July 24, 2008

Indie Best Community Service: Advanced Cable Communications

How involved is Advanced Cable in its community? Enough for Coral Springs, Fla., to pronounce April 2008 Advanced Cable Month in honor of the operator’s 30th anniversary. The designation grabbed our attention.

"There has been so much consolidation in the cable industry down here," notes Advanced VP/GM Jim Pagano. "In the ’80s there were 26 cable companies, and now we’re down to three. We’re like the hometown favorite."

But Advanced had a yen for community affairs long before consolidation. "It’s in our corporate DNA to be civic-minded," Pagano says. The operator, which serves 40,000 basic subs, is heavily involved in schools and children’s charities. It’s also helped to parlay one of South Florida’s favorite pastimes — golf — into an annual charity event.

For eight years the company has co-sponsored a golf tournament that benefits the American Cancer Society, Dan Marino Foundation and Rotary Club charities. When it started in April 2000, the tournament had 18 golfers and netted $4,000. Today it’s blossomed to include a large field of golfers and sponsors, and has raised more than $165,000 for charity to date.

"It’s a very competitive market here in Florida. The bottom line is everyone in the telecom industry is going to wind up delivering the same type of products. What’s going to separate us in the horse race is our customer and community service," Pagano notes. "There’s a lot of after-hours and weekend work that goes on, and a tremendous amount of sweat equity. But the bottom line is they are all labors of love."

Back to 2008 Top Ops table of contents