Cable One, Inc. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document contains “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about our industry, business, strategy, acquisitions and strategic investments, dividend policy, financial results and financial condition as well as anticipated impacts from, and our responses to, the COVID-19 pandemic. Forward-looking statements often include words such as “will,” “should,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “expects,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes” and words and terms of similar substance in connection with discussions of future operating or financial performance. As with any projection or forecast, forward-looking statements are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Our actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statement made by us or on our behalf. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements include government regulation, economic, strategic, political and social conditions and the following factors:

Any forward-looking statements made by us in this document speak only as of the date on which they are made. We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, except as required by law, to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or otherwise.

PART I

Overview

Cable One, Inc. (“Cable One,” “us,” “our,” “we” or the “Company”) is a fully integrated provider of data, video and voice services to residential and business customers in 24 Western, Midwestern and Southern states as of December 31, 2021. The markets we serve are primarily non-metropolitan, secondary and tertiary markets, with approximately 74% of our customers located in seven states as of December 31, 2021: Arizona, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. Our biggest customer concentrations are in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region and in the greater Boise, Idaho region. We provided service to approximately 1.2 million residential and business customers out of approximately 2.7 million homes passed as of December 31, 2021. Of these customers, approximately 1,055,000 subscribed to data services, 261,000 subscribed to video services and 149,000 subscribed to voice services as of December 31, 2021.

We generate substantially all of our revenues through three primary product lines. Ranked by share of our total revenues during 2021, they are residential data (52.0%), residential video (21.2%) and business services (data, voice and video: 19.2%). The profit margins, growth rates and/or capital intensity of these three primary product lines vary significantly due to competition, product maturity and relative costs.

In 2021, our adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”) margins for residential data and business services were approximately nine and eleven times greater, respectively, than for residential video. We define Adjusted EBITDA margin for a product line as Adjusted EBITDA attributable to that product line divided by revenue attributable to that product line (see the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Use of Adjusted EBITDA” for the definition of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, which is the most directly comparable measure under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”)). This margin disparity is largely the result of significant programming costs and retransmission fees incurred to deliver residential video services, which in each of the last three years represented between 64% and 66% of total residential video revenues. Neither of our other primary product lines has direct costs representing as substantial a portion of revenues as programming costs and retransmission fees represent for residential video, and indirect costs are generally allocated on a per primary service unit (“PSU”) basis.

We focus on growing our higher margin businesses, namely residential data and business services. Beginning in 2013, we began our shift away from our prior concentration on growing revenues through subscriber retention and maximizing customer PSUs. We adapted our strategy to face the industry-wide trends of declining profitability of residential video services and declining revenues from residential voice services. The declining profitability of residential video services is due primarily to increasing programming costs and retransmission fees and competition from other content providers, and the declining revenues from residential voice services are due primarily to the increasing use of wireless voice services instead of residential voice services. Separately, we have also focused on retaining customers who are likely to produce higher relative value over the life of their service relationships with us, are less attracted by discounting, require less support and churn less. This strategy focuses on increasing Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures and producing higher margins.

Excluding the effects of our recently completed and any potential future acquisitions and divestitures, the trends described above and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted, and are expected to further impact, our three primary product lines in the following ways:

We continue to experience increased competition, particularly from telephone companies, fiber and municipal overbuilders, over-the-top (“OTT”) video providers and direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) television providers. Because of the levels of competition we face, we believe it is important to make investments in our infrastructure. In addition, a key objective of our capital allocation process is to invest in initiatives designed to drive revenue and Adjusted EBITDA expansion. More than 60% of our total capital expenditures since 2017 were focused on infrastructure improvements intended to grow these measures. We continue to invest capital to, among other things, increase fiber density and coverage, expand our footprint, increase plant and data capacity, enhance network reliability and improve the customer experience. As of December 31, 2021, we offered Gigabit data service to approximately 99% of our homes passed and have deployed DOCSIS 3.1, which, together with Sparklight TV, further increases our network capacity and enables future growth in our residential data and business services product lines.

We expect to continue to devote financial resources to infrastructure improvements in existing and newly acquired markets as well as to expand high-speed data service in areas where our consortium was designated the winning bidder for the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) Phase I auction. We believe these investments are necessary to continually meet our customers’ needs and to remain competitive. The capital enhancements associated with recent acquisitions include rebuilding low-capacity markets; reclaiming bandwidth from analog video services; implementing 32-channel bonding; deploying DOCSIS 4.0; consolidating back office functions such as billing, accounting and service provisioning; migrating products to legacy Cable One platforms; and expanding our high-capacity fiber network. The term “legacy Cable One” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K refers to Cable One operations inclusive of operations acquired in the RBI Holding LLC (“NewWave”) transaction and excluding the impact or operations acquired in the Delta Communications, L.L.C. (“Clearwave”), Fidelity Communications Co. (“Fidelity”), Valu-Net LLC (“Valu-Net”), Hargray and Cable America Missouri, LLC ("CableAmerica") transactions, each of which is described below.

Our primary goals are to continue growing residential data and business services revenues, to increase profit margins and to deliver strong Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures. To achieve these goals, we intend to continue our disciplined cost management approach, remain focused on customers with expected higher relative value and follow through with further planned investments in broadband plant upgrades, including the deployment of DOCSIS 4.0 capabilities and new data service offerings for residential and business customers. At the same time, we intend to continue balancing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, associates, customers and other stakeholders. We also plan to continue seeking broadband-related acquisition and strategic investment opportunities in rural markets in addition to pursuing organic growth through market expansion projects.

Our business is subject to extensive governmental regulation, which substantially impacts our operational and administrative expenses. In addition, we could be significantly impacted by changes to the existing regulatory framework, whether triggered by legislative, administrative or judicial rulings. Congress and numerous states, including Minnesota and Missouri (where we have subscribers), have proposed legislation and/or administrative actions that would lead to increased regulation of our provision of data services, including proposed rules regarding net neutrality. Several states, including Oregon and Washington (where we also have subscribers), have adopted legislation that requires entities providing broadband internet access service in the state to comply with net neutrality requirements or that prohibits state and local government agencies from contracting with internet service providers that engage in certain network management activities based on paid prioritization, content blocking or other discrimination. We cannot predict whether or when any future changes to the regulatory framework will occur at the Federal or state level or whether or to what extent those changes may affect our operations or impose additional costs on our business.

We serve our customers through a plant and network with capacity generally measuring 750 megahertz or higher and have DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities in our systems. Our technically advanced infrastructure provides for delivery of a full suite of data, video and voice products. Our broadband plant generally consists of a fiber-to-the-premises or hybrid fiber-coaxial (“HFC”) network with ample unused capacity, and nearly all of our customers experience download speeds of 100 Megabits per second (“Mbps”) or higher, which meaningfully distinguishes our offerings from competitors in most of our markets. As a result of multi-year investments in our legacy Cable One plant, we increased broadband capacity and reliability, which has enabled and will continue to enable us to offer even higher download speeds to our customers. In addition, we expect to begin DOCSIS 4.0 upgrades in late 2022 which will enable symmetrical Gigabit speeds. These upgrades will allow us to further increase plant capacity in support of ongoing increases in consumer demand. We believe these investments will reinforce our competitive strength in this area.

COVID-19 Update

Refer to the sections entitled “Risks Factors” for risks we face due to the COVID-19 pandemic and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — COVID-19 Update” for information on the impact of COVID-19 on the Company.

Corporate History

In 1986, The Washington Post Company (the prior name of our former corporate parent, Graham Holdings Company (“GHC”)) acquired 53 cable television systems with approximately 350,000 subscribers in 15 Western, Midwestern and Southern states. We completed over 30 acquisitions and dispositions of cable systems through 2015, both through cash sales and system trades. In the process, we substantially reshaped our original geographic footprint and resized our typical system, including exiting a number of metropolitan markets and acquiring cable systems in non-metropolitan markets that fit our business model. On July 1, 2015, we became an independent company traded under the ticker symbol “CABO” on the New York Stock Exchange after completion of our spin-off from GHC.

