Suddenlink FYI

The Internet can be an extremely valuable tool: simplifying tasks like shopping and banking and helping students complete their homework, faster and smarter. But there are also risks on the Internet, especially for young people.

One critical way to help make the Internet a safer place is to raise awareness — among parents, educators, and other caregivers — about the steps they can take and the tools available to them.

As a leading provider of high-speed Internet service, Suddenlink is doing its part …

Promoting Web-based resources like “Netsmartz,” “Point Smart, Click Safe,” and “INOBTR.”

Offering a simple list of ten tips for parents and teachers.

Providing free air time for TV spots that help raise awareness of the issue

Partnering on educational workshops — with school districts, PTA’s, and law enforcement officials — in communities from west Texas to northeast Arkansas.

Some kids as young as five are already actively using the Internet. If you haven’t yet taken time to learn what you can due to help protect them — it’s never too soon to start.

Today, Suddenlink announced that Jerry Dow will fill the newly created position of Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, reporting to Tom McMillin, the company’s Chief Operating Officer.

Dow was most recently a member of the leadership team at Vanguard Car Rental, where he was responsible for all marketing, advertising, reservations and e-commerce activities for both the National and Alamo car rental brands. Vanguard successfully rebuilt both brands and sold the business to Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Prior to Vanguard, Dow oversaw global brand advertising, promotions, sponsorship, and brand communications for United Airlines. Dow helped manage the United brand during the toughest period in the company’s 80-year history, including the post 9/11 environment, bankruptcy, and record fuel prices.

Prior to United, Dow served as Director of Marketing for Pella Corporation (Pella Windows), one of the strongest brands in the building products industry. During his time at Pella, Dow helped implement the company’s move into the replacement-window category and developed Emmy-nominated advertising that contributed to the company’s consecutive years of double-digit growth. Dow started his career with the Leo Burnett Company, managing a number of world-class brands such as Maytag, Jenn-Air, Magic Chef, Sealy, Stearns and Foster, and Kraft. Dow holds a Master in Advertising from Northwestern University, and a B.S. in Journalism from Oklahoma State University.

At Suddenlink, Dow will work with Mary Meier and the other members of the corporate and regional marketing teams to drive all marketing, advertising, promotion, and sales activities for the company.

Multichannel News reported yesterday afternoon that Dish Network has moved the NFL Network from one of the satellite company’s widely-subscribed packages to another, more-expensive package with fewer subscribers.

We hope this development encourages the NFL Network to return to the negotiating table with Suddenlink and consider one of the previous, generous offers we made. More information available here and here.

This is the first in an occasional series of profiles of Suddenlink employees who donate time to worthwhile causes in the communities where they live and work.

Suddenlink’s DeAnna Cottrell is a business support technician on the I.T. Helpdesk in St. Louis. Outside of work, she volunteers significant time to lead and mentor a local team of high-school-age students who participate in FIRST, a national group devoted to inspiring young people to pursue careers in science, technology, and engineering.

From Feb. 28 through March 1, DeAnna’s team will be competing in the 2008 St. Louis Regional robotics competition organized by FIRST, one of 41 such regional competitions held across the country from late Feburary through end of March.

Here’s wishing DeAnna and her team the very best of luck as they put their robots to the test. Who knows – maybe some of them will eventually seek careers in cable broadbanding engineering.

Visit the FIRST Web site to learn more about what the organization does, how to get involved, and where and when other regional competitions are scheduled.

Suddenlink’s residential (home) customers should be able to resolve most of their issues by contacting the customer-care center serving them. Those care centers can be easily identified by visiting Suddenlink’s Web site and entering the zip code of the residence where service is provided.

However, if this traditional method of resolving issues is not successful, for whatever reason, customers should feel free to visit this Web page for information on how to contact the appropriate regional executive team.

Suddenlink announced today that it now serves more than 100,000 phone customers (up from nearly 30,000 at the beginning of 2007) and those customers are placing approximately 2.5 million calls a day, more than double the volume handled last August.

