Zito Media reaches out to former Time Warner employees

By PAUL HEIMEL

Special to The Era

COUDERSPORT – A local company is reaching out to the 500
employees who lost their jobs when Time Warner Cable shut down two
huge customer centers in Coudersport.

During an open house at 10 a.m. today, the Coudersport-based
Zito Media will unveil details on its venture into the highly
competitive Internet-based telephone industry. Anyone who is
interested in a potential customer service or sales position with
Zito Media’s new Phone4Broadband (P4B) service is welcome to
attend.

During similar sessions last week, company officials explained
plans to recruit employees during a three-month launch period, with
the hopes that P4B will attract enough customers to be
self-sustaining and to expand.

P4B is being “soft-launched” nationwide. Zito has no way of
forecasting its success, or the number of jobs it could create. The
company hopes to successfully compete against other providers,
including industry leader Vonage.

Phone4Broadband will attempt to separate itself from its rivals
by focusing intently on customer service while being competitive on
price.

P4B isn’t limited by geographic boundaries. Virtually anyone who
has broadband service for Internet access can sign up for P4B and
make unlimited local and long distance calls to anywhere in the
U.S. and Canada for less than $30 per month.

The service uses a technology known as Voice over Internet
Protocol, or VoIP, which is the industry standard.

Zito Media was formed when the federal government and parties to
the Adelphia bankruptcy case divided assets of that cable giant.
Zito provides cable television and high-speed Internet service
locally in Coudersport, Emporium, Port Allegany, Austin and
Roulette.

While Zito makes its pitch to the employees cut loose by Time
Warner, the Potter County Redevelopment Authority continues talks
with other potential employers interested in setting up operations
in Coudersport.

Several of them have toured the two customer service centers
vacated by Time Warner last week.