Our recent business acquisitions include:

In 2020, we completed the rebranding of our legacy Cable One consumer-facing business to Sparklight. The Sparklight brand better conveys who we are and what we stand for – a company committed to providing our communities with connectivity that enriches their world. As part of the rebranding, we began streamlining our residential internet service plans and pricing as well as offering even faster speeds, further value and the ability to include unlimited data on any plan. In addition, we have strengthened and will continue to strengthen our commitment to the communities we serve through educational programs, corporate giving and donations of time and resources. Acquired operations are generally transitioned to Sparklight branding within three years of acquisition.

In recent years we made investments in several broadband-centric providers serving non-urban markets that follow various strategies similar to our own. Our recent strategic investments include:

Industry Overview

We are a fully integrated provider of data, video and voice services to residential and business customers across various geographic regions in the United States. We provide services that are similar to those provided by cable companies, telephone companies and fiber providers, among others. These providers, each to a varying degree, own and/or lease a network that allows them to deliver their services and distribute their signals to the homes and businesses of subscribers. In addition to building their own network backbone and/or leasing physical access to the network backbone, companies providing video services also purchase licenses to provide their subscribers with access to television channels owned by programmers and broadcasters via distribution over the network backbone. Companies providing video services also typically sell advertising on their video channels.

These providers generate revenue by charging subscription fees to their residential and business customers at rates that vary according to the data, video and/or voice services for which customers subscribe and the type of internet access and equipment furnished to them. These companies generally market and sell their services in bundles or packages in order to maximize the number of PSUs per household, as they believe it is desirable to sell multiple products jointly so that the fixed costs per customer can be spread over multiple PSUs. These providers generally operate in their chosen geographic markets under either non-exclusive franchises or other telecommunications licenses granted by state or local authorities for specified periods of time.

We have a record of consistent, long-term financial and operational success driven by our differentiated operating philosophy and culture. We emphasize focus as opposed to scale, which is a departure from the historical, more conventional strategies employed in our industry, but is well suited to the markets in which we operate and enables us to take advantage of our strengths.

Our Strengths

We leverage a variety of strengths as a service provider, stemming from, among other things, historical and ongoing capital investments in our plant and our focus on serving customers in non-metropolitan markets. These strengths include the following:

Attractive markets and regional diversification. Our customers are located primarily in non-metropolitan, secondary and tertiary markets with favorable competitive dynamics in comparison to major urban centers. In particular:

Deep customer understanding. We have operated as a non-metropolitan service provider for over 25 years, and we are attuned to the unique needs of customers in these areas. In order to understand our customers’ demands and preferences, we routinely conduct customer research through a variety of methods, including customer satisfaction surveys, geo-demographic segmentation studies and other analytics. Together with the direct customer contact we engage in through our virtual call centers and local operating offices, we believe we have gained valuable insight into how to serve customers in non-metropolitan markets, including with respect to providing an optimal mix of data speeds, price points and best-in-class customer service levels. In addition, a majority of our employees (who we refer to as associates) reside and work in our markets, providing local services through education programs and donations of time and resources that enhance our commitment to the communities we serve.

Superior broadband technology with ample unused capacity. We offer our residential and business data customers internet products at faster speeds than those available from competitors in most of our markets. Our broadband plant generally consists of a fiber-to-the-premises or HFC network with ample unused capacity. Our starter broadband offering for residential customers is a download speed of 100 Mbps, which is at the faster end of the range for similar residential offerings in our markets, although a growing majority of our customers now subscribe to even higher speed offerings. Our fastest broadband offering for our residential customers is currently a download speed of up to 1 Gigabit per second (“Gbps”). We also offer an advanced Wi-Fi solution to residential customers across substantially all of our footprint that provides customers with enhanced Wi-Fi signal strength, which extends and improves the Wi-Fi signal throughout the home. This service is offered free of charge to residential customers who rent one or more modems from us.

In addition, we have made significant investments in our business consistent with our strategic focus to enhance sales of residential data services and business services. Since completing significant, multi-year plant and product enhancements in existing Cable One markets in 2017, we have continued to make ongoing investments in our acquired systems, which has increased our broadband capacity and reliability. We have invested nearly $950 million over the last three years to bring fast, reliable high-speed data service to our markets. We expect to continue to invest in strategic capital projects, including around newly acquired operations and market expansions, because we believe the competitive benefits will be significant, particularly for data services. We also made the following capital investments in 2021:

We anticipate that the projects we have invested in over the last several years will facilitate sustained increases in residential data and business services revenues and customer satisfaction.

Low cost structure and competitive pricing. We believe our operating costs, taken as a whole, are as low as or lower than any major service provider. We attribute our low-cost structure to a committed focus on retaining our highest value customers (rather than seeking to obtain as many customers as possible) and the lower costs of operating in non-metropolitan markets compared to metropolitan markets. In addition, because we operate our residential and business data services with a competitive plant and cost structure, we are able to offer our customers both attractive pricing and compelling products.

Customer satisfaction. We have a customer-focused approach, influencing how we are organized, how we sell our services and how we service our customers. We believe that our dedication to providing a differentiated customer experience is an important driver of our overall value proposition and creates loyalty, improves customer retention and drives increased demand for our services. We focus on customer satisfaction, with an emphasis on consistently benchmarking our customer satisfaction over time and relative to our competitors based on internally and externally generated customer satisfaction data. We continue to focus on making the lives of our customers easier by providing value-added services, such as expanding customer self-service options through improved residential and business online portals and creating a more personalized experience in updated and refreshed local offices.

Associate satisfaction. We have also focused on associate satisfaction. We believe our customers’ satisfaction is tightly linked to our associates’ satisfaction, which has been consistently high throughout the past decade based on routine internal measurements. We currently measure our associate satisfaction annually along with conducting multiple periodic associate surveys.

Experienced management team. Our senior management team is comprised of executives who have significant experience in our industry. Our executive officers have an average industry tenure of over 20 years and an average tenure at Cable One (or its predecessors) of approximately 10 years, and we believe this team is deeply knowledgeable about cost and competitive conditions in our markets. They also understand and are deeply committed to our strategy, which we developed, enhanced and updated on a collaborative basis over many years.

Our Strategy

We have a multi-faceted strategy that builds upon our long track record of focusing on the right markets, the right products and the right customers, as well as controlling our operating and capital costs. More specifically, our strategy includes the following principal components:

Focus on non-metropolitan markets. We believe our decision over two decades ago to concentrate on non-metropolitan markets has served us well, and we intend to continue to focus on offering our products primarily in these markets. The economics of non-metropolitan markets, for which we have optimized our strategy and our operations, are different from operations in major cities and have yielded positive operating results for our business. Because price points for services in non-metropolitan markets are generally lower, and customers in non-metropolitan markets tend to subscribe to fewer PSUs, our average revenue per customer and our PSUs per customer are lower than they might be in metropolitan markets. However, many of our costs are also lower than they would be in metropolitan markets. The dynamics of non-metropolitan markets enable us to operate at attractive margins and earn substantial returns, while remaining consistent with our focus on meeting customer demand for low prices and simultaneously keeping costs down. In addition, we tend to face less vigorous competition than service providers in metropolitan markets.

Prioritize higher growth, higher margin opportunities. We concentrate on the products and customers that maximize Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures and provide the best opportunity for profitable growth. We believe residential video and residential voice face inexorable long-term declines. With respect to the video product, programmers and broadcasters are charging higher rates and retransmission fees for content to distributors providing video services (often for content for which viewership is declining), and distributors have had to choose between absorbing those increases to the detriment of their margins or passing on the full cost to customers, which adversely affects customer demand. At the same time, the rapid expansion of OTT offerings has given customers new alternatives to traditional video offerings. In addition, customer demand for wireless voice services has reduced demand for residential voice services for us and others in our industry. As a result, we have reduced our focus on these two products and prioritized higher growth, higher margin opportunities in residential data and business services.

We have declined to cross-subsidize our video business with cash flow from our higher growth, higher margin products, which has resulted in our residential video customers declining at a faster rate than the industry average. Our legacy Cable One residential video customers decreased by 18.2% when comparing 2021 versus 2020 and 25.2% when comparing 2020 versus 2019. While this strategy runs contrary to the historical, conventional wisdom in our industry, which put heavy emphasis on video customer counts and maximizing the number of PSUs per customer by bundling and discounting services, we believe it best positions us for long-term success. For us, success in growing and retaining residential data and business customers is far more important than maximizing the number of customers who choose triple-play packages combining data, video and voice services.

Drive growth in residential data and business services. We believe our residential data and business services products provide attractive current and future growth opportunities. Our disciplined prioritization of residential data and business services is generally reflected in all aspects of our business strategy, including pricing, the allocation of sales, marketing and customer service resources, capital spending and supplier negotiations. During 2021, we continued to further diversify our revenue streams away from video as residential data and business services represented 71.3% of our total revenues versus 68.2% for 2020 and 64.4% for 2019. We believe we have demonstrated that it is possible to decouple unit growth in our residential data and residential video businesses, which historically were marketed as a package. We focus on selling data-only packages to new customers rather than cross-selling video services to these customers, and a majority of our residential customers are data-only.

Our business services revenues increased $74.1 million, or 31.6%, in 2021 compared to 2020. Approximately $60.0 million of this increase is attributable to eight months of incremental revenues from Hargray operations after the Hargray Acquisition on May 3, 2021. We expect to generate continued growth in business services by leveraging and investing in our existing infrastructure capabilities and footprint to offer higher broadband speeds, more choice and greater value than other providers in our markets and to expand our business services to attract more small, medium-sized and enterprise business customers.

Continue our culture of cost leadership. We believe our total combined operating and capital costs per customer over the past decade have been among the lowest of any service provider with publicly reported numbers and that our operating margins compare very favorably with those of significantly bigger companies in our industry. This is the antithesis of normal economies-of-scale expectations, where higher volumes are expected to create lower costs per customer and increase operating margins. Rather than increasing our size and seeking cost savings through economies-of-scale, we have achieved our lower cost structure over many years by focusing on:

We believe our strategy has produced positive results for our customers, associates and stockholders and we have begun applying this strategy in our acquired operations. Our strategy has allowed us to continually decrease customer service phone calls and truck rolls. We have been able to achieve these operational efficiencies at the same time as our customer base has grown rapidly, while simultaneously maintaining customer satisfaction scores.

Balanced capital allocation. We are committed to a disciplined approach to evaluating acquisitions, internal and external investments, capital structure optimization and return of capital in order to seek to build long-term stockholder value.

Target higher relative value residential customers. We employ rigorous analytics to gain a deeper understanding of our customers and drive profitable decision making throughout the organization. We use data analytics to help refine our go-to-market strategy and identify customers likely to produce higher relative value over the life of their service relationships with us, rather than seeking to maximize the number of new customers or PSUs per household. Our investments in business intelligence have enabled us to integrate, analyze and visualize increasingly complex data sets, in near real-time, and in a format that drives strategic and operational decisions. As a result, our organization has more rapidly identified, modeled, tested, analyzed and implemented initiatives that align with our strategic focus of attracting and retaining higher relative value customers. Business intelligence also enables us to be more predictive with customer habits and industrywide trends. For example, our decision to focus on data-only customers was guided by such data analytics. We believe that optimizing our relationships with these customers, as video and voice cord-cutting accelerates, is both a necessity and an opportunity for our business.

Our Products

Residential Data Services

Residential data services represented 52.0%, 50.5% and 46.9% of our total revenues for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As part of our rebranding initiative beginning in 2019, we continued to evolve our pricing and packaging across the majority of our footprint to create more value for customers. We offer simplified data plans with lower pricing and higher speeds across our premium tiers, with download speeds up to 1 Gbps available to approximately 99% of our residential customers as of December 31, 2021. We also offer our customers the option to purchase an unlimited data plan regardless of speed tier. Further, to meet the increasing bandwidth needs of our customers who use a growing number of devices in the home, we offer most of our customers our advanced Wi-Fi service combining state-of-the-art technology solutions with certified technicians, who locate and configure hardware based on individual customer needs. This service provides customers with enhanced Wi-Fi signal strength, which extends and improves the Wi-Fi signal throughout the home.

Residential Video Services

Residential video services represented 21.2%, 25.1% and 28.7% of our total revenues for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We offer a broad variety of residential video services, generally ranging from a basic video service to a full digital service with access to hundreds of channels. Currently, over 90% of our homes passed have access to Sparklight TV, an IPTV video service that allows customers to stream our video channels from the cloud through a new app on supported devices, such as the Amazon Firestick, Apple TV and Android-based smart televisions. We expect to complete this offering in all non-Hargray markets by early 2022. Sparklight TV also provides a cloud-based DVR feature and it does not require the use of a set-top box. 

Business Services

We consider the data, voice and video products we provide to our business customers to be a separate product from our residential versions of these services. Business services represented 19.2%, 17.7% and 17.5% of our total revenues for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We offer services for businesses ranging in size from small to mid-market, in addition to enterprise, wholesale and carrier customers.

Our offerings for small businesses are generally provided over our coaxial network. Our data services offer various options with download speeds ranging from 25 Mbps up to 1 Gbps, with varying upload speeds, along with managed Wi-Fi. Our small business voice solutions include hosted voice with unified communications as a service from one line to multi-line options, including the availability of popular calling features like simultaneous ring, hunt groups and selective call forwarding. Business video packages range from a basic service tier to a comprehensive selection including variety, news and sports programming in high-definition.

We offer delivery of data and voice services using fiber-to-the-premises technology primarily for mid-market customers. This shared fiber architecture provides for symmetrical data speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 5 Gbps. We expect to expand this technology to additional areas and markets each year for the foreseeable future, especially in our competitive locations.

For enterprise and wholesale customers, we offer dedicated bandwidth and Enterprise Wi-Fi in addition to multiple voice services via fiber optic technology. Our fiber optic-based products include dark fiber in addition to dedicated internet access and E-Line, E-Lan and E-Access Ethernet services. We also offer network to network interface connections to other carriers at multiple points of presence across the United States.

Residential Voice Services

Residential voice services represented 3.0%, 3.6% and 3.7% of our total revenues for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The majority of our residential voice service offerings transmit digital voice signals over our network and are interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) services. We also offer traditional telecommunications services through some of our subsidiaries.

Competition

We operate in a highly competitive, subscriber-driven and rapidly changing industry and compete with a growing number of entities that provide a broad range of communications products, services and content to subscribers. Our competitors have historically included, and we expect will continue to include, DBS providers, telephone companies that offer data and video services through digital subscriber line (“DSL”) technology or fiber-to-the-node networks, municipalities with fiber-based networks, regional fiber providers and other service providers that have been granted a franchise to operate in a geographic market in which we are already operating.

In approximately 71% of our footprint, we do not have a competitor that offers residential broadband download speeds of 100 Mbps or higher, which is our starter residential high-speed data offering. Currently, approximately 18% of the residential homes passed in our markets have access to fiber-to-the-premises from our competitors who typically offer only high-speed data service. Higher overall competition rates in 2021 were due primarily to the impact of acquired operations and improved tracking capabilities as opposed to significant overbuilder activity. We also face increasing competition from wireless telephone companies for our residential voice services, as our customers continue to replace our residential voice services with wireless voice services. New entrants with significant financial resources may compete on a larger scale with our video and data services, and as more wireless voice service providers offer unlimited data options, some customers may choose to forgo our data services altogether. We may also face increasing competition from various providers of wireless internet offerings, including wireless telephone carriers that are deploying high-speed “5G” wireless networks and public locations or commercial establishments offering Wi-Fi at no cost.

Certain municipalities have also announced plans to construct their own data networks with access speeds that match or exceed ours through the use of fiber-to-the-node or fiber-to-the-premises technology. In some cases, local government entities and municipal utilities may legally compete with us without obtaining a franchise from a state or local governmental franchising authority (“LFA”), reducing their barriers to entry into our markets. The entrance of municipalities as competitors in our markets would add to the competition we face and could lead to some customer attrition.

While not an area of strategic focus for us, our video business also faces substantial and increasing competition from other forms of in-home and mobile entertainment, including, among others, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, YouTube TV and an increasing number of new entrants who offer OTT video programming, including many traditional programmers. Because of the significant size and financial resources of many of the companies behind such service offerings, we anticipate that they will continue to invest resources in increasing the availability of video content over the internet, which may result in less demand for the video services we provide. Despite the negative impact this competition has on our video business, these services also generate additional demand for our residential data business due to customers’ continuing and growing need for data services.

Competition for dedicated fiber-optic services for enterprise business customers is also intense as both local telephone companies and regional overbuilders offer data and voice services over dedicated fiber connections. While certain of these entities are currently more widely known for dedicated fiber services than we are, we maintain a competitive advantage through our local presence and deep customer relationships in the communities we serve.

Human Capital Resources

Associate Metrics

At December 31, 2021, we had 3,628 full-time and part-time associates, compared to 2,716 full-time and part-time associates at December 31, 2020. None of our associates were represented by a union at December 31, 2021 or 2020. Women represented approximately 30% of our total associate base and approximately 35% of management-level positions at December 31, 2021.

Associate Engagement, Retention and Compensation Programs and Benefits

We believe our associates are among our most important resources and are critical to our continued success. We strive to attract, develop, motivate and retain associates with an emphasis on performance and productivity. We seek to maintain alignment, foster accountability and encourage long-term focus throughout all levels of the Company. Our average associate tenure at Cable One (or its predecessors) is nearly 10 years.

Our senior management team is comprised of executives who have significant experience in our industry. They also understand and are deeply committed to our strategy, which we developed, enhanced and updated on a collaborative basis over many years. Our executive officers have an average industry tenure of over 20 years and an average tenure at Cable One (or its predecessors) of approximately 10 years, and we believe this team is deeply knowledgeable about cost and competitive conditions in our markets.

Our total rewards compensation philosophy encompasses pay, health benefits, incentives, wellness and career development options. Our pay-for-performance philosophy permeates our organization. Merit increases are based on individual performance and market conditions, and all associates are eligible for an annual bonus based on objective corporate performance goals shared by everyone in the Company.

We also focus on associate satisfaction. We believe that customer satisfaction is tightly linked to associate satisfaction, which routine internal measurements have shown to be consistently high throughout the past decade. We currently measure our associate satisfaction annually along with conducting multiple periodic associate surveys. Management reviews our associate satisfaction surveys to monitor associate morale and receive feedback on a variety of issues.

Talent Development and Training

We believe in investing in the development and careers of our associates to allow them to reach their potential in a competitive, constantly changing and innovative industry. We engage our associates through internal and external programs to develop specialized knowledge and leadership skills. Associates have access to online development programs for professional skills and certification preparation through our e-learning platform. Specialized technical training for eligible associates helps them professionally as well as by providing a differentiated customer experience. Our tuition reimbursement program enables associates to earn certificates in areas such as network programming, data analysis and network administration and security. Others leverage our educational benefits to earn their associates, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

To prepare non-executives for current and future leadership roles at our Company, new managers, supervisors and lead-level associates normally attend a one-week training at our corporate headquarters to focus on self-awareness and management development. Our director-level associates participate in a week-long leadership training program with a third-party development partner, focused on effectiveness training and coaching. Our senior director-level associates take part in a specialized leadership program conducted with both in-house and third-party human resources executives to develop and enhance skills in strategic thinking and team performance, which includes individual coaching and 360-degree feedback analysis. While held virtually in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope to resume these programs in-person in 2022.

We have a long track record of promoting associates from within, including Julia M. Laulis, our Chair of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, who has been with Cable One for more than 20 years and began her career at Cable One as a Director of Marketing.

Health and Safety

We have a Safety Team that is responsible for education and training and that regularly analyzes indicators and areas where risks and injuries can occur in our efforts to strive to eliminate hazards. We also have mandatory compliance and safety training for associates, with more than 20,000 instructional hours completed in these areas in 2021.

Beginning in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented safety protocols and new procedures to protect our associates and our customers. These protocols include complying with social distancing and other health and safety standards as required by federal, state and local government agencies, taking into consideration guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health authorities. In addition, we modified the way we conduct many aspects of our business to reduce the number of in-person interactions. For example, we significantly expanded the use of virtual interactions in all aspects of our business, including customer facing activities. Many of our administrative and operational functions during this time have required modification as well, including many of our associates working remotely. For a detailed discussion of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our human capital resources, refer to the section entitled “Risk Factors — The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our operations and adversely affected our business, financial results and financial condition, and the duration and extent to which it will continue to do so is uncertain and difficult to predict.”

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

We are an equal opportunity employer that strives to provide an inclusive and respectful environment that represents a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We are committed to fostering an environment in which all associates and customers are valued. We foster a diverse and inclusive culture by offering competitive compensation, a comprehensive rewards program and opportunities for all of our associates to grow personally and professionally. In 2020, we established an Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Board (the “I&D Advisory Board”) made up of individuals from across the organization and ranging from frontline associates to members of management. The I&D Advisory Board was created to further strengthen a culture of respect and inclusion at Cable One. It cultivates resources, internal communications and events to inform, educate and provide all associates with a voice to share their unique experiences, perspectives and viewpoints.

Available Information and Website

Our internet address is www.sparklight.com. We make available free of charge through our investor relations website, http://ir.cableone.net, copies of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as soon as reasonably practicable after such documents are electronically filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Printed copies of these documents will be furnished without charge (except exhibits) to any stockholder upon written request addressed to our Secretary at 210 E. Earll Drive, Phoenix, Arizona 85012. The SEC maintains a website, www.sec.gov, that contains the reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

The contents of these websites are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K and shall not be deemed “filed” under the Exchange Act. Further, our references to website URLs are intended to be inactive textual references only.

Information About Our Executive Officers

The following table presents certain information, as of February 24, 2022, concerning our executive officers.

Julia M. Laulis

Ms. Laulis has been Chair of the Board since January 2018, Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors (the “Board”) since January 2017 and President of Cable One since January 2015.

Ms. Laulis joined Cable One in 1999 as Director of Marketing – Northwest Division. In 2001, she was named Vice President of Operations for the Southwest Division. In 2004, she became responsible for starting Cable One’s Phoenix Customer Care Center. In 2008, she was named Chief Operations Officer, and in 2012, she was named Chief Operating Officer. In January 2015, she was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to joining Cable One, Ms. Laulis served in various marketing management positions with Jones Communications. Ms. Laulis began her 35-plus-year career in the cable industry with Hauser Communications.

Ms. Laulis serves on the boards of The AES Corporation, C-SPAN, CableLabs and The Cable Center, and she is a trustee of the C-SPAN Education Foundation.

Michael E. Bowker

Mr. Bowker has been Chief Operating Officer of Cable One since May 2017.

Mr. Bowker joined Cable One in 1999 as Advertising Regional Sales Manager. Mr. Bowker has been a Vice President of Cable One since 2005. He was named Vice President of Sales in 2012 and was promoted to Senior Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer in 2014.

Prior to joining Cable One, Mr. Bowker was with AT&T Media Services and TCI Cable, where he served in various sales management positions.

Mr. Bowker serves as Vice Chairman of ACA — America’s Communications Association.

Steven S. Cochran

Mr. Cochran has been Chief Financial Officer of Cable One since August 2018. He served as Senior Vice President of Cable One from August 2018 through December 2020.

Prior to joining Cable One, Mr. Cochran served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of WideOpenWest, Inc. (“WOW”) from April 2014 until December 2017 after holding various other positions at the company, including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President. Prior to WOW, Mr. Cochran served in various finance and accounting roles at Millennium Digital Media, including Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Cochran was an accountant at Arthur Andersen LLP.

