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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2003

 

Commission file number 0-26677

 

Insight Communications Company, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware   13-4053502

(State or other jurisdiction

of incorporation or organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

 

810 Seventh Avenue

New York, New York 10019

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (917) 286-2300

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

 

Class A Common Stock, $.01 Par Value

(Title of class)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

 

Yes  x    No  ¨

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    ¨

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2).

 

Yes  x    No  ¨

 

The aggregate market value of the common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2003 was approximately $605.6 million.

 

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of February 13, 2004: 50,760,317 shares of Class A Common Stock and 8,879,468 shares of Class B Common Stock.

 

Documents Incorporated by Reference:

 

Portions of the registrant’s proxy statement for the 2004 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III

 



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Table of Contents

 

          Page

PART I     

Item 1.

   Business    1

Item 2.

   Properties    28

Item 3.

   Legal Proceedings    28

Item 4.

   Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders    29

Item 4A.

   Executive Officers of the Registrant    29
PART II     

Item 5.

   Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities    31

Item 6.

   Selected Financial Data    32

Item 7.

   Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations    36

Item 7A.

   Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk    54

Item 8.

   Financial Statements and Supplementary Data    55

Item 9.

   Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure    55

Item 9A.

   Control and Procedures    55
PART III     

Item 10.

   Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant    56

Item 11.

   Executive Compensation    56

Item 12.

   Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters    56

Item 13.

   Certain Relationships and Related Transactions    56

Item 14.

   Principal Accountant Fees and Services    56
PART IV     

Item 15.

   Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, and Reports on Form 8-K    57
SIGNATURES     

 

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

Some of the information in this report contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. You can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate” and “continue” or similar words. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they:

 

  discuss our future expectations;

 

  contain projections of our results of operations or financial condition; or

 

  state other “forward-looking” information.

 

We believe it is important to communicate our expectations to our investors. However, there may be events in the future that we are not able to accurately predict or over which we have no control. The risk factors listed in this report, as well as any other cautionary language in this report, provide examples of risks, uncertainties and events that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations we describe in our forward-looking statements. Examples of these risks include our history and expectation of future net losses, our substantial debt, changes in laws and regulations, increasing programming costs and competition. You should be aware that the occurrence of the events described in these risk factors and elsewhere in this report could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

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PART I

 

Item 1. Business

 

In this report, we rely on and refer to information and statistics regarding the cable television industry and our market share in the sectors in which we compete. We obtained this information and statistics from various third-party sources, discussions with our customers and our own internal estimates. We believe that these sources and estimates are reliable, but we have not independently verified them and cannot guarantee their accuracy or completeness.

 

General

 

Insight Communications Company, Inc. is the ninth largest cable television system operator in the United States based on customers served. We currently serve approximately 1.4 million customers, all of which are concentrated in the four contiguous states of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio. We offer our customers an array of broadband products and services, including analog and digital video and high-speed Internet access, as well as telephone services under the AT&T Digital Phone brand.

 

Insight Midwest, L.P. is a partnership owned 50% by us and 50% by an indirect subsidiary of Comcast Cable Holdings, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. Insight Midwest owns systems serving approximately 1.3 million of our customers, and our 50% interest in Insight Midwest constitutes substantially all of our assets. We also manage additional systems in Indiana owned by an affiliate of Comcast Cable, which served approximately 89,400 customers as of December 31, 2003, for which we receive a management fee equal to 5% of the gross revenues of those systems.

 

We are a public company and our Class A common stock is listed on The Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “ICCI.” Our experienced senior management team and members of their families own, in the aggregate, over 15% of our common stock.

 

This report, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our current reports on Form 8-K, as well as any other materials that we file with or furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission are available free of charge through our website www.insight-com.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed or furnished.

 

Our principal offices are located at 810 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10019, and our telephone number is (917) 286-2300.

 

Strategy

 

Our strategy is to be a full-service provider of entertainment, information and communications services. This strategy is centered on offering attractive products and services which will be valued by our customers, and providing the highest level of customer service. We focus on strengthening relationships within the communities in which we operate. We believe our local presence and relationships with our communities and customers distinguishes us from our competitors and results in higher customer satisfaction. In addition, we intend to continue to leverage the capacity and capability of our upgraded broadband network to develop new and enhanced products and services for our customers.

 

Deliver excellent customer service and enhance community relations

 

We believe that our commitment to customers and the communities in which we operate enhances our ability to attract and retain customers in a competitive environment. We also believe that providing outstanding customer service and creating a positive corporate image in our communities enhances our ability to sell new products and services.


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We seek a high level of customer satisfaction by employing localized customer care, extensively using market research and providing customers with an attractively priced product offering. A significant number of our customers visit their local office on a monthly basis, providing us the opportunity to demonstrate and sell our new and enhanced products and services. Our localized customer care initiatives create substantial marketing and promotion opportunities, which we believe are effective in the deployment of our products and services.

 

In addition, we are dedicated to fostering strong relations in the communities we serve. We sponsor local charities and community causes through staged events and promotional campaigns, including the industry’s Cable in the Classroom program. Our emphasis on customer service and strong community involvement has led to higher customer satisfaction, reduced customer churn and excellent franchise relationships. To further strengthen community relations and differentiate us from direct broadcast satellite television systems and other multichannel video providers, we provide locally produced and oriented programming that offers, among other things, community information, local government proceedings and local specialty interest shows. In some of our markets, we are the only broadcaster of local college and high school sporting events, which allows us to provide important programming that builds customer loyalty.

