Armstrong is a major northeastern

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

and

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise priva ...

, operating services in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. Armstrong Utilities, Inc. ranks among the 15 largest multi-system operators in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

History

Armstrong began in 1946 and was originally called Armstrong County Line Construction. Founded by Jud L. Sedwick, the company was headquartered in Kittanning, Armstrong County, in

. Together with his brother Ned, Sedwick ran two crews consisting of six men each, whose job consisted of hanging telephone lines, setting telephone poles, and clearing right of way throughout western Pennsylvania, and managed to grow the company to 12 crews by the end of its first year of operations.

Today

Armstrong is in

, and

for its digital cable services, most commonly providing television, telephone and high-speed Internet service. Currently, Armstrong employs over 2,300 people. The company's headquarters are in Butler County, western Pennsylvania, with local offices scattered throughout the region.

Services offered

Armstrong Cable

In 1963, Armstrong's first cable television customers were connected in

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantry ...

, Pennsylvania. These customers were provided with nine viewing channels. For the next 40+ years Armstrong continued to grow in western Pennsylvania and the surrounding states virtually uncontested for television service until the expansion of satellite service became more widespread. With the increase in competitors, new services emerged. Armstrong cable now offers personal video recorders (PVR),

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

service (VOD),

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

service (PPV), as well as high-definition digital programming.

Armstrong Zoom Internet

Armstrong also offers

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

internet service for residential and commercial customers. From 2013 to 2017 Armstrong instituted a 200GB monthly data cap. In March 2017, this was raised to 400GB. Consumers can pay more to increase the data cap. If the customer goes over the cap, they are not throttled nor shut off but instead pay an additional $10 for every 50GB they go over. As of March 2018, that data cap was raised to 1024GB(1TB) with the Zoom level of service, but the Zoom 2 and above levels have a 2048GB(2TB) data cap.

Armstrong Cable Telephone

Armstrong offers a cable telephone service that can be bundled with either the video or internet product or as a stand-alone product. This service provides unlimited nationwide calling, as well as calling to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

Armstrong Telephone Company

Originated in 1950 by purchasing Ritchie Telephone Company in Harrisville, West Virginia, Armstrong owns and operates independent telephone companies in West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. These local offices are set up to provide local and long-distance calling services, optional digital calling features, and DSL Internet services.

Awards and recognition

2012 Best Customer Service Award

CableFAX Magazine, a leading telecommunications publication, awarded Armstrong the 2012 Best Customer Service Award for service excellence among independent cable operators nationwide. Armstrong has been rated #1 in customer service by Consumer Reports for two years. (2014 & 2015) Internet Service Providers were ranked at the bottom of Consumer Reports lists for those years.

Political Activities

In 2012, Armstrong offered 2016: Obama's America for free to its customers. In that same year, Armstrong donated over $1 million in the form of "in-kind cable access" to

American Crossroads American Crossroads is a US Super PAC that raises funds from donors to advocate for certain candidates of the Republican Party. It has pioneered many of the new methods of fundraising opened up by the Supreme Court's ruling in ''Citizens United' ...

, a Republican Super PAC. Armstrong also donated $40,000 to Fight for the Dream PAC, a Super PAC that opposed the re-election of Senator Bob Casey.

References

External links

Armstrong Group of Companies Site

Armstrong Home Page
{{CATV USA Companies based in Butler County, Pennsylvania Economy of the Northeastern United States Cable television companies of the United States Internet service providers of the United States Telecommunications companies established in 1946 American companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in Pennsylvania Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania