When the Republican National Convention gets underway in Tampa Aug 27-30, Bright House Networks will be focused on what’s going on behind stage. It was tapped as the official telecom provider for the convention, beating out competitors such as Verizon for the gig. Bright House will provide video, voice and data offerings, including dedicated access Internet services scalable from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps and metro Ethernet.

 

“Convention attendees will also find Bright House Networks WiFi in some Tampa outdoor areas deployed as part of our public WiFi initiative, and the company is working with the RNC teams to identify select areas within the venues to deploy WiFi services to support the needs of the convention,” said Marva Johnson, Corporate Vice President, Government Relations. “[We] will be prepared to handle huge amounts of calls, emails, social networks, broadcast TV, blogging and more.”

Additionally, Bright House will have its entire local programming group (300 people) on hand, and Bay News 9 and Central Florida News 13 will offer more coverage than any other news station in the state, Johnson said. InfoMas, Bright House Networks’ regional Spanish news and information network, will also be offering extensive coverage of the RNC.
 

Prepping for the RNC is much like getting ready for other large events, like the Sun ’n Fun annual airshow, which kicks off on March 27 in Lakeland, FL. “The most unique difference in the services provided for the RNC and other conventions is the high demand for high speed video transport services between the Tampa Bay Times Forum and the convention center and from these locations to other local networks for handoff within the city,” Johnson said.
  
Given expectations of increased network demand in downtown Tampa, the MSO plans to expand its extensive fiber infrastructure in and around the key convention and attendee locations.