 

Focus on operating large, tightly-grouped clusters of cable systems in markets with attractive demographic profiles

 

In addition to its geographic concentration, our communications network is tightly-grouped, or “clustered,” with approximately 95% of our customers served from 14 headends, or an average of approximately 100,000 customers per headend (a headend processes signals received for distribution to customers over our network). As a result, the amount of capital necessary to deploy new and enhanced products and services is significantly reduced on a per home basis. We believe that the highly clustered nature of our systems also enables us to more efficiently deploy our marketing dollars and maximize our ability to enhance customer awareness, increase use of our products and services and build brand support.

 

The communities we serve are characterized by good housing growth, higher than average household income and low unemployment, and many are centered around large universities and major commercial enterprises. We believe that the demographic profile of our communities make them attractive markets for our existing and new products.

 

Leverage our advanced broadband network to offer bundled services and introduce new and enhanced products

 

Our advanced broadband network provides significant capacity and flexibility to offer our customers an array of products and services. The capacity of a cable system to offer products and services is determined by its bandwidth. As of December 31, 2003, we estimate that approximately 96% of our customers were passed by our upgraded network, with a bandwidth capacity of 750 megahertz (MHz) or greater. At the end of 2003, digital cable was available to 96% of basic customers passed by our broadband network, high-speed Internet was available to 96% of homes passed and telephone was available to 30% of homes passed.

 

Our marketing strategy is to offer our customers an array of entertainment, information and communications services on a bundled basis. A bundled customer is one who subscribes to two or more of our primary services (video, high-speed Internet access and telephone). Where available, all of our services are offered on a bundled basis, supported by a single, integrated back-office platform, which allows our customers to make one call to a single customer service representative regarding any and all of their services and to receive a single bill for all services if they choose. By bundling our products and services, we provide our customers with increased choice in value-added packages, which we believe results in higher customer satisfaction, increased use of our services and greater customer retention.

 

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Pursue value-enhancing transactions in nearby or adjacent geographies

 

We will seek to swap or acquire systems that strategically fit our clustering and operating strategy and are accretive to our value. We do not currently have any agreements, commitments or understandings for any future acquisitions. There is no assurance that any additional acquisitions will be completed. We believe that by acquiring or swapping systems in close proximity we have the opportunity to improve revenue growth and operating margins. This is achieved through the consolidation of headends and spread of fixed costs over larger systems and the increase of operating efficiencies associated with larger systems.

 

Technical Overview

 

We believe that in order to achieve consistently high levels of customer service, reduce operating costs, maintain a strong competitive position and deploy important new technologies, we will need to maintain a state-of-the-art technical platform. The deployment of fiber optic cable which has a capacity for a very large number of channels, the increase in the bandwidth to 750 MHz or higher, the activation of a two-way communications network and the installation of digital equipment allows us to deliver new and enhanced products and services, including interactive digital video, high-speed Internet services and telephone services provided by subsidiaries of Comcast Cable.

 

As of December 31, 2003, our owned systems were comprised of approximately 29,600 network miles serving approximately 1.3 million customers and passing approximately 2.3 million homes resulting in a density of approximately 78 homes per mile. As of that date, our owned systems were made up of an aggregate of 35 headends, and approximately 95% of our customers are served by 14 headends. As of December 31, 2003, we estimate that approximately 96% of our customers were passed by our upgraded network.

 

Our network design calls for an analog and digital two-way active network with fiber optic cable carrying signals from the headend to the distribution point within our customers’ neighborhoods. The signals are transferred to our coaxial cable network at the node for delivery to our customers. We have designed the fiber system to be capable of subdividing the nodes if traffic on the network requires additional capacity.

 

We believe that active use of fiber optic technology as a supplement to coaxial cable plays a major role in expanding channel capacity and improving the performance of our systems. Fiber optic strands are capable of carrying hundreds of video, data and voice channels over extended distances without the extensive signal amplification typically required for coaxial cable. We will continue to deploy fiber optic cable to further reduce amplifier cascades while improving picture quality and system reliability.

 

A direct result of this extensive use of fiber optics is an improvement in picture quality and a reduction of outages because system failures will be both significantly reduced and will impact far fewer customers when they do occur. Our design allows our systems to have the capability to run multiple separate channel line-ups from a single headend and to insert targeted advertisements into specific neighborhoods.

 

To enable us to deliver telephone services, Comcast Cable provides the necessary switching and transport. Insight Midwest is required to deploy the necessary equipment at the headends and at customers’ homes, and is responsible for expanding and upgrading our network to provide the required capacity. We are improving the reliability of telephone services by implementing centralized powering and status monitoring on our local network as telephone services are deployed in our systems. The existing commercial power structure deployed in cable networks is subject to potential disruptions in local power utility service. Centralized power will provide battery back-up for a limited duration followed by gas-powered generator back-up, thereby making both telephone services and other products and services delivered over our local network more reliable. Status monitoring will enable us to monitor key components of our local network so that we can help reduce and diagnose problems affecting the performance of our local network.

 

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Products and Services

 

We offer our customers a full array of traditional cable television services and programming offerings. We tailor both our basic line-up and our additional channel offerings to each regional system in response to demographics, programming preferences, competition and local regulation. We offer a basic level of service which includes up to 25 channels of television programming. As of December 31, 2003, approximately 91% of our customers chose to pay an additional amount to receive additional channels under our “Classic” or “expanded” service. Premium channels, which are offered individually or in packages of several channels, are optional add-ons to the basic service or the classic service. As of December 31, 2003, premium units as a percentage of basic subscribers was approximately 42%.

 

As network upgrades were activated, we deployed new and enhanced products and services in substantially all of our markets, including interactive digital video and high-speed Internet services. In addition, we are offering telephone services to our customers in selected markets under a long-term agreement with Comcast Cable.

