By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard

BLTV technicians, from left, Ray Cantrell, Tim Webster and Clent Kesey, are set to keep the new “headend” facility in top operating condition. (Charles W. Johnson photo)

Ben Lomand officially opened the new “headend” for its BLTV digital television and music service Thursday with a reception and tour demonstrating the cutting-edge features and technology of the facility to local officials, business leaders and media. The company had previously been using a signal feed from South Central Rural Telephone in Glasgow, Ky. but now, according to Ben Lomand CEO Levoy Knowles, the system is set up, running, and BLTV is delivering its own signal to local subscribers.

Knowles says Ben Lomand is ahead of the curve in its technology and offers a level of capabilities not even available in metropolitan areas in Tennessee.

“We’re very excited,” Knowles said. “We’ve got a brand new building, new facility, new towers, new satellite, everything state-of-the-art.”

And as promised when BLTV was introduced on a limited basis last year, the service offers a wide range of programming and features.

“We have approximately 125 channels of video, which includes 40 channels of music,” Knowles said. “It’s strictly all digital, state-of-the-art. We have all the pay-per-views that anyone could want.”

The programming comes in a variety of packages designed to fit any taste or budget. And best of all, the packages offer more than just television.

“We’ve got packages that we can put together that can get you your DSL, your telephone and your video together,” Knowles said. “All for less than $100. We’ve got a new look. We’ve got a new billing system that’s coming online in about 30 days. So we’re really excited about our new face and the new technology.”

Knowles says the bundling of the three services is what makes the company so unique.

“We’re one of the few companies in the nation that can bundle the services together,” Knowles said. “They refer to it in the industry as the ‘triple play’ where you can do video, data and telephone all together, all on the same bill.”

One of the futuristic aspects of the system is the ability for customers to see caller ID information on incoming calls pop up on their television screens, at which point they can opt to answer or let the call be routed to voice mail. If they are using the Ben Lomand voice mail system, customers can also see a caller ID log on-screen of recent calls in the order they were received. They can then retrieve those messages on their telephone.

According to Knowles, the company will also be rolling out a number of other features later in the year.

“We’re going to roll out voice over IP,” Knowles said. “You’ve heard about that in the press.”

For those who are unfamiliar with the technology, voice over IP is a system where users can make phone calls over the Internet thus saving on long distance charges. Though many phone companies have considered this a major infringement on their service, some, like Ben Lomand, are looking to the future and embracing the technology, integrating it into their systems.

For some time now technology experts have been talking about something called “convergence” where various communication technologies will become integrated and pass information between the systems, eventually getting to the point that one video screen will function as a display for not only television, but Internet, e-mail, video-phone and personal computer systems. Knowles says Ben Lomand is working toward that new paradigm.

“All the technologies are coming together,” Knowles said. “All the industries are becoming one, and we’re hoping to be one of the first players in the area to offer this converged service to our members on one bill.”

Ben Lomand will still offer dial-up service, but also plans to offer high-speed DSL service, up to 1.5 mbps now, and on up to 3 mbps service within the next few weeks.

“We’re not sitting still,” Knowles said. “We’re progressive and we want to let everyone know that.”