Mediacom names regional VP, upgrades its facility, services

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by Paul Schreiber|ret||ret||tab|

SBJ Reporter|ret||ret||tab|

pschreiber@sbj.net|ret||ret||tab|

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Effective Nov. 5, Richard Hale is regional vice president of operations for Mediacom's central region, which includes Missouri, eastern Kansas, Kentucky and southern Illinois. Hale will work out of Mediacom's newly remodeled facility at 1533 S. Enterprise.|ret||ret||tab|

NASDAQ-traded Mediacom (MCCC) conducts its broadcast and cable television operations in 23 states, Hale said. The Springfield area has about 75,000 basic cable subscribers, Hale added, but declined to disclose local revenues. |ret||ret||tab|

Nationally, as of Sept. 30, Mediacom had revenues of $251 million with 2002 annual revenues of $238 million, according to Yahoo Finance. |ret||ret||tab|

Hale has been with Mediacom for five years, and has 20 years of prior cable experience, primarily with Cablevision Systems Corp. in northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri.|ret||ret||tab|

Previously, Hale held the positions of general manager for Mediacom's Missouri-Kentucky systems, regional vice president for the Florida region and divisional vice president of the Midwest division, according to a Mediacom news release. |ret||ret||tab|

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Springfield facility build-out|ret||ret||tab|

Mediacom's Springfield operations are getting a complete overhaul. "The capital upgrade just for the building alone is about $1.8 million," Hale said. |ret||ret||tab|

The Springfield facility handles customer service calls for the entire central region, along with another call center in Benton, Ky.|ret||ret||tab|

Phase I is about 95 percent complete, said Bill Copeland, area operations manager for Mediacom. |ret||ret||tab|

Nothing will remain of the old building except the outside structure, he said, adding he hopes the approximately 25,000-square-foot project will be completed by April 1. |ret||ret||tab|

The facility will include a new call center, regional offices for administrative staff and offices for the ad sales division, OnMedia, Copeland said.|ret||ret||tab|

Williams Construction Inc. secured the contracting by presenting Mediacom with a turnkey approach to the build, Copeland said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We tore out every wall in the place and rebuilt it," said David Dixon, Williams Construction project manager. The building was originally built in the 1960s, added on to several times and, as a result, displayed little continuity, Dixon added.|ret||ret||tab|

Two new additions are being joined to the structure Mediacom owns. The call center and customer service facility will occupy 8,000 square feet, and OnMedia will go into another 5,500 square feet. About 60 parking spaces will be added, Dixon said. |ret||ret||tab|

The firm's 175-foot tower will be replaced with a 125-foot freestanding tower, and Mediacom is handling that part of the job itself, he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Richard Werner, owner and principal of Werner & Associates Architects LC, said the real challenge of the design-build project "has been to keep them up in operation" during the complete renovation of the existing building. Stylistically there were minimal changes, he added. "They pretty much wanted to match what they had going on in their existing aesthetics."|ret||ret||tab|

With the build-out, Mediacom hired 50-plus additional employees in the Springfield area over the last year, Hale said. The local employee count in Mediacom's Missouri South area, which includes Springfield and the surrounding market, is about 183 employees, according to Copeland. There are 428 employees throughout the central region, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

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Bandwidth, digital upgrades|ret||ret||tab|

Mediacom recently completed increasing its bandwidth for cable operations and digital enhancements in the four-state area that Hale oversees. |ret||ret||tab|

Running at a minimum of 550-megahertz now, most systems are being upgraded to 750-MHz or even 860 MHz capacity, Copeland said. |ret||ret||tab|

"In this region over the past four years, we've spent in excess of $17 million" for these modifications, Hale said. |ret||ret||tab|

Customer service improvements such as an interactive voice response system will allow customers to more quickly access information and perform account transactions, Hale added.|ret||ret||tab|

New technologies including video-on-demand and high-definition television will be offered as part of system upgrades and line enhancements, Copeland said. He added that HDTV will be launched by the end of December.|ret||ret||tab|

With video on demand, there's a menu of movies and programming to select from that's available around the clock, Copeland said. |ret||ret||tab|

The cost of video on demand will be charged to subscribers on a per-use basis, but the amount to be charged for the service has not yet been determined, he added.|ret||ret||tab|

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