VividStar Cable

VividStar is an American cable and satellite provider that is owned by VividStar Communications, Inc and Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation. It currently serves 48 states, with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii. It's corporate headquarters are based in Liberty City, Liberty with corporate offices based in New York City, NY; Los Angeles, CA; and Chicago, IL.
== History ==
VividStar Cable was formed in 1986 with it's initial states being only 19 and scattered mainly in the east coast. By 1994, VividStar Cable had spread to include the entire lower 48 states. It is the fifth largest cable provider in the United States.
== Notable Disputes ==
VividStar Cable has had a history of notable disputes with other media companies.
=== Group W and CBS - 2016 ===
VividStar's dispute with Group W and CBS erupted following the announcement that Group W would be purchasing CBS. Following this announcement, VividStar abruptly pulled all of the CBS stations, as well CBS owned networks such as Decades and CBS Sports Network. Berfield/Willis, owners of VividStar, threatened to sell off their CBS stations as a result of this deal. Due to heavy opposition, the deal was cancelled the same day and VividStar re-added all of the CBS stations, Decades, and CBS Sports Network back to their channel guide the following day.
=== ABN DTC/WABN - 2016 ===
VividStar's dispute with ABN DTC and WABN (based out of Charlotte, NC) erupted following the Charlotte Riots of 2016. These currently ongoing riots were a result of local police fatally shooting an African-American civilian. 4 of WABN's employees reacted violently toward one of the protesters and attacked him, which resulted in the protester being severely injured. As a result of the actions that occurred, VividStar pulled WABN from the Charlotte area VividStar Cable feed.
Company CEO Matthew Berfield released the following statement shortly afterward:
"While we understand that it is natural to be angry at the recent events that have unfolded in the past year, we will not condone or support any violent protests, whether they were in retaliation to these events or not. We felt that the actions the four WABN employees took upon themselves to fulfill were unnecessary and wrong. Therefore, until this matter is resolved, we will be pulling WABN programming from the Charlotte area cable feed."
2 days after the temporary removal of WABN's programming from the Charlotte, NC feed, VividStar Cable announced that it would re-add WABN back to the Charlotte feed the following Monday, coinciding with the announcement that WABN would be re-transmitting the same day.
=== Septic/Gray - 2017 ===
VividStar's dispute with Gray Television/Septic Communications began when owner Nanis149 referred to the American big box department store, Kmart as "the ghetto Walmart" on April 26, 2017. Many people, VividStar CEO Matthew Berfield included, felt that Nanis' comments were racially offensive and violated VividStar's ethical code. As a result, Gray-owned stations and Septic-owned stations were dropped indefinitely from the VividStar lineup on April 28.
==== WNTE Replacement ====
WNTE, the NBC affiliate based in Nashville, Tennessee, was among many of the Septic owned stations that would be dropped from the VividStar Lineup. Memphis based WMCT (owned by RainbowDash72) and Chattanooga based WAAC (owned by Berfield/Willis) will be piped in to replace WNTE starting May 12. In the interim, a screen is being displayed on WNTE, as well as on other Septic and Gray owned stations explaining the situation.
=== New Line Network/Mix TV - 2017 ===
TBA
== Types of Plans ==
VividStar Cable has developed three plans for their customers to purchase: Local, Central and Premium.
=== Local ===
Under the Local Plan, customers will only receive their local stations, plus local cable channels (i.e. Customers in Liberty City, Liberty will also receive LC1 since it is a local station, but since it's a cable channel, only cable customers will receive it)
=== Central ===
Under the Central Plan, customers will receive their local stations and their subchannels, local cable channel as well as several basic cable channels (i.e. Nickelodeon, FOX News, ESPN)
=== Premium ===
Under the Premium Plan, customers will receive their local stations and their subchannels, local cable channels all of the basic cable channels plus premium packages such as the HBO package, Starz package, Showtime package, Cinemax package and Encore package.
Category:Cable
Category:Cable providers
Category:Satellite providers
Category:Berfield/Willis Cable