 

Analog Video

 

Our analog cable television service offering includes the following:

 

  Basic Service. All of our customers receive the basic level of service, which generally consists of local broadcast television and local community programming, including government and public access, and may include a limited number of satellite channels.

 

  Classic Service or Expanded Service. This expanded level of service includes a group of satellite-delivered or non-broadcast channels such as ESPN, CNN, Discovery Channel and Lifetime.

 

  Premium Channels. These channels provide unedited, commercial-free movies, sports and other special event entertainment programming such as HBO, Cinemax, Starz! and Showtime. We offer subscriptions to these channels primarily as a multi-channel digital service, along with subscription video-on-demand services.

 

  Pay-Per-View. These analog channels allow customers with addressable analog or digital set top boxes to pay to view a as one-time special sporting event or music concert on an unedited, commercial-free basis. Pay-per-view movies are available through our video-on-demand digital service.

 

Interactive Digital Video

 

The implementation of interactive digital technology significantly enhances and expands the video and service offerings we provide to our customers. Because of the significantly increased bandwidth and two-way transmission capability of our state-of-the-art technical platform, which continues to be built in conjunction with our digital launches, we have designed a more extensive digital product that is rich in program offerings and highly interactive with our customers. Our interactive digital service is designed to exploit the advantages of a broadband network in the existing generation of set-top devices. The digital service encompasses three interactive applications: (1) an interactive program guide; (2) interactive local information and community guides; and (3) a video-on-demand service.

 

We have conducted numerous focus groups and commissioned research studies, the findings of which have helped to develop our interactive digital strategy. We believe that our digital penetration will continue to increase as a result of our differentiated services such as a graphically rich local information network and video-on-demand pay-per-view with full VCR functionality.

 

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We are packaging a “Digital Gateway” brand. For $7.95 per month, our customers receive the following features:

 

  A digital set-top box and remote control;

 

  An interactive navigational program guide for all analog and digital channels;

 

  A local, interactive Internet-style information and entertainment service;

 

  A multi-channel premium service for customers who separately subscribe to premium channels, such as HBO and Showtime, and in some cases with subscription video-on-demand;

 

  Video-on-demand;

 

  Mag Rack, a selection of video magazines with video-on-demand functionality; and

 

  A digital 40-channel audio music service.

 

In January 2003, we began offering a high-definition programming service consisting of broadcast networks and premium channels. Digital customers with high-definition television (HDTV) sets can pay an extra $2.00 for an HDTV receiver and any high-definition programming that is available from local broadcasters. HDTV customers who have HBO or Showtime would receive any HDTV programs available from these networks as well. We believe that offering HDTV programming from local broadcasters puts us in a favorable competitive position with the direct broadcast satellite television distributors which have limited HDTV programming due to capacity restrictions.

 

We have an agreement with Liberate Technologies that enables us to utilize the Liberate software platform for the deployment of interactive television services The Liberate software provides the middleware component of our interactive digital product. Throughout our systems, we have deployed Motorola’s DCT-2000 digital set-top boxes. We have also deployed the less expensive DCT-1700 set-top boxes, and for systems that have launched HDTV, we have deployed the DCT-5100. In January 2004, we began offering in certain of our systems, for an additional $5.00 per month over our Digital Gateway price, Motorola’s DCT-6208 which integrates in a single digital set-top box our existing HDTV programming and video-on-demand services with a new digital video recorder (DVR) service. These advanced services are supported by Gemstar-TV Guide’s interactive program guide.

 

Our digital customers are served by a video-on-demand infrastructure provided by SeaChange International, Inc. Customers receive the movies electronically over the network and have full VCR functionality, including pause, play, fast forward and rewind. The movies are delivered with a high quality digital picture and digital sound. Our video-on-demand product is designed to provide movies at prices comparable to those charged for videotape rentals, pay-per-view and near video-on-demand movies, but with far greater convenience and functionality. As of December 31, 2003, approximately 28% of our customers had access to video-on-demand services.

 

On March 14, 2002, we purchased the remaining 50% equity interest in SourceSuite LLC that we did not already own. Through SourceSuite, our interactive digital platform provides its local Internet-style service and its interactive program guide for our interactive digital products other than the DCT-6208 offering.

 

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High-Speed Internet

 

We offer high-speed Internet service for personal computers for all of our upgraded systems through our own regional network branded InsightBroadbandSM, except for our Columbus, Ohio system, which utilizes the RoadRunner service. AT&T Corp. provides the IP network backbone for our InsightBroadband service and certain core Internet support functions. As of December 31, 2003, high-speed Internet services were available in over 2.2 million of our homes and served approximately 230,000 of our customers.

 

The broad bandwidth of our cable network enables data to be transmitted significantly faster than traditional telephone-based modem technologies, and the cable connection does not interfere with normal telephone activity or usage. For example, cable’s on-line customers can download large files from the Internet in a fraction of the time it takes when using any widely available telephone modem technology. Moreover, surfing the Internet on a high-speed network removes the long delays for Web pages to fully appear on the computer screen, allowing the experience to more closely approximate the responsiveness of changing channels on a television set. In addition, the cable modem is always on and does not require the customer to dial into an Internet service provider and await authorization. We believe that these factors of speed and easy accessibility will increase the use and impact of the Internet.

 

Telephone Services

 

We have a long-term agreement with Comcast Cable that allows Insight Midwest to deliver local telephone service using Insight Midwest’s local network infrastructure and switching and transport furnished by Comcast Cable. Insight Midwest leases certain capacity on its local network to Comcast Cable for a monthly fee for each of the first four lines ordered by a customer. Additionally, Comcast Cable is required to pay Insight Midwest a fee for each customer installation. Insight Midwest is compensated on a per transaction basis for sales of telephone services as Comcast Cable’s agent. For Insight Midwest’s provision of billing and collection for telephone services, Comcast Cable is required to pay it a monthly fee per customer. Insight Midwest is also entitled to additional compensation if revenue exceeds the projected target revenue for local service lines and features.

