WideOpenWest, Inc. (WOW) Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning, and welcome to the 2021 Annual Meeting of WideOpenWest, Inc. I would now like to introduce the first presenter, WOW!'s Chairman, Jeffrey Marcus. Please go ahead.

Good morning. I am Jeff Marcus, Chairman of the Board of Directors of WideOpenWest, Inc. And it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of WideOpenWest, Inc. We're hosting this annual meeting virtually on the Internet. All stockholders as of the close of business on March 15, 2021, are invited to attend this meeting. A web replay of the annual meeting will be posted at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/wow2021 for 1 year following today's meeting. Craig Martin, WOW!'s General Counsel and Secretary, will be serving as secretary of this meeting. The meeting will now come to order. Now I would like to introduce the other members of the Board of Directors: Teresa Elder, our CEO; Gunjan Bhow, Jill Bright, Brian Cassidy, Dan Kilpatrick, Tom McMillin, Phil Seskin and Barry Volpert. In addition, I would like to introduce the following officers of the company: John Rego, Chief Financial Officer; David Brunick, Chief Human Resources Officer; Shannon Campain, Chief Commercial Officer; Bill Case, Chief Information Officer; Henry Hryckiewicz, Chief Technology Officer; Craig Martin, General Counsel and Secretary; and Don Schena, Chief Customer Experience Officer. The company has appointed Broadridge Financial Services to act as tabulator of election. [ Christine M. Ryan ] from Broadridge is attending this meeting virtually. We will have a brief Q&A session at the end of the meeting. And now I would like to introduce Teresa Elder, the CEO of WOW!.

Thank you, Jeff. 2020 was a monumental year for our industry in so many ways. Broadband utilization increased across practically every facet of our lives, from streaming video content to supporting education via remote learning and the significant number of people who now work remotely, high-speed data services delivered over a high-quality network continued to be an extremely important aspect of our daily lives. While we're very focused on growing our high-speed data business, we continue to work with our customers to ensure that they have excellent video options to choose from, whether it's using WOW! tv+, our IP-based video offering or signing up with streaming alternatives, we remain aggressively focused on driving our total subscriber numbers and RGUs higher. Our execution in 2020 resulted in the addition of 32,300 high-speed data RGUs and adjusted EBITDA of $437.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. As we look to 2021, we continue to grow high-speed data customers and transform the business. Our future initiatives are focused on several key objectives: to free up bandwidth capacity, to provide more customer choice, and to optimize our customer service capabilities. We're excited to be part of this evolving technological environment and are invigorated by the opportunities that 2021 poses. Thank you to our employees for your continued efforts and support during these exciting times and thank you to our shareholders for your interest in WOW!.

Thank you, Teresa. We will now begin the formal part of the meeting. After the formal meeting has been adjourned, we will provide time for Q&A. Only validated stockholders will be able to ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to one question. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending via the webcast is permitted to use any audio recording device. I'll now turn the meeting over to our Secretary, Craig Martin.

Thank you, Jeff. The Board fixed March 15, 2021 as the record date for determining stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting. An affidavit has been delivered attesting to the fact that either: one, a notice of Internet availability of proxy materials; or two, the proxy materials themselves, were made available on or about March 31, 2021, to all stockholders as of the record date and will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. The registered shareholder list, which is linked on the virtual shareholder meeting website at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/wow2021 indicates that as of the close of business on March 15, 2021, there were 87,199,177 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting. We have been informed by the inspector of election that more than the majority of the voting power of all issued and outstanding stock entitled to vote on the record date are now represented either virtually via webcast or by proxy shares of common stock. As such, a quorum is present for purposes of transacting business and for purposes of voting on each of the proposals to be considered at this meeting. As indicated in the notice of Internet availability and accompanying documents that were made available beginning on March 31, 2021, to all holders of record of common stock. As of the close of business on the record date, we are here today to consider the following business items: Proposal 1, to reelect 3 members of the Board of Directors. The Board has nominated Teresa Elder, Jeffrey Marcus and Phil Seskin for reelection. The election of each director will require the affirmative vote of holders of a plurality of our outstanding shares of common stock present via webcast at this meeting or represented by proxy at this annual meeting. Proposal 2, to ratify the appointment of BDO USA, LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for 2021. The affirmative vote of the majority of votes cast of common stock present via webcast at this meeting are represented by proxy at this annual meeting is required to approve proposal 2. Proposal 3, to approve through a nonbinding advisory vote, the company's executive compensation. This vote is advisory in nature, which means that it is not binding upon the company, but the Board of the Directors and the Compensation Committee will consider the affirmative vote of stockholders holding a majority of our outstanding common stock as approval of proposal 3. The polls are now open. Any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the Voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or Internet and do not want to change their vote, do not need to take any further action. We'll now pause for voting. [Voting]