wow disambiguation . wide open west type private industry telecommunications founded 1996 headquarters denver colorado key people steven cochran chief executive officer and president products cable television broadband internet landline telephone website www.wowway.com wide open west doing business as wow 1 is the ninth largest cable tv provider in the united states . 2 additionally the company offers landline telephone and broadband internet services . 3 wide open west is privately owned with crestview partners having a significant stake . 4 contents 1 history 2 internet availability by state 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the telecommunications act of 1996 gave way for more competition to enter the cable tv market . encouraged by this law a number of investors led by local telephone companies established competitive broadcast cable services in markets across the country . these entities became known in the industry as cable overbuilders meaning they would build new cable infrastructure into areas where there were existing cable systems . 5 wow was founded in november 1999 in denver colorado . after building a network in april 2001 wow initially served about 200 people in the denver area . in november 2001 wow purchased americast an overbuild system in the midwest built and operated by ameritech new media for an undisclosed amount per subscriber estimated to have been at a cost of 600 per sub . citation needed this purchase opened wow to over 310 000 new customers in metropolitan areas surrounding the cities of chicago cleveland columbus detroit denver and evansville . 6 wow no longer serves the denver market . in august 23 2011 wave broadband and wow announced that they entered into an agreement to purchase substantially all of the assets of broadstripe llc a provider of residential and commercial bundled communications services . on january 14 wow completed the acquisition of broadstripe s cable systems in michigan . in april 2012 wow purchased knology a broadband company operating in 13 markets . with the merger the combined customer total will be over 800 000 . 7 in june 2014 wow sold its cable internet and phone systems in the south dakota markets to clarity telecom . part of the multimillion dollar deal worth 262 million included the markets in iowa and minnesota previously served by knology and prairiewave communications . 8 in march 2015 these markets would officially become known as vast broadband . 9 internet availability by state edit state percentage of state s population with access to wow internet 10 south dakota 29.6 % michigan 20.4 % ohio 14.4 % alabama 12.9 % illinois 10.8 % south carolina 6.0 % florida 4.6 % indiana 4.6 % kansas 4.3 % georgia 4.2 % tennessee 2.3 % minnesota 0.8 % iowa 0.4 % see also edit nebuad references edit wow internet cable and phone bundle offers and support . wowway.com . wide open west . retrieved 2016 08 20 . top 25 multichannel video providers as of 2012 . ncta.com . national cable & telecommunications association . about wow . wowway.com . wide open west . retrieved 2016 08 31 . news pdf . wowway.com . wideopenwest . cablelabs glossary . cablelabs . archived from the original on february 3 2011 . sbc sells for a song . multichannel news . wow to acquire knology for 19.75 per share in cash . businesswire.com . wow sells off sd systems to clarity for 262m . retrieved 2015 09 24 . vast broadband launches in sd . retrieved 2015 09 24 . wow availability by state . highspeedinternet.com . retrieved 2016 09 21 . external links edit official website v t e cable satellite and other specialty television providers in the united states cable adams cable advanced cable communications allegiance communications altice usa suddenlink communications armstrong atlantic broadband blue ridge communications broadstripe buckeye broadband cable one charter spectrum time warner cable bright house networks comcast xfinity cox communications docomo pacific emery telcom fairpoint communications full channel gci hargray mediacom midco northland communications onelink communications satview broadband service electric srt communications tds tpg grande communications rcn corporation truvista communications wave broadband wow satellite at & t directv claro dish network glorystar headend in the sky home2us fiber iptv at & t u verse centurylink prism tv cincinnati bell fioptics claro consolidated communications frontier fios google fiber gta teleguam hawaiian telcom midco nep datastream tv nextv america stealth communications tds telecom verizon fios windstream kinetic over the top apple tv netflix amazon video hulu sling tv pluto tv playstation vue crackle seeso cbs all access hbo now showtime starzplay lifetime movie club curiositystream dramafever hotstar tubi tv feeln noggin roku sony liv yupptv univision now defunct cable tv adelphia communications corporation alameda power and telecom1 astound broadband at & t broadband mediaone continental cablevision tele communications inc. baja broadband bresnan communications champion broadband cobridge communications graceba total communications insight communications jones intercable king videocable knology marcus cable npg cable paragon cable rapid communications teleprompter group w cable ua columbia cablevision us cable windjammer communications 1 still in operation but no longer offers cable or internet as part of its services defunct satellite alphastar globecast world tv primestar united states satellite broadcasting voom hd networks defunct iptv sky angel virtual digital cable defunct terrestrial aereo usdtv moviebeam see also radio spectrum pollution v t e additional resources on north american television north america list of local television stations in north america dtv transition north american tv mini template canada canadian networks list of canadian television networks list of canadian television channels list of canadian specialty channels local canadian tv stations list of united states stations available in canada 2001 vancouver tv realignment 2007 canada broadcast tv realignment mexico mexican networks local mexican tv stations united states american networks list of american cable and satellite networks list of american over the air networks local american tv stations w local american tv stations k 1994 united states broadcast tv realignment 2006 united states broadcast tv realignment list of canadian television stations available in the united states insular areas tv africa asia and oceania americas europe retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wide open west & oldid 740609752 categories cable television companies of the united statescompanies based in arapahoe county coloradocompanies established in 1996economy of the midwestern united statestelecommunications companies of the united stateshidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from august 2016 navigation menu personal tools not 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