{{Infobox company | name = Cable One, Inc. | logo = Cable One logo.svg | type = Public
| traded_as =
| foundation =
| location = Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
| key_people =
Cable One, Inc. is an American broadband communications provider. Under the Sparklight brand, it provides cable television, internet, and phone services to 24 U.S. states and 1.1 million residential and business customers. [1] It also owns the Fidelity Communications brand, which provides the same services in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. [2] Fidelity was founded in 1940. [2] It is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, though it does not serve that metro area.
Originally established in 1986 as a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company known as Post-Newsweek Cable, its name was changed to Cable One in 1997.
In June 2015, Graham Holdings Company distributed 100% of Cable One’s common stock to GHC shareholders in a tax-free transaction. Cable One became an independent publicly traded company as Cable One, Inc. and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CABO. [3] [4]
In summer 2019, Cable One rebranded its residential services division as Sparklight, seeking to promote its internet services more than cable TV offerings. [5] Equipment with Cable One branding is still used by existing customers, with new customers receiving equipment with Sparklight branding. Cable One's original URL, cableone.net, redirects to sparklight.com. [6]
Sparklight provides broadband service via cable (DOCSIS) through most of its footprint, and fiber-to-the-home in limited areas.
Sparklight provides phone service plans such as Economy Phone, Standard Phone, and Elite Package with Starter Plan Plus. [7]
Sparklight offers three cable TV plans: Economy Cable TV, Standard Cable TV, and Elite 100 Plus. [8] Cable TV can also be accessed on Apple iPhone, Android, Windows, Roku, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Nook through Sparklight's TV Everywhere service. Sparklight offers a Digital Value Pack which includes channels such as Red Zone, HBO, and Showtime as add-ons. Cable channels owned by Paramount Global that were owned by Viacom before the merger with CBS Corporation that formed Paramount are notably absent from Cable One's lineup after 2014 due to disagreements between Viacom and Cable One. [9]
Its Cable TV service previously used a single cable connected directly to the TV to provide channels, but switched to using a cable box in early 2015 to provide channels. Cable One had promised superior image quality with their cable boxes, but some customers have reported that the cable boxes often display poor image quality.[ citation needed ]
In 2020, Cable One announced a new IPTV-based service, Sparklight TV, which was made available to many areas throughout 2021. Existing cable customers are not yet required to transfer to Sparklight TV, but cable through a cable box is no longer offered to new customers. [10]
NTL Incorporated, branded as ntl:, was a United States-listed British company founded in 1992, which provided cable television, cable internet and fixed-line cable telephone services. While NTL had its headquarters in New York City, the company's activities focused heavily on the United Kingdom, with operational headquarters in Hook, Hampshire.
Liberty Media Corporation is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in Formula One Group, Sirius XM, Live Nation Entertainment, and by December 31, 2024, Dorna Sports. The Sirius XM Holdings segment operates two audio entertainment companies, Sirius XM and Pandora. Sirius XM offers channels and information and entertainment services. Pandora is a streaming platform for searching for music and podcasts. As of 2024, Liberty Media is set to own three global motorsport businesses in the form of Formula One, MotoGP and World Superbikes.
Cox Communications, Inc. is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It is the third-largest cable television provider in the United States, serving approximately 6.5 million customers, including 2.9 million digital cable subscribers, 3.5 million Internet subscribers, and almost 3.2 million digital telephone subscribers, making it the seventh-largest telephone carrier in the country. Cox is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd in Sandy Springs, Georgia, U.S., in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises.
Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live television that is streamed over the Internet (multicast) — in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable transmission formats — as well as video on demand services for watching or replaying content (unicast).
Altice USA, Inc., commonly known as Altice, is an American cable television provider with headquarters in New York City, owned by the Franco-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi. It delivers pay television, Internet access, telephone services, and original television content to approximately 4.9 million residential and business customers in 21 states.
GCI Communication Corp. (GCI) is a telecommunications corporation operating in Alaska. Through its own facilities and agreements with other providers, GCI provides cable television service, Internet access, wireline (networking), and cellular telephone service. It is a subsidiary of Colorado-based company Liberty Broadband, a company affiliated with Liberty Media that also owns a 26% interest in Charter Communications, having been originally acquired by Liberty in 2015.
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with the first of these being publicly traded. It was formed in 2005 by the merger of the international arm of Liberty Media and UnitedGlobalCom (UGC).
Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers, just ahead of Comcast, and the largest pay TV operator ahead of Comcast and AT&T. Charter is the fifth-largest telephone provider based on number of residential lines.
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operating in 29 states. Its corporate headquarters were located in the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with other corporate offices in Stamford, Connecticut; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Herndon, Virginia.
Suddenlink was an American telecommunications subsidiary of Altice USA trading in cable television, broadband, IP telephony, home security, and advertising. Prior to its acquisition by Altice, the company was the seventh largest cable operator with 1.5 million residential and 90,000 business subscribers. After Altice acquired Cablevision Systems Corporation on November 30, 2016, Suddenlink was combined with Cablevision. Together with Optimum, the name used by Cablevision for its products, Altice USA became the United States' fourth largest cable operator with 4.6 million subscribers, and the sixth largest Pay TV service provider with 3.5 million subscribers. On August 1, 2022, Suddenlink rebranded into Optimum.
Millicom International Cellular SA is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider operating in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. Its main shareholder is Xavier Niel, a French billionaire who owns 29.14% of the company.
ESPN3 is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications, that provides live streams and replays of global sports events to sports fans in the United States.
Virgin Media Ireland is Liberty Global's telecommunications operation in Ireland. It is the largest digital cable television provider within the country. As of 31 December 2014, the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital (VoIP) telephony to 1 million customers. Until 4 May 2010, Virgin Media Ireland traded under the name Chorus NTL and UPC Ireland until 5 October 2015. Its main competitors in the Irish pay TV market are Sky Ireland, Eir and Vodafone Ireland.
UPC was the largest cable operator in Switzerland with around 1.1 million residential and business customers and was formed in 1994 through the merger of several cable operators. UPC has been a subsidiary of Liberty Global from 2005 until its discontinuation in 2022.
Lumen Technologies, Inc. is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, that offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice, and managed services. The company is a member of the Fortune 500 and has been on the S&P 600 index since being removed from the S&P 500 in March 2023.
WatchESPN was a branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation.
Pluto TV is a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global.
DirecTV Stream is a family of streaming multichannel television services offered in the United States by DirecTV.
AT&T Internet is an AT&T brand of broadband internet service. Previously, AT&T Internet was branded as U-verse Internet and bundled with U-verse TV, which was spun off into the newly independent DirecTV in 2021. AT&T Internet plans powered by fiber-optic cable use the AT&T Fiber brand.
Optimum is an American telecommunications brand owned and operated by Altice USA. It is the fourth largest cable provider in the United States and a Fortune 500 company. Optimum offers Internet, television, mobile and home phone serving in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Long Island and New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.