In addition to quality, Suddenlink COO Tom McMillin believes a growing number of families are attracted to the company’s phone service due to the savings they often realize over phone service from other providers — savings that are most significant when Suddenlink Phone is bundled with Suddenlink Cable TV and Suddenlink Internet.

Prior to the 2007 expansion, the company offered phone service primarily in western Texas. Today, it offers phone service in 80 percent of its operating areas, including other parts of Texas, as well as communities in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia, North Carolina and California.

Suddenlink Phone uses IP technology to transport calls over the company’s own, private, managed IP-based network, never traversing the public Internet. As a standard part of its service, Suddenlink offers unlimited local and domestic long-distance calls, plus a set of popular calling features. Suddenlink Phone also provides automatic access to the FCC-mandated Enhanced 911 system and is compatible with most modern alarm monitoring equipment.

To learn more or to order Suddenlink Phone, start here.

When Suddenlink’s Tony Cifelli — field system manager, Alexandria, La. — attended a group planning meeting in March 2007, peer pressure almost convinced him to ignore his first instincts.

Of 15 Suddenlink cable systems represented at that meeting, 12 decided to focus their primary 2007 community programs on the hot topic of “Internet Safety.” But Tony hesitated, approaching the meeting facilitator during a break.

“We did this food bank program a few years back and it was exciting to see how everyone came together to support it,” he said. “The need for that type of program is even greater now. I’d really like our team to focus on that issue. What do you think?”

The facilitator responded that Tony knew his community better than anyone else in the room, so he should trust his knowledge and act accordingly.

What Tony knew was that Central Louisiana has one of the highest levels of “food insecurity” in the country, with an estimated 30 percent of need families are often forced to choose between paying for food and paying for medical care.

For those and other reasons, Tony followed the facilitator’s advice, trusted his knowledge, and together with colleagues both in and outside Alexandria, designed and launched the “Connecting to Those in Need” campaign. By Thanksgiving 2007, the campaign had netted more than six tons of non-perishable food items for the Food Bank of Central Louisiana, with another drive planned for the spring to keep the momentum going. Moreover, Food Bank officials reported a measureable increase in the number of other organizations wanting to host food drives on its behalf and an increase in requests for Food Bank speakers at church, community, and corporate events.

The results were far too meaningful to ignore: The Food Bank declared Suddenlink its “2007 Corporate Partner of the Year.” The Louisiana cable association granted the Alexandria team a Community Service Award and Tony a coveted President’s Award. And just last week the company learned that the “Connecting to Those in Need” campaign was a finalist for the industry’s highest honor for such programs, a Beacon Award.

Kudos to Tony for following his heart, and to everyone else who contributed to this best-in-class effort.

Yesterday, the company announced that Craig Rosenthal (pictured above) was promoted to senior vice president and will continue in his role as general counsel.

Five others were named vice presidents, including: Chris Bartlow (IT infrastructure), Jeff Bryant (database marketing and analysis), Andy Parrott (technical training and reporting, FCC compliance, fulfillment, inventory management), Frederick Ricker (corporate tax), and Mike Zarrilli (government relations, senior counsel).

Rosenthal joined Suddenlink in December 2003 as senior counsel, assuming the role of general counsel in April 2005, with responsibility for all legal and regulatory functions. Prior to joining Suddenlink, he was an attorney with Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP in St. Louis (formerly Husch & Eppenberger LLC), where his primary practice was in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial transactions. Rosenthal holds a B.S. in accounting from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. He is a member of the Missouri and Illinois State Bar Associations and the Federal Communications Bar Association.

For more information on Suddenlink regional and corporate leaders, check here.

According to a Feb. 6 report at Multichannel News online, a recent tudy:

… conducted by TNS Media & Entertainment, found that 46% of what the researcher calls “future shapers” — the early adopters likely to spread the word about technology and the segment of the population companies actively seek — are likely to choose TV service through a cable company.

By comparison, 26% of the respondents in this group preferred to receive TV through a satellite provider, while 2% were likely to opt for video service through a telco.