 

Subsidiaries of Comcast Cable are the regulated telephone carriers providing telephone services. Telephone services are marketed as AT&T Digital Phone services and are sold in conjunction with our bundle of InsightDigital services. Insight Midwest markets those services as an agent for Comcast Cable. Insight Midwest also bills customers for those services, as well as provides installation, maintenance and marketing support for the services. Pursuant to its long-term agreement with Comcast Cable, telephone services are provided in certain systems in which Insight Midwest currently provides cable television services, other than its Illinois systems. If both parties agree, the agreements can be expanded to include the Illinois systems. Telephone services have been deployed in portions of the Louisville, Kentucky, Evansville, Indiana, Lexington, Kentucky, and Columbus, Ohio areas and were available to a total of approximately 701,500 marketable homes passed, with approximately 55,400 customers as of December 31, 2003.

 

Insight Midwest is responsible for upgrading and maintaining its local network to meet specified measures of quality including increasing the capacity of its network on an average capacity of two lines per residential household passed, assuming a specified service penetration rate. Insight Midwest also acquires and installs equipment to be located at the customer premises that is required to provide telephone services. Comcast Cable is responsible for switching and transport.

 

Comcast Cable is evaluating its telephony strategy on an ongoing basis. Therefore, we are unable to predict whether any changes in Comcast Cable’s telephony strategy will affect our contractual relationship for the provision of telephone services to our customers.

 

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Business Background

 

We were co-founded in 1985 as a limited partnership under the name Insight Communications Company, L.P. by Sidney R. Knafel and Michael S. Willner after a previous association with one another at Vision Cable Communications where Mr. Knafel was co-founder and Chairman and Mr. Willner held various operating positions, ultimately holding the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Vision Cable was sold to The Newhouse Group Inc. in 1981 and Mr. Willner remained there to run the cable operations until 1985 when he and Mr. Knafel formed Insight Communications.

 

In addition to many years of conventional cable television experience, our management team has been involved in the development and deployment of full service communications networks since 1989. Through a then related entity, Insight Communications Company UK, L.P., our management and related parties entered the cable television market in the United Kingdom, where today modern networks are widely deployed.

 

As a result of our management’s British experience, we recognized that the technology and products developed in the United Kingdom would migrate to the United States in similar form. We focused on planning to upgrade our network promptly after it became clear that the 1996 Telecom Act would encourage competition in the communications industries. We understood, however, that the new products and services available with new technology were best deployed in markets which provided for efficiencies for branding and technical investment. Our original acquisition strategy, which focused on customer growth, was very successful. However, our management team recognized the opportunity to evolve from our role as a cable television operator providing only home video entertainment into a full service alternative communications network providing not only standard video services, but also interactive digital video, high-speed Internet access and communications products and services.

 

Recognizing the opportunities presented by newly available products and services and favorable changes in the regulatory environment, we executed a series of asset swaps, acquisitions and entered into several joint ventures that resulted in our current composition. The largest of these transactions were the 50/50 joint ventures formed with Comcast Cable (formerly known as AT&T Broadband) and its affiliates in October 1998 with respect to the Indiana systems, in October 1999 with respect to the Kentucky systems and on January 5, 2001 with respect to the Illinois systems. As of December 31, 1997, our systems had approximately 180,000 customers with the two largest concentrations in Utah and Indiana, which together represented less than half of its customers. We believe that we have successfully transformed our assets so that we currently own, operate and manage a cable television network serving approximately 1.4 million customers, all of which are clustered in the contiguous states of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio. Our current assets are reflective of our strategy to own systems that have high ratios of customers to headends.

 

In July 1999, the holders of the partnership interests of Insight Communications Company, L.P. (“Insight LP”) exchanged their respective partnership interests for our common stock. As a result, Insight LP became our wholly-owned subsidiary. Simultaneous with the exchange, we consummated an initial public offering of 26,450,000 shares of our Class A common stock, raising an aggregate of approximately $650.0 million. Our Class A common stock is currently listed on The Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “ICCI.”

 

Our Systems

 

Our systems in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio serve approximately 1.3 million customers. We are the largest operator of cable systems in Kentucky and the second-largest in both Indiana and Illinois. Our systems are clustered to serve an average of 100,000 customers per headend.

 

We are able to realize significant operational synergies due to the size of the clusters in these states and the demographic proximity of all of our systems. In all of our systems, we have substantially

 

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completed upgrading our system infrastructures to enable us to deliver new technologies, products and services to provide our customers with greater value and choices in the face of growing competition. As network upgrades were activated, we deployed new and enhanced products and services in substantially all of our markets, including interactive digital video and high-speed Internet services. In addition, we are offering telephone services to our customers in selected markets under a long-term agreement with Comcast Cable.

 

The highly clustered nature of our systems enables us to (a) more efficiently invest our marketing dollars and maximize our brand awareness, (b) more economically introduce new and enhanced services, and (c) reduce our overall operating and maintenance costs as a result of our ability to deploy fiber and reduce the number of headends we use throughout our systems. As a result, we believe we will be able to achieve improved operating performance on both a combined and system-wide basis. Our relationship with Comcast Cable provides us with substantial purchasing economies for both our programming and hardware needs.

 

The Indiana Systems

 

General

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Indiana systems passed approximately 585,200 homes and served approximately 329,000 customers. The Indiana systems are owned by Insight Communications Midwest, which is the second largest cable operator in the state. Insight Communications Midwest, which was capitalized on October 31, 1998, was a 50/50 joint venture between us and an indirect subsidiary of Comcast Cable (formerly known as AT&T Broadband) until the contribution of its equity interests on October 1, 1999 into Insight Midwest. We serve as manager of the Indiana systems. We believe that there are additional opportunities to augment our position in Indiana through additional acquisitions and swaps. Approximately 95% of our customers in Indiana are served by three headends.

 

We manage the day-to-day operations of Indiana cable television systems owned by Comcast of Montana/Indiana/Kentucky/Utah (formerly known as InterMedia Partners Southeast), an affiliate of Comcast Cable, which served approximately 89,400 customers as of December 31, 2003. The systems are operated by employees of our Indiana systems, and the overhead for these systems is allocated and charged against the cash flow of the managed systems. On February 28, 2003, we exchanged with an affiliate of Comcast Cable the system we owned in Griffin, Georgia serving approximately 11,800 customers, plus $25 million, for certain of these managed systems serving approximately 23,400 customers which are presently tied into our Louisville system. The management agreement for the remaining managed systems may be terminated by either party upon 30 days notice.

 

The Indiana systems are organized in four management districts:

 

The Central District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Central District passed approximately 148,800 homes and served approximately 82,200 customers, principally in the community of Bloomington. The City of Bloomington, located 45 miles south of Indianapolis, is the home of Indiana University. Besides the University, major employers include Bloomington Hospital, Cook Incorporated and General Electric. The median household income for the area is approximately $43,000 per year, while the median family income is approximately $55,800 per year. Household income differs from family income by including income from all persons in all households, including persons living alone and other non-family households.

 

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The Southwest District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Southwest District passed approximately 129,400 homes and served approximately 59,900 customers, principally in the communities of Evansville, Boonville, Mt. Vernon, Princeton and Jasper, Indiana, as well as Henderson, Kentucky. The median household income for the area is approximately $40,500 per year, while the median family income is approximately $49,900 per year. Major employers include Alcoa, Whirlpool and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

 

In January 2003, HDTV was launched in this District. Telephone service is now fully deployed in Evansville, Boonville and Mt. Vernon, Indiana, as well as in Henderson, Kentucky.

 

A related party of Vectren Corporation (formerly Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Co.) has overbuilt the City of Evansville. Vectren has obtained franchises to provide cable television service in the City of Evansville and neighboring areas and commenced service in April 1999. We believe the Vectren overbuild passed approximately 82,500 homes in our service area as of December 31, 2003 and is expected to pass additional homes, and has commenced offering telephone and data service.

 

The Northwest District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Northwest District passed approximately 106,000 homes and served approximately 69,300 customers, principally in the communities of Lafayette and Kokomo. The City of Lafayette is the home of Purdue University. Besides Purdue University, major employers include Eli Lilly, Subaru, Caterpillar, Great Lakes Chemical, Lafayette Life Insurance, General Motors and Delco Remy. The median household income for the area is approximately $41,100 per year, while the median family income is approximately $52,400 per year.

 

The Northeast District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Northeast District passed approximately 201,000 homes and served approximately 117,600 customers in Richmond as well as in the suburban communities near Indianapolis, including Noblesville and extending north to Anderson and east to Richmond, Indiana. Indianapolis is the state capital of Indiana and is the twelfth largest city in the United States. Major employers include General Motors and Eli Lilly The median household income for the area is approximately $55,000 per year, while the median family income is approximately $63,500 per year.

 

The Kentucky Systems

 

General

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Kentucky systems passed approximately 845,800 homes and served approximately 464,100 customers. This includes approximately 78,600 homes passed and approximately 36,200 customers served by the Jeffersonville and New Albany, Indiana systems which is owned by Insight Communications Midwest and operated by the management of the Louisville, Kentucky system. The Kentucky systems are owned by Insight Kentucky Partners II, L.P., which is the largest cable operator in the state. We acquired a combined 50% interest in Insight Kentucky’s parent on October 1, 1999, with related parties of Comcast Cable (formerly known as AT&T Broadband) holding the other 50% interest. Simultaneous with this acquisition, all of the equity interests were contributed into Insight Midwest. We serve as manager of the Kentucky systems.

 

Our Kentucky systems are located in and around four of the five largest cities in the state: Louisville, Lexington, Covington, and Bowling Green. Over 99% of Insight Kentucky’s customers are served by a two-way active, 750 MHz network. Additionally, approximately 99% of the systems’ customers are served by four headends.

 

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Summary statistics for the Kentucky systems are as follows:

 

Louisville

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Louisville system passed approximately 529,100 homes and served approximately 274,400 customers. Louisville is the 16th largest city in the United States and is Kentucky’s largest city. It is located in the northern region of the state, bordering Indiana. Louisville is located within a day’s drive of nearly 50% of the United States population, which makes it an important crossroads for trade and business. Major employers in the Louisville metropolitan area include Humana, UPS, General Electric and Ford. The median household income for the area is approximately $39,800 while the median family income is approximately $48,300. Knology, Inc. obtained a franchise to provide cable television service in the City of Louisville, although it had not built a cable system as of December 31, 2003.

 

The Louisville system serves over 99% of its customers with two-way 750 MHz cable from a single headend. As of December 31, 2003, approximately 101,900 customers in the Louisville system have subscribed to our interactive InsightDigital service, including the LocalSource product and our video-on-demand service. Digital phone service is available in over 87% of Louisville.

 

Lexington

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Lexington system passed approximately 127,200 homes and served approximately 83,100 customers from a single headend. Lexington is Kentucky’s second largest city, located in the central part of the state. Major employers in the Lexington area include the University of Kentucky, Toyota and Lexmark International. The median household income for the area is approximately $40,000, while the median family income is approximately $50,700.