Christopher D. Boone

Mr. Boone has been Senior Vice President, Business Services and Emerging Markets of Cable One since January 2021.

Mr. Boone joined Cable One in 2010 as a Business Sales Manager. He was named Vice President of Business Services in 2016.

Prior to joining Cable One, Mr. Boone was with Cox Communications, where he served in various sales management roles.

Megan M. Detz

Ms. Detz has been Senior Vice President, Human Resources of Cable One since May 2021.

Ms. Detz joined Cable One following the Hargray Acquisition.

Prior to joining Cable One, Ms. Detz served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Administration at Hargray. Prior to Hargray, Ms. Detz was Chief People Officer at VARIDESK and Senior Vice President, Human Capital at NTT DATA, Inc.

Kenneth E. Johnson

Mr. Johnson has been Senior Vice President, Technology Services of Cable One since May 2018.

Mr. Johnson joined Cable One in 2017 as Vice President, Northeast Division following Cable One’s acquisition of NewWave.

Prior to joining Cable One, Mr. Johnson served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer for NewWave. Prior to NewWave, Mr. Johnson was Chief Technology Officer for SureWest Communications and Everest Connections.

Mr. Johnson serves on the board of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.

Todd M. Koetje

Mr. Koetje has been Senior Vice President, Business Development and Finance of Cable One since August 2021.

Prior to joining Cable One, Mr. Koetje served as Managing Director & Group Head of the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Leveraged Finance team at Truist Securities.

Eric M. Lardy

Mr. Lardy has been Senior Vice President, Operations and Integration of Cable One since June 2020.

Mr. Lardy joined Cable One in 1997 as a manager in one of our systems and has held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in marketing, operations and system general management. Mr. Lardy was named Vice President, Strategic Planning and Finance in 2014 and was promoted to Senior Vice President in January 2017.

James A. Obermeyer

Mr. Obermeyer has been Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales of Cable One since February 2020.

Prior to joining Cable One, Mr. Obermeyer served as Vice President of Marketing at Charter Communications. Prior to Charter Communications, he was Managing Director of Brand and Consumer Marketing for NASCAR and Chief Marketing Officer for Supra Telecom.

Mr. Obermeyer serves on the board of the National Cable Television Cooperative.

Peter N. Witty

Mr. Witty has been Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Cable One since April 2018.

Prior to joining Cable One, Mr. Witty served as General Counsel and Secretary for Gas Technology Institute (“GTI”), an energy research, development and training organization. Prior to GTI, he spent 10 years with Abbott Laboratories, serving in various positions, including as Senior Counsel and Division Counsel. Mr. Witty previously practiced law as an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP and Ross & Hardies (now McGuireWoods LLP).

Regulation and Legislation

General

Our data, video and voice operations are subject to various requirements imposed by U.S. Federal, state and local governmental authorities. The regulation of certain cable rates pursuant to procedures established by Congress has negatively affected our revenues. Certain other legislative, regulatory and judicial matters discussed in this section also have the potential to adversely affect our data, video and voice businesses. The following discussion does not purport to be a complete summary of all the provisions of Federal, state and local law that may affect our operations. Proposals for additional or revised regulations and requirements are pending before Congress, state legislatures and Federal and state regulatory agencies. We generally cannot predict whether new legislation or regulations, court action or a change in the extent of application or enforcement of current laws and regulations would have an adverse impact on our operations.

Broadband Internet Access Services

Broadband internet access service, which we currently offer in all our systems, is subject to some regulation at the Federal level and is not subject to state or local government regulation at this time, except for the state net neutrality laws discussed below.

Regulatory Reclassification and Net Neutrality Regulation. In 2017, the FCC adopted the Restoring Internet Freedom Order (the “Internet Freedom Order”), which reinstated broadband internet access service as an “information service” under Title I of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the “Communications Act”). The Internet Freedom Order rescinded the majority of the open internet rules adopted by the FCC in 2015 in the Open Internet Order, with the exception of enhanced disclosure requirements that require broadband internet access service providers to disclose information regarding network management, performance and commercial terms of the service to their customers. In October 2020, the FCC reaffirmed its previous findings about the Internet Freedom Order after certain issues were remanded to it by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In July 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy that encouraged the FCC to consider adopting net neutrality rules similar to those originally adopted in 2015. Numerous parties also have urged the FCC to take action regarding net neutrality. Any action by the FCC likely would be subject to further judicial review.

Congress and numerous states, including Minnesota and Missouri (where we have subscribers), have proposed legislation and/or administrative actions that would lead to increased regulation of our provision of data services, including proposed rules regarding net neutrality. Several states, including Oregon and Washington (where we also have subscribers), have adopted legislation that requires entities providing broadband internet access service in the state to comply with net neutrality requirements or that prohibits state and local government agencies from contracting with internet service providers that engage in certain network management activities based on paid prioritization, content blocking or other discrimination. Net neutrality obligations could cause us to incur additional compliance costs, and the enforcement or interpretation of these new obligations could adversely affect our business. We cannot predict whether or when any future changes to the regulatory framework will occur at the Federal or state level or whether or to what extent those changes may affect our operations or impose additional costs on our business.

Disclosure and Non-Discrimination Requirements. As stated above, the FCC’s current rules require broadband internet access service providers to disclose certain information regarding network management, performance and commercial terms of the service to their customers. As part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress ordered the FCC to conduct a rulemaking to consider imposing additional consumer disclosure requirements on broadband internet access service providers using “broadband labels.”  In addition, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requires the FCC to adopt rules to facilitate equal access to broadband internet access service and prevent digital discrimination of access, including the development of model policies and best practices, and a process to accept public complaints relating to digital discrimination. Compliance with these new obligations could cause us to incur additional compliance costs, and the enforcement or interpretation of these new obligations could adversely affect our business. We cannot predict whether or to what extent these changes may affect our operations or impose additional costs on our business.

Emergency Broadband Benefit and Affordable Connectivity Programs. In 2021, we participated in the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit (“EBB”) program, which provided qualifying low-income consumers a discount on certain of our broadband internet access services for which we received reimbursement from the FCC. On December 31, 2021, the EBB program transitioned to the Affordable Connectivity Program (“ACP”) as required by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The ACP operates in largely the same manner as the EBB program and allows us to seek reimbursement for certain broadband internet access service discounts provided to qualifying low-income consumers. We are subject to various compliance obligations in connection with our participation in the EBB program and the ACP, which may cause us to incur additional compliance costs. We cannot predict whether or when any future changes to the ACP may occur, or whether or to what extent those changes may affect our operations or impose additional costs on our business.

Privacy. Broadband internet access service is subject to many of the same Federal and state privacy laws that apply to other electronic communications. These include the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which addresses interceptions of electronic communications that are in transit; the Stored Communications Act, which addresses acquisitions of electronic data in storage; and other Federal and state privacy laws and regulations. As the collection and use of consumer data becomes more prevalent in the communications industry, our compliance obligations may grow. In 2017, the FCC reinstated its previous rules applicable to customer proprietary network information (“CPNI”) for voice services. In addition, privacy legislation has been proposed at the Federal and state level, some of which would require broadband service providers to apply heightened privacy and security protections to customer data. We cannot predict whether, when or to what extent these obligations may impose costs on our business.

In addition to FCC privacy regulations governing broadband internet access service, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) also may exercise authority over privacy by using its existing authority over unfair and deceptive acts or practices to apply greater restrictions on the collection and use of personally identifiable and other information relating to consumers. The FTC also has undertaken numerous enforcement actions against parties that do not provide sufficient security protections against the loss or unauthorized disclosure of this type of information. We also are subject to stringent data security and data retention requirements that apply to website operators and online services directed to children under 13 years of age, or that knowingly collect or post personal information from children under 13 years of age. Other privacy oriented laws have been extended by courts to online video providers and are increasingly being used in privacy lawsuits, including class actions, against providers of video materials online. We cannot predict whether, when or to what extent these obligations may impose costs on our business.

