It is a really cool product and the user interface they developed is slick and easy to use. If you love HBO’s original series, then you’re in for a real treat because it looks like just about all of them are available for viewing. I had forgotten how many series I had meant to watch back when they premiered and just never found the time to tune into. Now it’s great that wherever I am, if I have my iPad with me, I can sneak in an HBO show or a movie.

HBO Go is part of a phenomenon known as “TV Everywhere”. It’s the idea of being able to view your television content on any device you might have, whether it’s your tv, computer or mobile handheld device. Like many new technology innovations, many of the kinks are still being worked out. For TV Everywhere specifically one of the major kinks is the business model. Programmers who own the content are trying to figure out how to make money on it. Cable providers like WOW! believe that we are already paying for their content. Together with our customers, we shouldn’t be forced to pay even higher prices for that same content – especially when so many programmers make it available for free over the Internet anyway. So we’ve got to sort through this because as HBO Go shows us, the concept of TV Everywhere is a pretty cool one.

WOW! customers can expect that we will continue to add similar services in the future. Which networks and shows specifically will join HBO Go and when is unfortunately something I can’t answer. Because, as mentioned above, we’ve got to negotiate each of these agreements individually with the goal of being able to present them to you at the best value possible. As new services come up, we will definitely let you know. In the meantime, I hope HBO customers enjoy HBO Go.

Then this evening I got caught up on the Oprah fever that hit this week. I had been traveling and even though I’m not an Oprah fanatic, my husband DVR’d a couple of the farewell shows for me because I love television “events” like this. There was a segment on the surprise show that they threw for her at the United Center in Chicago that really touched me. It was when they highlighted the impact Oprah has had on the lives of young men and women around the world by providing them with scholarships and other educational resources. 68,688 people have been able to attend school because of Oprah. Amazing! But the humanity of it all became very real when 400 men from Morehead College who had benefited from a scholarship marched in to the arena. The ability to literally see the difference you can make is powerful.

So what does this have to do with WOW!? In many ways, not much. In others, it’s everything. And that’s because it’s about servanthood. We truly believe that it’s about the honor of serving others rather than being served, and we do our best to live out that core value in service to our customers and each other every day. We don’t have a corporate foundation per se, but our employees give of their personal time, heart and wherewithal to help those in need. Whether it’s providing employees’ children with the chance at a WOW! scholarship or sending money to our partners who were devastated by the recent tornadoes, it is our culture to show that we care in ways big and small. And sometimes it’s what we might consider smaller actions that seem to go the farthest. Like simply treating people with respect, patience and understanding. The number of times we hear from customers about how we treated them with dignity is countless. Thank you for sharing your stories and WOW! moments with us. We cherish them and learn from them. Keep ‘em coming!

You can figure out where I’m going with this and may think I’m being insincere and self-serving. Not so on the former but, yeah, a little bit of truth to the latter. If like me you trust that Consumer Reports provides unbiased product/company rankings and reviews, then you should check out the May 2011 issue that’s on newsstands now. They have just released their annual report on Internet, TV and Phone service and I’m very humbled to share that WOW! ranks #1 for Internet and TV, and #2 for Phone service. That’s compared to 15-20 other providers across the nation.

Importantly, WOW! shows up in the top on a consistent basis as this is not the first time we’ve been #1 in Consumer Reports’ rankings or in other independent third party reviews. As a WOW! customer or potential customer, consistency in quality and value across the entire experience is important to look for. I know we can tell you about what we aspire to deliver you, but isn’t it much more credible when people and resources you trust can vouch for WOW!?

While we’re all incredibly pleased about the results in Consumer Reports, we know the celebration can only last about a nanosecond. The fact is that we have a lot going on with our current digital transition.  We know many folks are pleased that we’re adding a lot more HD channels to our line-up, but the change to get there is not easy. So thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through this together. We appreciate the opportunity you’ve given us to serve you and hope to be able to continue doing so for a very long time.

Q: You spent a lot of time in D.C. in 2010, advocating that the Comcast-NBCU deal needed to have conditions attached to its approval. What kind of conditions were you looking for and were you successful?

I testified in Washington three times before Congress, once before the FCC at a field hearing in Chicago, and attended numerous meetings on the Hill in DC and at the FCC for one reason – fairness.  I knew that the Comcast-NBCU merger could create many harms and possibly hurt our company’s competitiveness, and that’s why I testified to ask the FCC and Washington to ensure that our company could continue to compete effectively in our markets.  I didn’t ask for special treatment, but just limited conditions that would prevent Comcast-NBCU from taking anti-competitive action against us.  Working with our Washington trade association, the American Cable Association (ACA), we sought conditions that would strengthen our company’s ability in the arbitration process to hold Comcast-NBCU accountable for its actions and that would help to keep programming prices down for regional sports, retransmission consent and national cable programming.  And after 13 months of effort, the FCC provided conditions that we believe will do just that.

Q: Were there any significant conditions we wanted but were unable to get?