 

As of December 31, 2003, over 30% of customers have subscribed to our interactive digital service. Approximately 18% of customers have InsightBroadband high-speed Internet service. Digital phone service is available in over 51% of Lexington.

 

Covington

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Covington system passed approximately 153,000 homes and served approximately 83,400 customers from a single headend. Covington is Kentucky’s fifth largest city. Major employers in the Covington area include Delta Airlines, Toyota, Citicorp, DHL, Ashland, Inc., Fidelity Investments, BICC General Cable Corporation, Omnicare, COMAIR, Levis Strauss, Gap, Inc., Mazak Corp. and R.A. Jones, Inc. The median household income for the area is approximately $48,700, while the median family income is approximately $57,000.

 

Bowling Green

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Bowling Green system passed approximately 36,500 homes and served approximately 23,200 customers from a single headend. Bowling Green is located 120 miles south of Louisville, 110 miles southwest of Lexington and 70 miles north of Nashville, Tennessee. Bowling Green is the fourth largest city in Kentucky and is the home of Western Kentucky University. Major employers in the Bowling Green area include General Motors, Fruit of the Loom, Commonwealth Health Corporation, DESA International and Houchens Industries. The median household income for the area is approximately $32,600, while the median family income is approximately $42,700.

 

The Illinois Systems

 

The Illinois systems are owned and operated by Insight Communications Midwest, and were contributed to Insight Communications Midwest on January 5, 2001. We serve as manager of the Illinois

 

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systems. These systems are located primarily in mid-sized communities, including Springfield, Rockford, Peoria, Dixon and Champaign/Urbana. The Rockford system was contributed by us and the other Illinois systems were acquired from certain cable subsidiaries of AT&T Corp.

 

In total, the Illinois systems passed approximately 688,400 homes and served approximately 414,900 customers as of December 31, 2003, making us the second largest operator of cable television systems in the State of Illinois. These systems are served by networks with approximately 7,000 miles having a capacity greater than or equal to 750 MHz, approximately 586 miles having a capacity greater than or equal to 550 MHz and less than 750 MHz, and nearly 223 miles having a capacity less than 450 MHz.

 

The Illinois systems are organized in five management districts:

 

The Rockford District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Rockford District passed approximately 131,600 homes and served approximately 76,800 customers. Rockford is Illinois’ second largest city. Major employers in the Rockford metropolitan area include Chrysler Corporation, Rockford Health System, Sundstrand Corporation and Swedish American Health Systems. The median household income for the area is approximately $36,500 per year, while the median family income is approximately $44,600 per year.

 

Since launching our InsightDigital service in the Rockford system, the activated areas achieved approximately 28% digital penetration from its customers, with incremental revenue per digital customer of approximately $19 per month.

 

The Peoria District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Peoria District passed approximately 200,800 homes and served approximately 125,000 customers, principally in the communities of Bloomington and Peoria. Bloomington is located in the north central part of the state. The Bloomington system is home to Illinois State University with over 20,000 students and Illinois Wesleyan University with over 2,000 students. The major employers in Bloomington are State Farm Insurance and Mitsubishi Motor Company of America. Peoria is the fifth largest city in Illinois, located in the north central part of the state. The Peoria system is home to Bradley University. Major employers in the Peoria area include the world headquarters of Caterpillar and R.L. Nelson Corp. The median household income for the area is approximately $41,400, while the median family income is approximately $54,000.

 

The Peoria system completed the upgrade of all but 68 miles of its 2,100 mile network to 750 MHz or higher. As of December 31, 2003, the Peoria District achieved penetration levels for its digital service of over 25% in areas where digital service is available. The system has launched high-speed Internet service and has achieved penetration levels of over 10% as of December 31, 2003 in areas where the service is available. In September 2003, video-on-demand and HDTV services were made available to customers in the Peoria district.

 

The Dixon District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Dixon District passed approximately 69,300 homes and served approximately 43,500 customers, principally in the communities of Rock Falls, Peru and Dixon. Dixon is located in the north/central part of the State of Illinois. Major employers in the Dixon area include the State of Illinois, Raynor Manufacturing Company and Borg Warner Automotive. The median household income for the area is approximately $36,400, while the median family income is approximately $46,600.

 

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Approximately 85% of the Dixon system currently operates with a network of 750 MHz or higher. As of December 31, 2003, the district achieved penetration levels for its digital service of approximately 21% in areas where the service is available.

 

The Springfield District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Springfield District passed approximately 187,800 homes and served approximately 117,000 customers, principally in the communities of Decatur and Springfield. Springfield is the capital of Illinois and the sixth largest city in the state, located in the central part of the state. The major employer in the Springfield area is the State of Illinois. The median household income for the area is approximately $36,200, while the median family income is approximately $46,800.

 

Approximately 90% of the Springfield District operates with a network of 750 MHz or higher. As of December 31, 2003, the district achieved penetration levels for its digital service of nearly 27% in the areas where the service is available. The system has launched InsightBroadband high-speed Internet service and has achieved penetration levels of approximately 10% in areas where the service is available. In September 2003, video-on-demand and HDTV services were made available to customers in the Springfield district.

 

The Champaign District

 

As of December 31, 2003, the Champaign District passed approximately 98,900 homes and served approximately 52,600 customers. Champaign/Urbana is located in the eastern central part of the state. The Champaign District is home to the University of Illinois with over 45,000 students. Major employers in the Champaign and Urbana areas include the University of Illinois, Kraft Foods and the Carle Clinic Association. The median household income for the area is approximately $30,300 and the median family income for the area is approximately $47,600.

