deserves it more. Glad it was not a girl scout who rolled up on you that day.
Gareth 1 year ago
Hopefully this will mean that we'll get some of the channels that Wow carries that Knology doesn't.
parrothead8 1 year ago
Here we go...worse service and higher rates are on the way.
Andini 1 year ago
It's just a matter of time until we are all Cox.
Andini 1 year ago
And Dicks sporting goods.
Did you realize that Frank Martin coaches the South Carolina Cocks now?
Andini 1 year ago
So will his wife.
Soapbox 1 year ago
I WILL REPEAT MYSELF.....We are screwed!! Look at the pricing
evilpenguin 1 year ago
Any word on what will happen with Freestate Studios? I hope they will stay open....lots of jobs there...
sad_lawrencian 1 year ago
Whatever happened to the Lawrence Broadband Observer? We need he/she to weigh in.
FlintHawk 1 year ago
The updated information makes this story worse than it seemed this morning. The email address change I've been dreading is seemingly around the corner; the rates. the rates. what good thing can I say about the expected rates?
WOW. This is not good.
Curtis Lange 1 year ago
Hahahaha. How many more buyouts on the buyout ladder til Comcast or Time Warner?
KamFongAsChinHo 1 year ago
Here is a quote from October 2010 when Knology bought Sunflower:
“Knology of Kansas Inc., part of a Georgia-based communications company, formally acquired Lawrence-based Sunflower on Friday in a deal valued at $165 million.”
And here is the quote for WOW’s purchase:
“WOW announced Wednesday it had agreed to pay $750.5 million for Knology. With Knology’s debt included, the total deal was valued at about $1.5 billion. Knology’s board unanimously approved the buyout.”
How on earth does a cable system have a value of $165 million in Oct 2010 and $750 million in Apr 2012?
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year ago
Knology owns several systems in several states, not just the one they bought in Kansas.
KamFongAsChinHo 1 year ago
Thanks, Bozo, that makes sense.
skinny 1 year ago
If they change the email addresses and raise the rates I will be leaving too! I get 32 channels on the attenna in the attic and I will get DirecTV, Simple as that!
reverber 1 year ago
Now would be an opportune time for Dolph to use some of his cash from the cable sale to start up an ISP :)
PitBullGrandma 1 year ago
UVerse
davinci 1 year ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
wowworker 1 year ago
I am a wow employee and let me tell you first hand wow! is all about the customer. Wow! consistantly wins jd power awards for customer service in all three services.
none2 1 year ago
If Wow is so wonderful, why have they yet to do local news in any of their markets? Do they think local news is passe?
wowworker 1 year ago
nobody has ever approached about local news
davinci 1 year ago
JD Power awards are a joke. Whoever donates the most money or contributes to some plan. You'll need to prove it. Lawrence has a high standard.
wowworker 1 year ago
WOW! has high standards as well Believe me if that was the case about donating money it would always be comcast that won
pace 1 year ago
Well those sweet assurances that level of service and commitment to the community will shine under the Knowlogy moon, that is over. The moon has set, and Wow has no promises to keep. I thought it funny that Know-logy made them, but now I see it was a trial marriage. Maybe it wasn't true love. i will miss the guy in North Dakota that helped my figure out the new email system.
theironmouse 1 year ago
Once again the ugly head of pure greed of the American free market rears up again. This once again proves that the free market is out for the investors not the public nor the people who work at the business. Once again it proves that the Governement needs to have more controlling interest in the economy. If we want the economy to grow.. these type of buyouts have to stop. Knology was doing just fine, was not in financial trouble at all.. the greedy investors saw a fat check and said sure..who cares who is going to get laid off ..I am going to the Bahammas. Yes people are going to get laid off, when ever there is a buyout like this.. head count gets cut or moved. Been in the business for 15 years and I see it happen all the time.
Eitherway, were stuck with them now. If anything... the auto shops business is going to boom for a short bit again..think of all the trucks they have to repaint! Guess thats one way to support local business.
wowworker 1 year ago
As i remember correctly the last merger we had in January nobody lost there job unless they left themselves or failed drug test
doc1 1 year ago
Direct TV is the only way to go. Loss of signal is virtually non existent anymore. And you can stream movies from your computer with their new boxes. Cable is a dinosaur.
Soapbox 1 year ago
http://www.digitalplusideas.com/
wowworker 1 year ago
no actually I see everybody here bashing WOW! and nobody in here knows anything about the company. Smaller companies Like WOW! and Knology are struggling to make it because of programming cost. When your the big wig in this industry(ie comcast, cox, time warner) you get really low programming cost because you have millions of subscribers and being a small company you have high programming cost which then must be passed on to the subscriber and by adding more customers it helps leverage you to lower those costs.
wowworker 1 year ago
And I am just a regular plain old service technician in Michigan region
wowworker 1 year ago
I searched it to get info about it as us as employees of Wow just found out ourselves on wed. and I searched info on google and this forum popped up so I started reading it just to see people bashing a company they know nothing about
Alceste 1 year ago
wowworker: Welcome to the message board and pay no never mind to the naysayers who abound.....many of them still rely heavily on Windows 95 and know everything about about every topic.
Note to tech: PLEASE suggest bringing AFFORDABLE fiber into the house....
see ya!
merrill 1 year ago
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Levi & Korsinsky is investigating the Board of Directors of Knology, Inc. (“Knology” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: KNOL) for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with the sale of the Company to WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone. Under the terms of the agreement, Knology shareholders will receive $19.75 for each share of Knology stock they own. The transaction has a total approximate value of $1.5 billion.
Click here to learn how to join the action: http://www.zlk.com/knology-knol, or call: 877-363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.
The investigation concerns whether the Knology Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to Knology stockholders by failing to adequately shop the Company before entering into this transaction and whether WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone is underpaying for Knology shares, thus unlawfully harming Knology stockholders.
If you own common stock Knology and wish to obtain additional information, please contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972, or http://www.zlk.com.
skinny 1 year ago
Knolody's mail server has been down for almost three hours this afternoon. They have the worst customer service I've ever seen. They haven’t even updated their news section on their web page since they've taken over Sunflower!!
I sure miss Sunflower big time!!
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