As the only Municipal Telecom in Wisconsin, the Reedsburg Utility Commission (RUC) is competing, and adding value to their Lightspeed brand with video using the Hosted model from Whitepaw Solutions, formerly MVS, and middleware from Innovative Systems.

Hosted Video Made Sense

RUC Telecommunications Supervisor Ken Las stated that Lightspeed likely would not be offering video services without having the hosted option. According to Las, the business model is quite straightforward. In addition to caching servers, they pay for content, and a per-subscriber fee for the video service, while Whitepaw and Innovative supply the signals, software, and support.

IS STB an Option for Streaming

Las says most of their video customers are bringing their own Roku, Amazon, and Apple devices, but Lightspeed offers the Set-Top-Box from Innovative Systems that can be configured to receive their Streaming video service.

As the Lightspeed brand continues to expand in Wisconsin, it currently serves approximately 8,000 broadband customers and around 1,000 video subscribers. While many municipal providers across the country have faced challenges in offering broadband and related services, RUC has demonstrated success, as shown by its expansion into new territories.