The WOW! Pledge
Our Ongoing Commitment to You
Keep Your Bill Fair and Reasonable
To keep your bill as low as possible by standing up to networks’ demands for increasing fees
Conduct Transparent Negotiations
To negotiate in good faith with networks and keep you updated.
Put Our Customers' Needs First
To ask network owners not to use viewers’ loyalty against them during negotiations.
Provide Alternative Solutions
If possible, to provide options and solutions if a network does remove its channels.
How does WOW! get access to the channels I watch?
Since the earliest days of television, broadcast stations – NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox – have been granted free use of the public airwaves by the Federal government. That’s a public subsidy worth billions of dollars. In exchange, the only obligation broadcasters must meet is to "serve the public interest." More than 60 years later, the public subsidy continues, but the public interest side of the bargain is too often ignored.
Due to an archaic TV law called “Retransmission Consent,” cable companies like WOW! are required to obtain permission from local broadcast stations in order to carry them, and these broadcasters demand steep fees in exchange for that consent. The outdated regulations create a local monopoly for broadcasters that often threaten to black out their signals, even though their programming remains available for free over-the-air with an antenna.
1. Physical Maintenance Costs
The cost of maintaining and improving WOW!’s physical network. That includes everything from the cost of installing and maintaining technical facilities and paying customer care employees, to normal operating expenses common to every business, like the electric bill. WOW! works diligently to keep these costs under control and operates more efficiently than many TV providers.
2. Media Company Fees
The fees media companies charge for their channels. Today, well over half of your monthly bill for cable television goes to the programmers whose channels we carry. Unfortunately, these fees continue to increase.