Cable One Explained

Cable One, Inc.
Type:Public
Location:Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Num Employees: 3,132
Num Employees Year:December, 2022
Industry:Cable TV, broadband phone, Internet, Fiber Services
Revenue: billion
Revenue Year:2022
Operating Income: million
Income Year:2022
Net Income: million
Net Income Year:2022
Assets: billion
Assets Year:2022
Equity: billion
Equity Year:2022
Owner:Graham family - 12%
Footnotes:[1]

Cable One, Inc. is an American broadband communications provider. Under the Sparklight brand, it provides cable television, internet, and phone services to 24 U.S. states and 1.1 million residential and business customers.[2] It also owns the Fidelity Communications brand, which provides the same services in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.[3] Fidelity was founded in 1940. It is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, though it does not serve that metro area.

History

Originally established in 1986 as a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company known as Post-Newsweek Cable, its name was changed to Cable One in 1997.

In June 2015, Graham Holdings Company distributed 100% of Cable One’s common stock to GHC shareholders in a tax-free transaction. Cable One became an independent publicly traded company as Cable One, Inc. and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CABO.[4] [5]

In summer 2019, Cable One rebranded its residential services division as Sparklight, seeking to promote its internet services more than cable TV offerings.[6] Equipment with Cable One branding is still used by existing customers, with new customers receiving equipment with Sparklight branding. Cable One's original URL, cableone.net, redirects to sparklight.com.[7]

Sparklight provides broadband service via cable (DOCSIS) through most of its footprint, and fiber-to-the-home in limited areas.

Sparklight provides phone service plans such as Economy Phone, Standard Phone, and Elite Package with Starter Plan Plus.[8]

Sparklight offers three cable TV plans: Economy Cable TV, Standard Cable TV, and Elite 100 Plus.[9] Cable TV can also be accessed on Apple iPhone, Android, Windows, Roku, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Nook through Sparklight's TV Everywhere service. Sparklight offers a Digital Value Pack which includes channels such as Red Zone, HBO, and Showtime as add-ons. Cable channels owned by Paramount Global that were owned by Viacom before the merger with CBS Corporation that formed Paramount are notably absent from Cable One's lineup after 2014 due to disagreements between Viacom and Cable One.[10]

Its Cable TV service previously used a single cable connected directly to the TV to provide channels, but switched to using a cable box in early 2015 to provide channels. Cable One had promised superior image quality with their cable boxes, but some customers have reported that the cable boxes often display poor image quality.

In 2020, Cable One announced a new IPTV-based service, Sparklight TV, which was made available to many areas throughout 2021. Existing cable customers are not yet required to transfer to Sparklight TV, but cable through a cable box is no longer offered to new customers.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: FORM 10-K December 31, 2022 Cable One, Inc. . . . 2023-02-24 . 2023-11-11 .
  2. Web site: About Sparklight (Formerly Cable ONE) . 2019-11-13 . www.sparklight.com . en.
  3. Web site: ABOUT FIDELITY . 2024-05-03 . www.fidelitycommunications.com . en.
  4. Web site: U.S. SEC filing -Cable ONE Information Statement. 2023-01-19 . www.sec.gov . en.
  5. Web site: U.S. Cable One, Inc. List of SEC filings. 2023-01-19 . www.sec.gov . en.
  6. Web site: Farrell . Mike . Cable One to Become Sparklight in Summer 2019 . Multichannel News. 12 December 2018 .
  7. Web site: The future of cable may be no TV at all, as one small company from Arizona shows . . 3 March 2019 .
  8. Web site: Landline Phone Service for your Home Sparklight. www.sparklight.com. en. 2019-11-13.
  9. Web site: Cable TV Packages with Online Streaming Sparklight. www.sparklight.com. en. 2019-11-13.
  10. Web site: Viacom Channels Removed from Cable ONE Line-Up .
  11. Web site: Sparklight Cable Customers Transitioning to Sparklight TV .