 

The Champaign District serves substantially all of its customers by a two-way, 750 MHz network. The district had approximately 13,600 digital customers as of December 31, 2003. The Champaign District has launched InsightBroadband high-speed Internet service and as of December 31, 2003 had approximately 11,800 customers.

 

The Ohio System

 

In connection with the AT&T transactions in January 2001, the common equity of Insight Communications of Central Ohio, LLC, the entity holding the Ohio system, was contributed to Insight Midwest. As of December 31, 2003, the Ohio system passed approximately 206,400 homes and served approximately 85,600 customers from a single headend. The system serves the eastern portion of the City of Columbus and adjacent suburban communities within eastern Franklin County and the contiguous counties of Delaware, Licking, Fairfield and Pickaway. The City of Columbus is the 34th largest designated market area, the capital of Ohio and the home of Ohio State University. In addition to the state government and university, the Columbus economy is well diversified with the significant presence of prominent companies such as The Limited, Merck, Wendy’s, Nationwide Insurance, Borden and Worthington Industries. The median household income for our service area is approximately $40,300 per year, while the median family income is approximately $50,600 per year.

 

As of December 31, 2003, approximately 34,500 of our Ohio customers have subscribed to our interactive digital service, representing a penetration of nearly 43% in areas where digital service is available. The RoadRunner high-speed Internet service, launched in 2000, has achieved a penetration of approximately 13% as of December 31, 2003 in areas where digital service is available. In addition, the Ohio system provides exclusive local sports and entertainment programming, featuring a variety of sporting events from area high schools and the Ohio State University to Columbus Clippers baseball and Columbus Crew major league soccer.

 

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In 1996, Ameritech obtained a citywide cable television franchise for the City of Columbus and most other suburban communities in Franklin County. WideOpenWest acquired the assets of Ameritech in December 2001, and has built its system, both in our service area and in the Time Warner service area on the west side of Columbus. We and Time Warner service virtually distinct areas and therefore do not compete with one another. The areas of the Ohio system served by both us and WideOpenWest pass approximately 130,800 homes, representing 63% of the Ohio system’s total homes passed as of December 31, 2003.

 

We have launched a telephone service alternative to SBC (Ameritech) in the Columbus, Ohio area through our arrangement with Comcast Cable.

 

Customer Rates

 

Rates charged to customers vary based on the market served and service selected. As of December 31, 2003, the weighted average revenue for our monthly combined basic and classic service was approximately $35.51. The national average is projected to be $36.59 for the same services for 2003, as reported by Paul Kagan & Associates.

 

A one-time installation fee, which we may reduce during promotional periods, is charged to new customers, as well as reconnected customers. We charge monthly fees for set top boxes and remote control devices. We also charge administrative fees for delinquent payments for service. Customers are free to discontinue service at any time without additional charge and may be charged a reconnection fee to resume service. Commercial customers, such as hotels, motels and hospitals, are charged negotiated monthly fees and a non-recurring fee for the installation of service. Multiple dwelling unit accounts may be offered a bulk rate in exchange for single-point billing and basic service to all units.

 

Sales and Marketing

 

Our strategy is to improve customer satisfaction and reduce churn in addition to selling video, high-speed Internet and telephone services under the “AT&T Digital Phone” brand to our customers and potential customers, thereby increasing market share. Customers who purchase more than one service may in some cases be eligible for a bundled discount. We regularly use targeted campaigns to sell the appropriate services to both our existing and our potential customer base. Our customer service representatives are trained and given the support to use their daily contacts with customers as opportunities to sell them additional services.

 

Due to the nature of the communities we serve, we are able to market our services in ways not typically used by urban cable operators. We can market products and services to our customers at our local offices where many of our customers pay their cable bills in person. Examples of our in-store marketing include the promotion of premium services as well as point-of-purchase demonstrations that will allow customers to experience our high-speed Internet service and digital products. We aggressively promote our services utilizing both broad and targeted marketing tactics, including outdoor billboards, outbound telemarketing, retail partnerships, including Best Buy and H.H. Gregg, direct mail, door-to-door sales, cross-channel promotion, print and broadcast.

 

We build awareness of the Insight Communications brand through advertising campaigns and strong community relations. As a result of our branding efforts and consistent service standards, we believe we have developed a reputation for quality and reliability. We also believe that our marketing strategies are particularly effective due to our regional clustering and market significance, which enables us to reach a greater number of both current and potential customers in an efficient, uniform manner.

 

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Programming Suppliers

 

Most cable companies purchase their programming product directly from the program networks by entering into a contractual relationship with the program supplier. The vast majority of these program suppliers offer the cable operator license fee rate cards with size-based volume discounts and other financial incentives, such as launch and marketing support and cross-channel advertising.

 

Currently there are over 160 cable networks competing for carriage on our analog and digital platforms. We have continued to leverage both our systems’ channel capacity and newly deployed digital services including video-on-demand as an incentive to our suppliers to secure long term programming deals with reasonable price structures and other creative financial arrangements to offset license fee increases.

 

Because of our relationship with Comcast Cable (formerly known as AT&T Broadband), we have the right to purchase certain programming services for our systems directly through Comcast Cable’s programming supplier Satellite Services, Inc. We believe that Satellite Services has attractive programming costs. Additionally, given the clustering of our systems in the Midwest, we have been successful in affiliating with regionally based programming products such as sports and news, at lower than average license fees.

 

Under the terms of Insight Midwest’s partnership agreement, we and Comcast Cable are each required to use commercially reasonable efforts to extend to Insight Midwest all of the programming discounts available to us. Accordingly, we should benefit from both the existing Satellite Services arrangement as well as additional discounts available to Comcast Cable. However, we cannot predict with certainty when these benefits will occur, or the extent to which they actually will be achieved.