We are also subject to Federal and state laws and regulations regarding data security that primarily apply to sensitive personal information that could be used to commit identity theft. Most states have security breach notification laws that generally require a business to give notice to consumers and government agencies when certain information has been disclosed due to a security breach, and the FCC has adopted security breach rules for voice services. Several states have also enacted general data security requirements to safeguard consumer information, including the proper disposal of consumer information. We cannot predict whether, when or to what extent these obligations may impose costs on our business.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Owners of copyrights and trademarks actively seek to prevent use of the internet to violate their rights. For example, copyright and trademark owners assert claims that a customer used an internet service or resources accessed via the internet to post, download or disseminate copyrighted music, movies, software or other content without the consent of the copyright owner. In some cases, copyright and trademark owners have sought to recover damages from the broadband internet access service provider as well as or instead of the customer. The law relating to the potential liability of broadband internet access service providers in these circumstances is unsettled. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act grants broadband internet access service providers protection against certain claims of copyright infringement resulting from the actions of customers if the internet provider complies with certain requirements. Congress has not adopted similar immunity for broadband internet access service providers for trademark infringement claims.

Business Data Services. The FCC has adopted a deregulatory framework for Business Data Services (“BDS”), formerly known as “special access” services. These services provide dedicated point-to-point transmission of data at certain guaranteed speeds and service levels using high-capacity connections. The framework eliminated pricing regulation for certain types of BDS and established a competitive market test for determining whether other types of BDS should remain subject to pricing regulation. In July 2019, the FCC reaffirmed its decision regarding the framework and provided a transition period for further deregulation of BDS provided by incumbent carriers. At this time, we cannot predict how these or any future rule changes will affect our business.

Video Services

Title VI of the Communications Act establishes the principal Federal regulatory framework for our operation of cable systems and for the provision of our video services. The Communications Act allocates primary responsibility for enforcing the Federal policies among the FCC and state and local governmental authorities.

Franchising. We are required to obtain franchises or authorizations from state or local governmental authorities to operate our cable systems. Those franchises typically are non-exclusive and limited in time, contain various conditions and limitations and provide for the payment of fees to the local authority, determined generally as a percentage of revenues. Federal law restricts franchise fee payments to 5% of the gross revenues of a cable system that are derived from the provision of video services. Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of a franchise may give rise to rights of termination by the franchising authority.

A number of states in which we operate have adopted franchising laws that provide for statewide franchising. Generally, statewide cable franchises are issued for a fixed term, reduce many burdensome requirements contained in traditional local cable franchises and eliminate the need for local oversight and negotiation. Various other state and local statutes, ordinances and administrative laws additionally govern our operation in particular communities.

Prior to the scheduled expiration of our franchises, we generally initiate renewal proceedings with the granting authorities. Federal law provides for an orderly franchise renewal process in which local authorities may not unreasonably withhold franchise renewals. In connection with the franchise renewal process, however, many local governmental authorities require the cable operator to make additional commitments.

In August 2019, the FCC issued an order that limits the scope of demands that state and local authorities may require in exchange for issuing or renewing a franchise. The FCC’s order clarified that state and local franchising authorities are prohibited from using their video franchising authority to regulate the provision of non-cable services, including broadband, Wi-Fi and VoIP services that are delivered over “mixed use” systems that offer a variety of services. The FCC also held that non-monetary in-kind contributions required by a franchising authority count as franchise fees subject to the 5% cap on such fees. The majority of the FCC’s order was upheld by the Sixth Circuit on appeal, and the state and local franchising authorities currently are seeking review by the U.S. Supreme Court. We cannot predict the outcome of the court appeals and whether or to what extent the rules as revised by the FCC or the courts may affect our operations or impose costs on our business.

The FCC has adopted rules designed to expedite the process of awarding competitive franchises and relieving applicants for competing franchises of some locally imposed franchise obligations. These rules are especially beneficial to new entrants and are expected to continue to accelerate the competition we are experiencing in the video service marketplace.

Rate Regulation. FCC regulations prohibit LFAs or the FCC from regulating the rates that cable systems charge for certain levels of video service, equipment and service calls when those cable systems are subject to “effective competition.” The FCC’s rate regulations contain a presumption that all cable systems are subject to the effective-competition exemption unless proven otherwise.

Carriage of Local Television Broadcast Stations. There are two alternative legal methods for carriage of local broadcast television stations on cable systems. Federal “must carry” regulations require cable systems to carry local broadcast television stations upon the request of the local broadcaster. As a result, certain of our cable systems must carry broadcast stations that we might not otherwise have elected to carry.

Alternatively, Federal law includes “retransmission consent” regulations, by which broadcasters can elect to prohibit cable carriage unless the cable operator first negotiates for retransmission consent, which may be conditioned on significant payments or other concessions from cable operators, such as commitments to carry other program services offered by a station or an affiliated company, to purchase advertising on a station or to provide advertising availabilities on cable channels to a station or to provide cash compensation. This development results in increased operating costs for video service providers, which ultimately increases the rates for video subscribers.

The FCC and Congress have imposed additional requirements in this area, including restrictions on broadcasters’ ability to jointly negotiate with video providers for carriage of their stations, and the requirement that parties negotiate retransmission consent in good faith. The FCC has stated that it would not adopt additional rules governing good faith negotiations for retransmission consent, but it would be prepared to assist in negotiations when necessary. Additional government-mandated broadcast carriage obligations, including those related to the FCC’s newly adopted enhanced technical broadcasting option (Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0), could disrupt existing programming commitments and increase our costs of carrying such programming.

Media Ownership Rules. The FCC took steps in 2017 to relax its media ownership rules, including restrictions on the number of commonly owned television stations per market as well as on newspaper/broadcast and radio/television station cross-ownership. After numerous court proceedings, the FCC’s rules were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2021. These changes relaxing media ownership rules will likely lead to increased consolidation of the television broadcast stations and station groups, with a corresponding increase in the negotiating leverage that broadcasters and station groups hold in retransmission consent negotiations, thereby possibly increasing the amounts we pay to broadcasters for retransmission consent. The FCC is now conducting its regular review of its media ownership rules. We cannot predict the outcome of the ongoing reviews by the FCC and any subsequent review by the courts, and whether or to what extent any further revisions of the rules by the FCC or the courts may affect our operations or impose additional costs on our business.

Pole Attachments. Federal law requires most telephone companies and electric power utilities owning utility poles to provide cable systems with access to poles and underground conduits. Federal law also requires those entities to charge reasonable rates to cable operators for utilizing space on such poles or in such underground conduits. The FCC’s pole attachment rules contain a formula for calculating pole rental rates that provide for similar rates for telecommunications attachments and cable attachments and prohibit utility companies from charging higher rates for pole attachments used to provide broadband internet access service. The FCC has also adopted rules to facilitate new attachments, including a one-touch make-ready procedure for new attachments. Those one-touch make-ready rules took effect and were upheld in August 2020 in response to challenges in the Federal courts by utility companies. We cannot predict how any future changes to the pole attachment rules may affect our operations or impose costs on our business. As a general matter, changes to our pole attachment rate structure could significantly increase our annual pole attachment costs.

Federal Copyright Issues. The Copyright Act of 1976, as amended (the “Copyright Act”), gives cable systems the ability, under certain terms and conditions and assuming that any applicable retransmission consents have been obtained, to retransmit the signals of television stations pursuant to a compulsory copyright license. The U.S. Copyright Office is considering requests for clarification and revisions of certain cable compulsory copyright license reporting requirements, and from time to time, other revisions to the cable compulsory copyright rules are considered. We cannot predict the outcome of any such inquiries. However, it is possible that changes in the rules or copyright compulsory license fee computations or compliance procedures could have an adverse effect on our business by, for example, increasing copyright compulsory license fee costs or by causing us to reduce or discontinue carriage of certain broadcast signals that we currently carry on a discretionary basis. Copyright clearances for non-broadcast programming services are arranged through private negotiations. Cable operators also must obtain music rights for locally originated programming and advertising from the major music performing rights organizations. These licensing fees have been the source of litigation in the past, and we cannot predict with certainty whether license fee disputes may arise in the future.

