Joe Durkin
Senior Director Corporate Communications
(727)329-2926
joe.durkin@mybrighthouse.com
Groundbreaking Signifies Bright Step for Bright House Networks
and the Tampa Bay Community
(St. Petersburg, FL) – When Bright House Networks breaks ground at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, January 25th, 2007, on its new building in Hillsborough County, it will not be just about a new building. It will also be about Bright House Networks commitment to the Tampa Bay area to create new jobs, add to a growing economy and to continue excellence in customer care. During tomorrow’s groundbreaking ceremony, Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman will join Bright House Networks Vice President/General Manager of the Hillsborough Region Hank Sheraw at the site where a new three-story Bright House Networks Hillsborough Regional Operating Center will soon stand.
“It will look like a groundbreaking and it will sound like a groundbreaking, but it will signify much more than that,” says Hank Sheraw, Vice President/General Manager of the Hillsborough Region. “The need for a new facility here in Hillsborough County displays just how much growth we’re experiencing now and anticipate we will experience in the future as Bright House Networks continues to expand on our Digital Cable, Digital Phone and High Speed Internet services.”
Located at 4145 South Falkenburg Road in the Interchange Center, the site of the new Bright House Networks Hillsborough Regional Operating Center will encompass 102,795 square feet of offices to house more than 900 employees in regional operations, network operations, advertising sales, regional commercial markets and construction operations, as well as 42,669 square feet for warehouse operations.
“Making lives easier and more convenient for our customers is always our top priority,” Sheraw says. “This new centralized office will allow us to better serve the needs of all our customers in Hillsborough County each and every day.”
This new facility also reinforces Bright House Networks commitment to the Hillsborough County community and economy, creating new job opportunities for local residents and companies. The Perry Company, a local builder will be constructing the new Bright House Networks Hillsborough Regional Operating Center, and Tampa-based Alfonso Architects Interiors will design the new facility. First Industrial Realty Trust will develop the property.
About Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks is the nation’s sixth largest MSO with over 2 million customers in several large markets including Bakersfield, California; Birmingham, Alabama; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; Orlando, Florida (Central Florida Division) and Tampa Bay, Florida along with several other smaller systems in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The high-growth Tampa/Central Florida markets are contiguous and form one of the country’s largest cable clusters.
Bright House Networks customers have Digital Phone, Video on Demand (VOD), Premiums on Demand and the immensely popular, Digital Video Recorders (DVR) available to them. The company’s Florida operations currently deliver over 300 channels to customers and were among the first in the country to offer High Definition Programming. Since its introduction, High Definition Programming has achieved impressive acceptance with Bright House Networks customers who have HDTV’s.
In July 2006, Bright House Networks ranked “Highest in Residential All-Distance Customer Satisfaction in the Southeast Region,” according to the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Residential All-Distance Telephone Customer Satisfaction StudySM. The southeast region consists of nine states including Florida and Alabama. Just over a month later, J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Residential Cable/Satellite TV Customer Satisfaction StudySM found that Bright House Networks ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Cable/Satellite Television Subscribers in the South Region,” a region that consists of 14 states, including Florida and Alabama.
Exceptional customer service is the company’s cornerstone of its business and top priority across all operating units. Bright House Networks local Customer Care is available 24 hours per day, seven days per week, including holidays. Public affairs, social responsibility and community involvement continue as major initiatives for the company as an ongoing commitment to the families and communities Bright House Networks serves. This includes long-term commitments to education and to what matters in the lives of Bright House Networks communities.
Bright House Networks also owns and operates two 24-hour local news operations; Bay News 9, Bay News 9 En Español, Catch 47 Tampa Bay Sports Channel, Travel Weather Now, Tampa Bay on Demand and Baynews9.com serving the Tampa market and serving the Orlando area; Central Florida News 13, News 13 Weather NOW, Central Florida on Demand, and cfnews13.com.
