Bresnan call center will remain in Billings

The siting of a 100-person regional operations center in Billings by Bresnan Communications won’t cost any jobs at the call center in Helena, local general manager Bob Garrison assured on Friday.

By JOHN HARRINGTON – IR Business Editor

http://helenair.com/articles/2004/04/17/montana/a01041704_05.txt

"We’re actually going to add more people to the call center," Garrison said. "We recently did a little internal addition of customer service desks to make room for more employees."

Garrison said that the new Billings center will allow the company to bring in-house several functions that were previously outsourced.

He added that the Helena call center, which employs around 50 people, fields all customer service calls for the company during non-business hours, including after 5 p.m. daily and on the weekends.

Several cities in Montana and Wyoming competed for the center, but Helena wasn’t among them. Sheldon Bartel, director of Gateway Economic Development Corp., said that even if Helena had been in the running, it would have been tough to match the incentive package Billings delivered to the cable company.

"We only heard about it second-hand, and the deal had already been done," Bartel said. "Even if we had come in, it would have been tough for us to compete with Billings. It’s hard for us to match that kind of money."

The incentives offered by the Magic City include $119,000 from Big Sky Economic Development Authority’s business incentive program; $500,000 for construction costs, most of which comes from a recent federal appropriation; and $80,000 during the next decade to offset the company’s operating costs.

Officials figure the incentives will be worth it — a MSU-Billings study estimates the center will generate some $65 million in wages during the next 10 years to go along with $2 million in annual property taxes Bresnan will pay.

Bresnan became the local cable company in 2002, when the Purchase, N.Y.-based company bought cable television systems in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado from AT&T Broadband. The company claims 314,000 cable subscribers in those three states and Utah.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or [email protected].

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BRESNAN COMMUNICATIONS ACQUIRES PROPERTY
FOR NEW REGIONAL OPERATIONS CENTER IN BILLINGS

Billings, Montana, April 15, 2004 — Bresnan Communications has completed the acquisition of property for its planned Regional Operations Center, with construction scheduled to begin in the next few months. The center is expected to bring over 100 new jobs to Billings within the next year, with more jobs planned in the long-term.

According to William J. Bresnan, Chairman of Bresnan Communications, “The decision to locate our new Regional Operations Center in Billings was based upon the strength of the city’s stable economic climate and its sophisticated workforce. We are especially pleased with the cooperation of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, whose knowledge and pro-business attitude were major factors in our decision-making process. We thank Senator Conrad Burns, Senator Max Baucus, Representative Denny Rehberg, Governor Judy Martz and the private-sector EDC member-investors for their efforts, as well. Montana officials at the local, state and federal levels all played an important role in determining the outcome of our search for the best location.”

Joe McClure, Executive Director of Big Sky Economic Development Authority (Big Sky EDA) and its private non-profit partner, the Economic Development Corporation (Big Sky EDC), said, “the new jobs created by Bresnan Communications will have a tremendous ripple effect throughout the community and I’m proud to have been a part of working with them to locate their new Regional Operations Center in Billings. The total economic impact on this community is tremendous. Over a 10-year period approximately $65.6 million in additional wage and proprietor income will be paid to Yellowstone County residents and city/county tax receipts will increase by nearly $2 million, according to an economic impact study performed by MSU-Billings’ Center for Applied Economic Research. We are confident that Bresnan’s community-minded philosophy will further augment these economic benefits.”

Building this new Center will allow Bresnan to bring in-house work that had been contracted out-of-state and in some cases, out of the country. When completed, the new 44,000-square-foot facility will house network operations and technical support for subscribers to Bresnan’s cable television, high-speed Internet and digital voice services. It will also serve as the main office for the Billings cable system. Regional support staff for Bresnan’s Montana operations, including engineering, human resources and accounting, will also be located at this facility.

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About Bresnan Communications
Bresnan Communications is a broadband communications provider founded by Bill Bresnan in 1984. An early leader in the introduction of advanced services, Bresnan has operated in the United States, Chile and Poland, at one point serving over a million customers worldwide. Bresnan currently serves some 314,000 subscribers in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. More information on Bresnan is available at http://www.bresnan.com.

About Big Sky Economic Development Authority and Big Sky Economic Development Corporation

Big Sky EDA is a local port authority formed by Yellowstone County in 1989 to facilitate business that supports the community and its quality of life. Big Sky EDC is a private not-for-profit corporation formed in 2003 as an EDA partner charged with attracting and retaining business enterprises that contribute to a vibrant, healthy economy. Additional information is available at http://www.bigskyeda.org and http://www.bigskyedc.org.