There were many things that we and the ACA would have liked to obtain, but in reviewing a merger like Comcast-NBCU, the FCC does a very thorough job of ensuring that conditions address only those harms that specifically are caused by the merger.  No broad conditions were implemented that address industry-wide problems dealing with programming or retransmission consent.  For the most part, however, the FCC provided conditions that were on target with the merger-specific harms we and the ACA proved.  The FCC extended relief for the first time to cover national cable programming, as well as improved arbitration relief for regional sports and retransmission consent matters.  The FCC also increased the size limit for the definition of a smaller cable operator that fully covers WOW! and gives us access to special FCC relief if and when we have a irreconcilable issue.

Q: How will this merger impact WOW!? Will Comcast put WOW! out of business?

We are not at risk of Comcast putting WOW! out of business because of this merger. Yes, it gives them unprecedented size and market power for sure. But we will continue to apply our own, clear and focused strategies, conducting business as we have prior to the merger. Comcast has always invested in the future and now their resources to innovate just expanded. This is something we have always faced being the smaller operator. Yet with the resources we have and the consumer focus we are grounded in, WOW! has smart innovative ideas and plans for the near and long term that will allow us to continue to be competitive. Therefore, the direct and immediate impact this merger has will be fairly transparent until we have to negotiate for services they own/control. Then we shall see if they choose to negotiate in good faith or if we will need to resort to the improved arbitration relief granted.

Q: Now that you have a view of the inside, what do you think about our system of government? Was there anything that really took you by surprise?

Our system has a lot of flaws and can be horribly frustrating and discouraging to navigate through. That said, it is democracy at its best. We do have a voice. We have freedom of speech. We can work hard to try and make things better if we don’t like what we see and experience and that in itself is a gift. Our elected officials can get isolated from the ‘real world’ and it is important that constituents take an active role in their local, state and national issues. The politicians listen to their constituents because they want to be re-elected, in most cases. The surprises – well, it is the power of money and big industry. I always knew that money mattered and corporations have a huge impact on Washington. I guess I just didn’t realize how much. Along with money though a common denominator still exists which allows for small guys like us and the ACA to have a voice: relationships. After all, Washington is made up of people. People who know one another, respect and trust each other and build bonds with one another. The ACA and the agencies that support the ACA have built great relationships on the Hill and have earned the trust and respect of many influential people. It reinforces that money isn’t everything. Relationships and working with integrity matter as well. So I was pleasantly surprised that by being willing to testify and invest in the time to meet with various stakeholders, we were able to further develop relationships and in the end, be heard and taken seriously.

What do I mean by that? Well, much of what we do at WOW! is work to try and understand how customers use technology. Do your WOW! services help you to be more informed? Do you use them to make more efficient use of time?

Our personal experiences provide perspective. And for me, how we use our cable, Internet and phone services at home is a good reality check for how I think many families use the same services. I love watching television. But many of the shows I want to watch come on right when I need to be putting my 4-year old down for bed. So the DVR is awesome. I can enjoy my programs on my schedule, and not feel guilty about perhaps subconsciously rushing that wind-down time with her. I am also grateful for video on demand. Some people won’t approve, but the fact that I can always find something for my daughter to watch when I need that hour to get some chores done is a godsend.

And that’s just television. The Internet of course is a life changer. I’m writing this blog on my laptop which taps into our wireless home network. And I’m using the laptop because I want sit in front of the television at the same time. If the phone rings – no worries. I don’t necessarily have to
get off the couch to take the call because we’ve got caller ID to the TV.

If I sound like a commercial, I don’t mean to. The point is that these services are an integral part of many people’s lives. It’s definitely true for me. So the WOW! team is continually look for ways to further improve the experience. Some enhancements can take time and effort to implement. But we’re working to add more OnDemand programs, additional HD channels, an improved DVR, and so much more. And as soon as we have specifics to share, we absolutely will.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear how you use your services. What do you think you couldn’t live without? What do you wish you had more of?

We got into this space because we think it’s important to have a dialogue with customers. Within our company we often say that it’s not “what” we do, but “how” we do it. That is, beyond the Internet, cable TV and phone services that we provide, what makes WOW! different is our people – our dedication and passion to giving customers the best experience possible.  And so with the WOW! Buzz, we tried to create a forum where that experience could extend beyond the typical interaction we might have with a customer, and into starting conversations on topics that we thought would be of interest to you. These include discussions about how to get the most out of your WOW! services; what’s happening in the world of technology; a look inside at WOW!’s culture; the latest on the entertainment front; and insight into what we do to create a WOW! experience.

We’ve learned a lot from you in our first 12 months. One thing we recognize is that it’s not so much the quantity of articles we post that is important, but rather their relevance to you. So we’re going to make some changes that we hope will improve our blog and that will encourage you to comment and engage with us. We’re going to keep our Entertainment and Technology columns, and introduce Voices of WOW!.

Voices of WOW! will be where we bring you news and perspective about what’s going on across the company from our various leaders. We’ll blog about our vision for new products and our plans to expand into new communities. We might even post about our beliefs on leadership and the importance of culture, because those are subjects near and dear to our hearts.  And we’d like to hear from you. If you have a topic that you think would be interesting, just let us know.

Thanks for tuning in. I hope we’ll be hearing from you.