 

Commitment to Community Relations

 

We believe that maintaining strong community relations will continue to be an important factor in ensuring our long-term success. Our community-oriented initiatives include educational programs and the sponsorship of programs and events recognizing local citizens. In addition, members of our management team host community events for political and business leaders as well as representatives of the local media, where they discuss our operations and recent developments in the telecommunications industry. We have received numerous awards recognizing our ongoing community relations, and we believe that such initiatives result in consumer and governmental goodwill and name recognition, increasing customer loyalty and likely facilitating any future efforts to provide new communications services.

 

We encourage all of our local management teams to take leadership roles in community and civic activities. Over the years, our systems have received various forms of recognition for their efforts to support local causes and charities as well as programs that encourage a better way of life in the communities they serve.

 

All of our systems provide ongoing support for Cable in the Classroom, an industry initiative that earns recognition both locally and nationally for its efforts in furthering the education of children. Our newest public affairs initiative, “In the Know,” further underscores our commitment to education by offering the vast uses of high-speed Internet access into each accredited school in our service area. “In the Know” builds upon the cable industry’s pledge to provide free high-speed Internet access to eligible local schools and public libraries. We have taken that pledge a step further to offer students and teachers the resources of broadband content and robust cable programming to enrich the learning experience.

 

With cable modems in the classroom, teachers and students alike can benefit from the speedy downloads and access to advanced applications to enhance the learning experience. In addition to providing this advanced technology free of charge, we intend to continue offering programming

 

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enhancements in partnership with various cable networks. As an increasing number of areas become serviceable for high-speed service, “In the Know” is designed to incorporate multi-faceted synergies with these programmers in order to provide specialized educational offerings for each of our systems.

 

One of the advantages a local cable operator has over nationally distributed competitors is its ability to develop local programming. To further strengthen community relations and differentiate us from direct broadcast satellite television systems and other multichannel video providers, we provide locally produced and oriented programming. Several of our systems have full production capabilities, with in-house and/or mobile production studios to create local content. We offer a broad range of local programming alternatives, including community information, local government proceedings and local specialty interest shows. In some of our markets, we are the exclusive broadcaster of local college and high school sporting events, which we believe provides unique programming and builds customer loyalty. We believe that our emphasis on local programming creates significant opportunities for increased advertising revenues. Locally originated programming will also play an integral role in the deployment of our new and enhanced products and services.

 

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Franchises

 

Cable television systems are constructed and operated under fixed-term non-exclusive franchises or other types of operating authorities that are granted by either local governmental or centralized state authorities. These franchises typically contain many conditions, such as:

 

  Time limitations on commencement and completion of construction;

 

  Conditions of service, including the number of channels, the provision of free service to schools and other public institutions;

 

  The maintenance of insurance and indemnity bonds; and

 

  The payment of fees to communities.

 

  These local franchises are subject to limits imposed by federal law.

 

As of December 31, 2003, we held 559 franchises in the aggregate, consisting of 202 in Indiana, 203 in Kentucky, 125 in Illinois and 29 in Ohio. Many of these franchises require the payment of fees to the issuing authorities of 3% to 5% of gross revenues, as defined by each franchise agreement, from the related cable system.

 

The Communications Act of 1934 prohibits franchising authorities from imposing annual franchise fees in excess of 5% of gross annual revenues from the provision of cable services and also permits the cable television system operator to seek renegotiation and modification of franchise requirements if warranted by changed circumstances that render performance commercially impracticable.

 

The following table summarizes information relating to the year of expiration of our franchises, excluding the managed systems, as of December 31, 2003:

 

Year of Franchise Expiration


   Number of
Franchises


   Percentage of Total
Franchises


    Number of Basic
Customers


   Percentage Total
Basic Customers


 

Expired*

   65    11.6 %   230,770    17.7 %

2004

   39    7.0 %   49,915    3.8 %

2005

   42    7.5 %   38,977    3.0 %

2006

   33    5.9 %   175,162    13.5 %

2007

   15    2.7 %   102,856    7.9 %

After 2007

   365    65.3 %   704,355    54.1 %

 

* Such franchises are operated on a month-to-month basis and are in the process of being renewed.

 

The Communications Act provides, among other things, for an orderly franchise renewal process which limits a franchising authority’s ability to deny a franchise renewal if the incumbent operator follows prescribed renewal procedures. In addition, the Communications Act include comprehensive renewal procedures which require, when properly elected by an operator, that an incumbent franchisee’s renewal application be assessed on its own merits and not as part of a comparative process with competing applications.

 

We believe that our cable systems generally have good relationships with their respective franchise authorities. We have never had a franchise revoked or failed to have a franchise renewed.

 

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Competition

 

Cable systems face increasing competition from alternative methods of receiving and distributing their core video business. Both wireline and wireless competitors have made inroads in competing against incumbent cable operators. The extent to which a cable operator is competitive depends, in part, upon its ability to provide to customers, at a reasonable price, a greater variety of programming and other communications services than are available off-air or through alternative delivery sources and upon superior technical performance and customer service.

 

Congress has enacted legislation and the FCC has adopted regulatory policies providing a more favorable operating environment for new and existing technologies, in particular direct broadcast satellite television systems operators, that have the potential to provide increased competition to cable systems. Congress has also enacted legislation which permits direct broadcast satellite companies to retransmit local television signals, eliminating one of the objections of consumers about switching to satellites.

 

The 1996 Telecom Act makes it easier for local exchange telephone companies and others to provide a wide variety of video services competitive with services provided by cable systems. Local exchange telephone companies in various states have either announced plans, obta