Strategic Technologies serves customers in a new subdivision as it moves to compete with Bright House.
By JAMES THORNER
Published October 6, 2004
Right now, Strategic Technologies Inc., Pasco County's newest cable company, is merely a bug on the backside of an elephant, Bright House Networks.
But in the next few years, homes by the thousands will fill Strategic Technologies' suburban service areas on Curley Road in Wesley Chapel and State Road 54 and the Suncoast Parkway in Land O'Lakes.
That's when Bright House, which holds a near monopoly on cable service in Pasco, could face real competition. And the rivalry, based on the experience of cable battles in other communities, is usually good for consumers.
Strategic, a subsidiary of Lennar Homes, is a small player that swept into the county "under the radar," planting a substation earlier this year at SR 54 and the Suncoast Parkway, company president Rick Bowen said.
Its first 65 customers live in a new subdivision northeast of the parkway and SR 54 called Suncoast Meadows. Strategic will also compete to wire thousands of other prospective homes within 3 to 5 miles of the substation.
A second substation is going in at Wells and Boyette roads, within reach of an estimated 15,000 homes planned for the Curley Road corridor between State Roads 54 and 52.
Bright House, with about 105,000 customers in Pasco, isn't ceding either territory to Strategic Technology. Bright House is laying its own cable beside its competitor's, an industry practice known as "overbuilding."
"A lot of our growth depends on what we can take away from Bright House," Bowen said. "We don't want to get in a price war with them. We don't want to get in that position. We just want to prove our worth."
Nevertheless, the experience of Pinellas County suggests competition for cable subscribers, and for related services such as high-speed Internet, tends to drive down prices.
Competition from Knology Inc., a Georgia company, forces Bright House to price its cable TV packages lower in Pinellas than elsewhere.
Strategic Technologies operates five cable systems in such Florida counties as Collier, Manatee and Orange. Though its product lineup is slimmer than Bright House's, Strategic sells high-speed Internet service, analog and digital cable TV and high-definition TV.
The company's strategy is to become a bulk provider of basic service to entire neighborhoods, and then compete with Bright House for upgraded service.
In Wesley Chapel, it has landed a deal with the new Bridgewater community near Boyette Road. It helps that Lennar, Strategic's parent company, is Bridgewater's builder.
Bright House takes the position that it's the cable supplier for all of Pasco, not just a thin slice of it.
"Quite frankly, we're more concerned about the other threat out there: satellite," said Dan Ballister, spokesman for the company's Tampa Bay region.
"Satellite's been successful over the years, chipping away at cable customers in general."
THE COMPANIESBRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKSPASCO SUBSCRIBERS: 105,000SERVICE AREA: All countyCABLE TV SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Start at $16.95 for local channels.STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGIES INC.PASCO SUBSCRIBERS: 65SERVICE AREA: Suncoast Parkway and State Road 54 and the Curley Road corridor in CABLE TV SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Start at $15.75 for local channels.[Last modified October 6, 2004, 01:21:21]
