Mediacom, one of the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns in the United States, posted its best first-quarter results in Georgia in four years, according to Mediacom Senior Marketing Manager for Georgia, Melanie Hannasch.  Mediacom serves all of southwestern Georgia, passing about 300,000 homes.

"We rebranded our service in January and instituted a number of new service policies that have been well received by our residential and business customers," Hannasch said.

Headquartered in Middletown, N.Y., Mediacom Communications is the nation’s eighth largest cable television company based on the number of basic video subscribers.  Formerly a publicly traded firm, it went private in a $600 million transaction in March 2011 and is now owned by its Chief Executive Officer Rocco B. Commisso.

Mediacom offers video services, such as video-on-demand, high-definition television and digital video recorders, high-speed data and phone service over its interactive broadband network.  It serves residential, small- to medium-size businesses and large enterprise customers. 

New Policies Focused on Customer Convenience
Customer surveys conducted in July 2011 revealed negative scores for Mediacom and led the company to undertake a rebranding effort.  In addition to a new look, the effort included a number of new service policies instituted in January including:

• Customers now receive a guaranteed 30-minute time window for service and installation appointments, down from four hours previously.
• Weekend and Saturday appointments have been added. 
• The time period for the company's money-back guarantee is 90 days, up from 30 days.

"We've improved our negative customer feedback scores by 50 percent in just three months and of course, we are continuing to work to improve our customer experience," Hannasch said.

Improving Content and Speed
In addition to new service policies, Mediacom has also beefed up its video content to reach customers anywhere, anytime.  

"We offer HBO Go and Max Go so customers can watch TV anywhere on their smart phones and tablets.  And we've added on-demand content so customers can watch when they want," Hannasch said.

Unlike other video service providers, Mediacom does not have an extra charge for high-definition receivers.  It offers up to 100 channels of HD programming. 

The company also increased its network speeds in southwestern Georgia to up to 50 Mbps from 15 to 20 Mbps.  That can be a big advantage for multi-device homes that have smart phones, laptops and video receivers sharing a single broadband connection.

"We have plans to increase speeds in the Albany, Valdosta and Columbus to up to 105 Mbps in the next year or so," Hannasch said.

Offering Solutions for Businesses
Mediacom offers a full suite of business communication solutions including basic business phone and Internet service as well as Ethernet, virtual private networking and other advanced services.

"Anything the phone company offers, we offer and we also can provide video service for businesses that want to offer cable TV in their lobby or break room, for example," Hannasch said.

"We can customize a solution for small- and medium-size businesses.  This is a market we are looking to grow."

More information on Mediacom is available online at www.mediacomcable.com or call (800) 239-8411.   

About Barbara Kieker

Barbara Kieker is a freelance writer who writes on business-related topics for a number of web-based properties. She also provides communications services to Fortune 500 corporations, small businesses and nonprofit organizations.