Solarus, a provider of internet, video, and voice services in central Wisconsin, has selected MG-TV from Innovative Systems as their new middleware solution for IPTV and the upcoming launch of live-streaming video.

Jerrod Brock, the Director of Operations at Solarus, explains that several years ago, the company contemplated exiting the video market, but a few key factors led them to change direction. Brock attributes this decision to demographic trends and increased competition, which prompted Solarus to continue investing in a live local video service for their nearly five thousand video accounts. Solarus has approximately 16,000 customers, a measurable percentage being older ones who subscribe to their video service. Brock highlights that there are highly aggressive competitors in markets served by Solarus, and these competitors could potentially take market share if Solarus were to exit the video service. This reasoning is supported by the 2024 rural consumer broadband and video study, which indicates that 60% of pay TV customers receive internet service from the same provider.

The current roadmap for Solarus is to stay the course with video and migrate customers to the MG-TV platform. Any new video customers according to Brock will be on the new solution.

All In With Innovative

Integrating video and voice solutions with eLation Billing and Subscriber Management enhances back-office efficiency and accelerates support resolution. Brock said he recently learned that the MG-TV Virtual Remote is accessible through the eLation Billing software and can allow CSRs visibility into a customer’s television screen. Many video operators have been realizing the savings from the Virtual Remote Support tool, follow this link to read their quotes.