Fourteen Telcos Pick Next Level

ROHNERT PARK, Calif., Nov. 25, 2002—Fourteen Minnesota telephone companies including Hutchinson Telephone Co., Hutchinson Telecommunications, Inc., NU Telecom, En-Tel Communications, Sherburne Telephone Co., Hector Communications, Halstad Telephone Co., Halstad Communications, Eckles Telephone Co., WH-Link LLC, and Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Co., together reaching nearly 200,000 homes, have formed a consortium to share the costs of competing with cable and satellite companies for television customers. The consortium, Broadband Visions LLC, shares the cost of a single, digital “head-end” and negotiates as a unit for television content. As more subscribers sign up for “Telco TV,” member companies continue to purchase Next Level Communications’ (Nasdaq: NXTV) Full Service Access Platform to deliver 130 channels of digital television in addition to telephone and Internet services. Broadband Visions members now deliver television services to nearly 14,000 subscribers, a 42 percent increase over the previous year.

As the largest consortium of telcos providing shared broadcast television content in the U.S., Broadband Visions LLC is the model for a growing trend among the country’s nearly 1,000 smaller regional telephone companies, who derive great value from the reduced burden of building and maintaining their own video head-end. The Minnesota consortium was founded by Walt Clay, chairman, president and CEO of Hutchinson Telephone Co. and Hutchinson Telecommunications Inc., and the newest member of the Next Level Communications board of directors.

Next Level Communications (Nasdaq: NXTV)