Customer Equipment. Congress, the FCC and other government agencies have for some time been developing and implementing regulations that affect the types of set-top boxes that cable operators can lease or deploy to their subscribers. Prior to 2015, FCC rules banned the integration of security and non-security function in set-top boxes and required multichannel video programming distributors to allow third-party vendors to provide set-top boxes with basic converter functions. In 2015, Congress repealed the integration ban and mandated that the FCC establish a working group to identify, report on and recommend a successor technology- and platform-neutral security solution. Various parties continue to advocate to Congress and the administrative agencies for new regulatory approaches to reduce consumer dependency on traditional operator-provided set-top boxes that, if adopted, could affect our business in the future. We cannot predict if or when new changes may be proposed, what effect such changes may have on our operations, or if they will increase our costs and impair our ability to deliver programming to our customers.

Other Regulatory Requirements. The FCC regulates various other aspects of our video business, including, among other things, equal employment opportunity obligations; customer service standards; technical service standards; mandatory blackouts of certain network and syndicated programming; restrictions on political advertising; restrictions on advertising in children’s programming; maintenance of public files; emergency alert systems; inside wiring and exclusive contracts for service provided to apartment and condominium complexes; and disability access, including requirements governing video-description and closed-captioning. Each of these regulations restricts our business practices to varying degrees and may impose additional costs on our operations. We cannot predict whether, when or to what extent changes to these and other regulations may affect our operations or costs.

Voice Services

Our voice services are subject to varying degrees of Federal and state regulation. Telecommunications services are subject to extensive regulation at both the Federal and state levels while interconnected VoIP services are subject to a lesser degree of regulation.

Voice Over Internet Protocol. Service providers, including us and others, offer interconnected VoIP service, which permits users to make voice calls over broadband communications networks, including the internet, to recipients on the public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) and other broadband communications networks. Federal law preempts state and local regulatory barriers to the offering of voice service by service providers, and the FCC and Federal courts generally have preempted state laws that seek to regulate or classify VoIP.

The FCC has held that VoIP services are internet protocol-enabled services, which are interstate in nature and thus subject exclusively to the FCC’s Federal jurisdiction and not to state regulation. This decision was upheld on appeal, although the FCC has an ongoing proceeding to consider whether VoIP services provided by service providers are properly classified as an “information service,” “telecommunications service” or some other new category of service. This determination, once made, could have numerous regulatory implications for service providers that provide interconnected VoIP services, including us. Although the FCC has yet to ascribe a regulatory definition to VoIP services, the FCC nevertheless has imposed numerous obligations on interconnected VoIP service providers, some of which are discussed more fully below.

In 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota held that the VoIP service of another cable operator was an “information service” rather than a “telecommunications service,” which would have made it subject to entry and rate regulation and which prevented the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission from regulating VoIP as a telecommunications service in Minnesota. The district court’s decision was upheld on appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of the case. We cannot predict whether other states will attempt to subject VoIP services to entry and rate regulation, the outcome of such proceedings or how those proceedings may affect our operations or impose costs on our business.

State Regulation of Telecommunications Services. We offer telecommunications services as competitive local exchange carriers (“CLECs”) through several of our subsidiaries. Providers of telecommunications services usually are required to obtain licenses or authorizations from state regulatory commissions prior to offering intrastate telecommunications services. We hold licenses to provide CLEC telecommunications services in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. We also are required to comply with state reporting, fee payment, tariffing and other obligations imposed on telecommunications services. Many states require prior approval for corporate and financial transactions, and compliance with these requirements could delay and increase the cost we incur to complete such transactions. Failure to comply with requirements applicable to telecommunications services could subject us to fines, penalties or other enforcement consequences.

Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier Regulation. We offer telecommunications services as an incumbent local exchange carrier (“ILEC”) in Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina through our subsidiaries. ILECs generally are subject to more stringent regulation than CLECs. Federal law imposes a variety of duties on all telecommunications carriers providing local telephone services, including requirements to interconnect with other telecommunications carriers; establish reciprocal compensation arrangements for the completion of calls; permit the resale of services; permit users to retain their telephone numbers when changing carriers; and provide competing carriers access to poles, ducts, conduits and rights-of-way. ILECs are subject to additional duties to offer interconnection at any technically feasible point within their networks on non-discriminatory, cost-based terms; offer co-location of competitors’ equipment at their premises on a non-discriminatory basis; make available some of their network facilities, features and capabilities, referred to as Unbundled Network Elements, on non-discriminatory, cost-based terms; and offer wholesale versions of their retail services for resale at discounted rates. Our ILEC subsidiaries are currently exempt from certain of these obligations because they qualify as “rural telephone companies” under Federal law. Failure to comply with requirements applicable to ILEC operations could subject us to fines, penalties or other enforcement consequences.

Emergency 911 Services. The FCC has ruled that an interconnected VoIP service provider that enables its customers to make calls to and receive calls from persons who use the PSTN must provide its customers with the same enhanced 911 (“E911”) features that traditional telephone, telecommunications and wireless companies are obligated to provide. The FCC has also established indoor location requirements when E911 calls are made by interconnected VoIP subscribers. The FCC also requires certain providers of facilities-based fixed, residential voice services, which includes interconnected VoIP service providers, to offer backup power options to consumers and to inform consumers of the availability of such options. In October 2019, the FCC clarified that state, local, and tribal governments cannot charge the same class of subscribers higher total 911 fees for VoIP services than for traditional telecommunications services with the same 911 calling capability.

CALEA. FCC regulations require providers of voice services to comply with the requirements of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which requires covered entities and their equipment suppliers to deploy equipment that law enforcement officials can access readily for lawful wiretap purposes.

Universal Service Contributions. The FCC has determined that interconnected VoIP service providers must contribute to the Federal Universal Service Fund (the “USF”). Providers of telecommunications service also are required to contribute to the Federal USF. The amount of a company’s USF contribution is based on a percentage of revenues earned from end-user interstate and international telecommunications and/or interconnected VoIP services. We are permitted to recover these contributions from our customers. In 2012, the FCC initiated a proceeding that focused on reforming the nature and manner in which entities should contribute to the USF and at what levels. Some have suggested that Federal USF contribution requirements be imposed on broadband internet access service providers. We cannot predict whether and how such reform will occur and the extent to which it may affect providers of VoIP, telecommunications and broadband internet access services, including us and our competitors.

States also may impose state USF fees on telecommunications services, and the FCC has determined that states may impose state USF fees on interconnected VoIP service providers subject to certain limitations and requirements. State USF contributions often are based on a percentage of revenues earned from end-user intrastate telecommunications services and/or interconnected VoIP services, and we are typically permitted to recover these contributions from our customers. We cannot predict whether or how the imposition of such state-based universal service fees will affect our operations and business.

Federal Subsidies and Grants. The FCC has adopted rules intended to transition the USF so that it supports the build out of broadband rather than telecommunications facilities. Certain of our subsidiaries providing telecommunications services have been designated as eligible telecommunications carriers (“ETCs”) and as such receive or will receive Federal and state funds for operations in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina. We also receive reimbursement from the schools and libraries universal service support program, commonly known as E-rate, and from the Rural Health Care Fund for discounted services provided throughout our service territory. The FCC has several proceedings pending that could affect our ability to continue receiving such Federal funding. We cannot predict whether or how these programs will be changed, or how such changes will affect our operations or business. Some of our ILEC subsidiaries also receive disbursements from the federal USF under Phase 2 of the FCC’s Alternative Connect America Cost Model program. To continue to receive such disbursements, we are required to meet certain build-out milestones over the next ten years. We also were a grant recipient under the FCC’s Rural Broadband Experiment program, which requires us to meet certain build-out and public service obligations over a five-year period. We are also a grant recipient under the FCC’s RDOF program, which requires us to meet certain build-out and public service obligations over a ten-year period. While we intend to satisfy these build-out obligations within the required timeframes, there can be no assurance that we will complete the build-out in a timely manner or at all. We also cannot predict what impact the costs of complying with the build-out obligations will have on our operations.

