According to local legend, ?Grandpa Pete? Christensen picked up the Mashell Telephone Company in Eatonville, Wash., in a 1912 pinochle game. Some 90 years later, it was passed down to Skip Haynes, Pete's great-grandson, who, in a 1995 partnership with Rainier Connect, an Internet service provider, formed the Rainier Group. Shortly thereafter, the Rainier Group began offering cable television and competing directly with AT&T Broadband, transforming what had been a local phone company into a one-stop shop for phone, Internet and cable.
Bruce Russell, 35, now presides over an upgraded system in Eatonville, which sits at the foot of Mount Rainier, about 60 miles from Seattle. Russell has been COO and GM of the Rainier Group for just over a year, after coming to work for Skip Haynes in 1997.
As a result of the upgrades, many AT&T Broadband subscribers have defected to the Rainier Group. ?Fifty to 60% of our [1,350 cable] customers came from AT&T Broadband,? Russell says. An AT&T Broadband spokesperson for Washington said he couldn't corroborate how many subscribers had switched, but said that AT&T is also upgrading its systems in the area.
?The Rainier Group is the reason that we can do business,? says Denise Bennett, owner of Medical Billing, which bills insurance companies and processes payments for Seattle's Dynacare laboratory, among other clients.
Bennett has seen the staff of 12-year-old Medical Billing grow from six to 75 in the last five years. Needless to say, a onetime logging community with 2,000 residents doesn't have the medical community to support such growth. But Seattle does. The Rainier Group installed dedicated data lines connecting Medical Billing's staff ? 4% of Eatonville's population ? to the misty jewel of the Northwest.
Offering better, more robust service is Russell's favorite part of the job. ?Providing the full package and trying to fulfill the company's vision, knowing that we've been able to do that when some of the larger companies haven't been able to deliver ? that's my favorite part,? he says.
The Rainier Group provides Internet service via both cable modem and DSL, both of which may be purchased at a discount when bundled with cable and/or phone service.
Of course, competitive rates attract customers, too. Darin Daniels, owner of Graham Fitness, plays one of 33 Digital Music Express (DMX) channels provided by Rainier for gym members working out. ?AT&T offered a package for digital music that offered a lot more channels, but [it was] three times as much,? he says. Rainier charges him $19 per month for the DMX stations; AT&T Broadband charges $65 a month for 103 DMX channels.
Russell also happens to work out at Daniels's gym, and Daniels reports that ?they're on top of anything anytime we have a problem.?
Russell says that 5% to 10% of the Rainier Group's revenue comes from cable subscribers. He aims to siphon more subscribers from AT&T Broadband and says the Rainier Group is ?getting pipe in the ground in new developments.?
The Rainier Group recently launched Scope 29, a local origination channel. Russell expects it will earn $150,000 in 2002 through ads sold on a real estate show, want ads for local businesses and a section that Russell says will allow viewers to exchange holiday notes, such as valentines.
?It's kicking off great,? Russell says, ?but we're just getting started on it.?
Know a cable operator with a story to tell? Send pitches to Shirley Brady at .
THE RAINIER GROUP EATONVILLE, WASHINGTON
ownership: Mashell Inc.
miles of plant: 100
homes passed: 5,300
total subs: 1,350
basic cable rate: $28 for 53 channels
high-speed subs: 450
high-speed rate: $35.95, $10 modem charge
local advertising: Available on Scope 29 channel
russell: Beneficiary of a winning hand.
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