Pulaski/White Rural Telephone Cooperative is getting into the video business. The company announced plans to acquire TV Cable of Winamac, doing business as Zing.
“It’s always been in our strategic plan to introduce video, or a cable TV-type service, into our mix of services we offer out,” PWRTC President and CEO Mark Dickerson said after last night’s Winamac City Council meeting. “This keeps us local. The entity here, TV Cable of Winamac, was looking to sell, so we came to terms. It’s going to be a great thing for all of us here.” Dickerson says PWRTC hopes to soon offer video to its existing customers in rural Pulaski and White Counties. Meanwhile, the transition should be seamless for current TV Cable customers. They will have access to faster, broadband Internet service and bundles including Internet, cable television and telephone service. He adds the higher bandwidth will allow customers to more easily stream shows from Netflix and other video-on-demand services.
PWRTC is based in Buffalo. Dickerson says the company will maintain a storefront location on North Monticello Street in Winamac so customers can come in, order service, pay their bills and report problems with their service. Dickerson adds contracts with programming providers need to be transferred or finalized and other pole agreements need to be signed before the new service will be ready to go. He hopes to complete those steps and close the deal by the end of July.
