Time Warner to add jobs, new products

By Anna Guido

Mark Dunford has high hopes for the new year. The Dayton chief of Time Warner Cable Southwest Ohio said the company is adding 40 to 50 new employees to keep up with its growth.

Although Dunford would not reveal revenue or percentage growth, he did say that the cable and telecom provider saw its customer based reach 640,000 in 2007, an increase from previous years.

The local division, which employs 1,800 people in Dayton and Cincinnati, also will unveil new products in 2007. Company officials remain tight-lipped on the specifics, but plan to roll out the first new offering in the next 60 days.

Dunford said the growth is due to Time Warner entering new subdivisions and grabbing more customers with its digital home phone service. Dunford said in its first year of availability, Time Warner signed up 100,000 digital phone customers in Southwest Ohio.

The new jobs in Dayton will consist of technicians — who sell and install the products — and customer service staff who will man the company’s various call centers.

Time Warner consolidated its Dayton and Cincinnati divisions into one hub in 2006. Dunford said that as the two cities have begun overlapping with the growth in Warren and Butler counties, it made sense to have just one division covering the region.

“We’ve been adding a lot more employees in support of our growth,” Dunford said.

Southwest Ohio is one of the fastest growing markets — and second largest — for time Time Warner in the United States.

But the cable, home telephone and Internet provider has a growing cadre of competitiors such as AT&T, which offers more products than Time Warner.

AT&T offers services including satellite television, home telephone, Internet and cell phone service.

Rob Riggsbee, owner and president of Cincinnati-based Inside Media, a media analysis company, said the next logical step for cable television companies is the cell phone.

Because the technology available to consumers via the cell phone is eclipsing any other medium, companies like Time Warner need to introduce this platform so they’re on an even playing field with competitors, Riggsbee said.

“We follow digital and wireless trends and if Time Warner were not to introduce this media platform in 2007, they would be losing significant revenue stream and be behind the curve,” Riggsbee said.