Peoples Communication partners with Skitter to bring IPTV to East Texas

Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
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Skitter TV Provides Economically Attractive IPTV Platform for Rural Broadband Provider

ATLANTA and QUITMAN, Texas — Skitter Inc., a leading provider of converged media services over broadband and IP networks, announced today that Peoples Communication, Inc. (PCI), a subsidiary of Peoples Telephone Cooperative, Inc. of Quitman, TX, will deploy Skitter TV, offering an advanced IPTV platform to customers in several East Texas counties and communities.

Since 1952, Peoples Telephone Cooperative has been a leading provider of advanced telecommunications services to East Texas and is currently constructing a 600-mile fiber transport network that will serve several communities. Offering broadband, telephone, and wireless, with a 4G wireless broadband project currently underway, PCI sees IPTV services as a logical addition to their product portfolio. Skitter’s IPTV services will also be offered over PCI’s CLEC, Connextions Telecom to their service territory.

“Over the past few years, PCI operated different TV services, including a traditional cable system, but these solutions were simply not economically viable in our markets,” said Scott Thompson, CFO of PCI. “We needed a video solution that not only provided our customers with the best technology and programming, but also offered PCI a path to profitability; after carefully examining all of our options, we concluded that Skitter TV was the best choice.”

With Skitter TV, PCI customers will gain access to a compelling array of television programming, including the most popular national cable and local broadcast channels in packages that will offer customers a greater selection of standard and high definition programming. PCI joins more than a dozen other rural broadband providers that have launched video services using the Skitter TV platform, which offers video service providers the lowest capital and operating expense budget in the industry.

“We are very excited to bring our state-of-the-art technology and a vast array of video channels to consumers in East Texas through PCI and its diverse broadband networks,” said Skitter TV CEO, Robert Saunders. “We will launch this service with a great line-up of programming and do it in a way that is financially viable for PCI and at a great value for PCI’s subscribers.”