Wow! New broadcast company can't keep up with demand
Initial teething problems at WOW should be behind the new broadcast service with the arrival today of 1,000 more set-top boxes and the replacement of a new satellite dish.
A confident WOW president Gavin Wilson said that running out of set top boxes was a testament that the service is growing in popularity.
"We thought we had the number (of set top boxes) right but it was anyone's guess as to how many we would need," Mr. Wilson said.
The company has gone through 2,600 set top boxes and 1,000 more boxes are scheduled to arrive today.
Each television to be activated in a household needs a separate set top box, Mr. Wilson explained.
"We were overwhelmed for the first few days but it has begun to settle down and just a steady stream of customers coming in," he added.
When WOW started offering the service at the end of May customers lined up outside the Church Street to sign up for the summer sampler.
The $68 a month service provides 85 channels. After the special, subscribers can choose from four tiers of service ranging in price from $19 to $70 a month plus $10 per month for any of a dozen movie channels.
Before subscribers of the summer sampler can view all of the channels, though, WOW is in the process of installing a 20 foot satellite dish - one of several the company owns ? that will cover about 14 to 16 channels, Mr. Wilson said.
One of WOW's satellite dishes had to be returned to the manufacturer ? a development which set the company back about ten days. But the new satellite dish will assist with channel reception during rainy weather due to its size.
"During heavy down pours the channels will tend to have rain fade issues. It's not just a phenomenon that we have in Bermuda but the 20 foot dish should take care of this," Mr. Wilson said.
WOW also shut down its service on Tuesday to re-number its channels, which had begun at 1001, but are supposed to start with channel 101.
"The TV Guide is going to carry the information for us and certain channels have been allocated and our software was not matching up," Mr. Wilson said.
