Emery Telcom makes upgrades to local TV service

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In February of 2009 Emery Telcom purchased the cable TV plant in Carbon County, Orangeville, Huntington, Castle Dale, and Ferron from Precis Communications. At the same time Emery Telcom also purchased the cable TV plant in Green River from Satview. Emery Telcom already owned the cable TV plant in Cleveland and Elmo. The Board of Emery Telcom felt like these acquisitions were strategically beneficial, because they would allow the Company to bundle telephone, Internet, and television into one service offering. They also believed that it would provide another way to bring affordable technology to the company’s members.
The company initially focused on remedying various issues with the cable plants and with collapsing the billing. Emery Telcom decided to begin upgrading the cable plants in Emery County in September of 2009. Most of the cable TV plants in Emery County were only sufficient to carry approximately 30 channels and were operated off four different headend locations (where the actual source of the cable signal is ingested into the cable system). The cable TV plant in Price carried 129 channels and had room for additional channels.
The upgrade process involved connecting each town with fiber and collapsing the headends into one major headend, which Emery Telcom decided to locate at its Cleveland central office. This single ingestion point provides Emery Telcom with greater control and efficiencies.
Then Emery Telcom had to increase the capacity of the cable TV plant in each town to handle the expanded channels. This involved replacing large sections of cable lines with larger cable lines and the replacement of all of the electronics in the system. Emery Telcom hired contractors to help with this process in Ferron and Castle Dale.
Emery Telcom did all of the upgrades in Huntington and Orangeville with its own staff, and is currently working on upgrading the cable TV plant in Green River. Then the Emery Telcom crew will upgrade the Elmo and Cleveland plants. The Company is hoping to have the upgrades completed in March. This will only leave the East Carbon cable plant to upgrade, and Emery Telcom is currently trying to design the upgrades for that plant, but has not decided when to start those upgrades.
Once the plants are upgraded, Emery Telcom will provide 99 standard definition channels, approximately 30 high definition channels, 30 movie channels, and 11 Spanish channels to its customers in Carbon and Emery counties. The company is already bundling this new cable TV service with telephone and internet, which provide great savings to the residents of the counties. These Triple Play bundles start at $97.50 per month for 65 television channels, high speed internet, telephone, and long distance.
Emery Telcom also launched a similar television product in 2009, which it calls Interactive Television. Emery Telcom uses this product to push television over its phone lines in a like manner to cable television. This service provides 130 standard definition channels, 34 high definition channels, 34 movie channels, and seven Spanish channels. Some areas such as Emery, and Lawrence do not have cable television systems, but do have access to the Interactive product, which starts at $110.90 per month for 99 basic channels, high speed Internet, telephone, and long distance.
Emery Telcom also started its own channel, which it calls ETV 10. It is only available on Emery Telcom’s cable television or Interactive television networks. Emery Telcom covers various happenings from around the community, such as local 4- wheeling, community events, and a local cooking show. Emery Telcom also films Emery High School, Green River High School, and Carbon High School sports and places these events on ETV 10. The cable television plant upgrades will allow Emery Telcom to provide ETV 10 to more residents in the counties.
“I was very excited when the Board of Emery Telcom decided to upgrade the Emery County cable television plants and also decided to add high definition channels. The employees have really put a lot of effort into the project, and we are nearing its completion. Emery Telcom offers state-of-the-art telephone and internet services and now can offer the best television product in Carbon and Emery counties. Our high definition product is superior, we have great local support, and it is amazing to be able to bring the various events and sports from the counties to ETV 10. We hope that our loyal customers will contact us to see how they can bundle their television service with Emery Telcom and save money while getting a superior product,” said Brock Johansen, CEO/General Manager.