BendBroadband
{{Infobox company
| name = BendBroadband
| logo = BendBroadband logo.svg
| type = Subsidiary
| founded = 1955
| hq_location_city = Bend, Oregon
| hq_location_country = United States
| area_served = Central Oregon
| products = Cable television
Broadband internet
VoIP phone
Television broadcasting
| industry = Telecommunications
Mass media
| revenue = {{USD}}70 million
| revenue_year = 2013
| num_employees_year = May 2014
| parent = Telephone and Data Systems
| num_employees = 280
| website = {{URL|https://bendbroadband.com/}}
}}
BendBroadband is a cable television and internet provider in the U.S. state of Oregon. Based in Bend, it serves Central Oregon and also owns several television stations and a data center. As of September 2014, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, a Fortune 500 company.
History
The company was founded as Bend TV Cable in 1955.{{cite news|last=Rogoway|first=Mike|title=BendBroadband sold to TDS for $261 million|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/05/bendbroadband_sold_to_tds_for.html#incart_river_default|accessdate=3 May 2014|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=May 2, 2014}} Don Ries and Fred Hartman worked to start the company that started with three channels and charged $3.69 per month.{{cite news|last=Rogoway|first=Mike|title=Why did Bend have cable TV in the 1950s?|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/05/why_did_bend_have_cable_tv_in.html#incart_river|accessdate=6 May 2014|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=May 4, 2014}} Donald Tykeson bought the company in 1983.{{cite news|last=Stevens|first=Suzanne|title=OSU Bend campus gets $1M gift|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2012/09/26/osu-bend-campus-gets-1m-gift.html|accessdate=3 May 2014|newspaper=Portland Business Journal|date=September 26, 2012}} In 1997, the company, then known as Bend Cable Communications Inc., started providing internet service. It announced in 1998 it would expand its fiber optic network to Redmond and Sisters.{{cite news|title=Bend Cable reaches out|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/1998/11/30/daily10.html|accessdate=3 May 2014|newspaper=Portland Business Journal|date=December 4, 1998}} By 2004, the company had moved to the BendBroadband moniker, and that year introduced high-definition video-on-demand to its system utilizing technology from nCUBE.{{cite news|last=Earnshaw|first=Aliza|title=NCube forging deals|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2004/02/16/daily32.html|accessdate=3 May 2014|newspaper=Portland Business Journal|date=February 18, 2004}}
In 2009, the company started a wireless network to provide internet and telephone service, which was upgraded to LTE in 2011.{{cite news|title=Business briefing: BendBroadband sells spectrum|url=http://www.bendbulletin.com/home/1822574-151/business-briefing#|accessdate=3 May 2014|newspaper=The Bulletin|date=February 25, 2014|location=Bend, Ore.}} BendBroadband opened a {{convert|30000|ft2|adj=on}} data center, the Vault, in 2011.{{cite news|last=Williams|first=Christina|title=BendBroadband beats Facebook to coal-free green data center|url=http://sustainablebusinessoregon.com/articles/2011/06/bendbroad-beats-facebook-to-coal-free.html?page=all|accessdate=3 May 2014|newspaper=Sustainable Business Oregon|date=June 24, 2011}}{{cite web|title=About|url=https://bendbroadband.com/about.asp|publisher=BendBroadband|accessdate=3 May 2014}} In February 2014, it sold off its LTE spectrum to AT&T. The company sold itself to Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) for $261 million in May 2014.{{cite news|last=Spencer|first=Malia|title=BendBroadband sells to Chicago cable firm for $261M|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2014/05/bendbroadband-sells-to-chicago-cable-firm-for-261.html|accessdate=3 May 2014|newspaper=Portland Business Journal|date=May 2, 2014}} At that time the company had $70 million in annual revenues and 280 employees with Amy Tykeson as CEO.
Operations
BendBroadband serves 36,000 cable customers, 22,000 landline customers, and 41,000 internet customers. It also owns Zolo Media, which operates KBNZ, KOHD, and COTV11, plus an advertising division. The company also owns a data center, the Vault, which is now part of OneNeck IT Solutions, a TDS Company.