In addition, the FCC has focused on subsidizing broadband deployment and this shift could help some of our competitors. For example, the FCC revised the program that provides universal service support for services to schools and libraries to shift support from voice services to broadband services and to deployment of Wi-Fi networks. Similarly, the FCC has expanded its Lifeline subsidy program for low-income consumers to cover broadband services in addition to voice services and is considering further changes that may affect the Lifeline program. We cannot predict whether or how these programs will be changed, or the impact such changes will have on our operations or business.

Intercarrier Compensation. The FCC regulates switched access service rates imposed by local telecommunications carriers on interexchange carriers for the origination and termination of long-distance telecommunications traffic. The FCC has adopted intercarrier compensation rules under which switched access service rates for all traffic that interconnects with the PSTN were reduced and a uniform bill-and-keep framework for both intrastate and interstate terminating access traffic will result. The reforms required by the FCC’s rules are being phased in over a multi-year period. Future FCC determinations regarding the rates, terms and conditions for transporting and terminating such traffic could have a profound and material effect on the profitability of providing voice and data services.

Customer Proprietary Network Information. Telecommunications services and interconnected VoIP services are subject to CPNI protections, which extend CPNI protection requirements to such providers. CPNI is information about the quantity, technical configuration, type, location and amount of a voice customer’s use. These requirements generally increase the cost of providing voice service, as providers must implement various safeguards to protect CPNI from unauthorized disclosure.

Access for Persons with Disabilities. FCC regulations require providers of interconnected VoIP services to comply with all disability access requirements that apply to telecommunications services, including the provision of telecommunications relay services for persons with speech or hearing impairments. The FCC also has adopted reporting requirements associated with disability access obligations. We must also contribute to the interstate Telecommunications Relay Service Fund to support such access. These requirements generally have had the effect of increasing the cost of providing voice services.

Service Discontinuance and Outage Obligations. The FCC has adopted rules subjecting providers of interconnected VoIP services to the same service discontinuance requirements applicable to providers of wireline telecommunication services. The FCC has also adopted mandatory outage reporting requirements for interconnected VoIP service providers, which apply when customers of interconnected VoIP service lose service or connectivity and, as a result, are unable to access 911 service. Telecommunications services are subject to similar requirements. Along with other FCC actions described herein that impose legacy telecom obligations on interconnected VoIP providers, this development subjects our interconnected VoIP services to greater regulation and, therefore, greater burdens and costs.

Regulatory Fees. The FCC requires telecommunications service and interconnected VoIP service providers to contribute to shared costs of FCC regulation through an annual regulatory fee assessment. These fees have increased our cost of providing voice services. The FCC revises its regulatory fees from time to time and sometimes creates new fees. We cannot predict when or the extent to which the FCC will adopt new rules or regulatory fees affecting telecommunications service and VoIP service providers, which could affect our cost of doing business.

Local Number Portability. Providers of telecommunications services and interconnected VoIP services and their “numbering partners” must ensure that their subscribers have the ability to port their telephone numbers when changing service providers. We also must contribute funds to cover the shared costs of local number portability and the costs of the North American Numbering Plan Administration. FCC rules require additional numbering requirements, such as allowing consumers access to abbreviated dialing codes like 211 and 311 in certain circumstances, to be applied to interconnected VoIP service providers. Although consumers’ ability to port their existing telephone numbers to interconnected VoIP service has created additional opportunities for us to gain voice customers, the local number portability and associated rules overall have had the effect of increasing the cost of providing voice service.

Rural Calling Issues. The FCC has adopted rules to combat problems with the completion of long-distance calls to rural areas. The rules applied detailed record keeping, record retention and reporting requirements on all voice providers, including VoIP service providers, subject to certain exceptions. The rules also prohibit VoIP service providers (and other voice providers) from using false audible ringing when originating calls.

Robocalling. The FCC has adopted rules requiring voice providers to implement the industry-adopted STIR/SHAKEN framework in their networks to authenticate caller ID in order to prevent spoofed robocalls from reaching consumers. The new rules require providers to certify compliance with the framework and make compliance checks before accepting certain types of traffic for termination on their network. Compliance with these rules subjects our voice services to greater compliance costs and have increased the cost of providing voice service.

State and Local Taxes

The Internet Tax Freedom Act prohibits most states and localities from imposing taxes on internet access service charges. In addition, the FCC’s decision to rescind the majority of the rules adopted in the Open Internet Order may currently hinder states and localities that seek to impose additional taxes and fees on our data services, but that could change to the extent the FCC or Congress takes further action with regard to net neutrality requirements. Legislative and administrative proceedings in some states and localities have imposed or are considering adopting changes to general business taxes, central assessments for property tax and new taxes and fees applicable to our services. Often, DBS and other competitors that deliver their services over the internet do not face similar state tax and fee burdens.

You should carefully consider all of the information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and each of the risks described below, which we believe are the principal risks that we face. Some risks relate principally to the securities markets and ownership of our common stock.

Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial results, financial condition and results of operations and the actual outcome of matters as to which forward-looking statements are made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, other risks and uncertainties either not presently known or not currently believed to be material may also adversely affect our business, financial results, financial condition and results of operations and the actual outcome of matters as to which we have made forward-looking statements.

Risks Relating to Our Business

The COVID-19 pandemic has and may continue to impact our operations and adversely affect our business, financial results and financial condition, and the duration and extent to which it may continue to do so is uncertain and difficult to predict.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the United States and other countries, which has resulted in international, Federal, state and local governments implementing numerous measures to try to reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, including travel restrictions, quarantines, shelter in place or total lock-down orders and business limitations and shutdowns. More recently, new variants of COVID-19, such as the Delta and Omicron variants, have emerged. The spread of these new strains are causing many businesses and government authorities to reimplement prior restrictions in an effort to lessen the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. The degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our operations, business, financial results and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, continuously evolving and in many cases cannot be predicted. This includes, but is not limited to, the duration and spread of the pandemic and its variants, its severity, the availability and efficacy of vaccines (particularly with respect to emerging strains of the virus), and the actions taken by governments and regulators to contain the virus or treat its impact and how quickly and to what extent normal social, economic and operating conditions can resume.

We are a part of the United States’ critical infrastructure, and our continued operation is essential to connectivity services that are vital during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We have taken and may take further actions required by governmental authorities or that we determine are prudent to support the well-being of our associates, customers, suppliers, business partners and others.

Our business, financial results and financial condition have been and could be further adversely affected in a number of ways, which may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic could negatively affect our internal control over financial reporting, including as a result of a portion of our personnel working from home. Accordingly, new processes, procedures and controls have been and may continue to be required to respond to changes in our business environment.

The potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may also impact many of our other risk factors included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our operations, business, financial results and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, continuously evolving and in many cases cannot be predicted.

We face significant competition from other service providers, as well as other well-capitalized entrants in the video and data services industry, which could reduce our market share and lower our profits.

We operate in a highly competitive, subscriber-driven and rapidly changing industry and compete with a growing number of entities that provide a broad range of communications products, services and content to subscribers. Our competitors have historically included, and we expect will continue to include, DBS providers, telephone companies that offer data and video services through DSL technology or fiber-to-the-node networks, municipalities with fiber-based networks, regional fiber providers and other service providers that have been granted a franchise to operate in a geographic market in which we are already operating.

Our systems generally operate pursuant to franchises, permits and similar authorizations issued by state and local governments. As these franchises are typically non-exclusive, state and local governments can grant additional franchises to other entities and create competition in our markets where none existed previously, resulting in overbuilds. In some cases, the FCC has adopted rules that streamline entry for new competitors (particularly those affiliated with telephone companies) and reduce franchising burdens for these new entrants. Although as a general matter internet service providers have upgraded their data networks to enable faster upload and download speeds for their customers in metropolitan markets before upgrading their data networks in our markets, as of December 31, 2021, approximately 29% of our footprint has been overbuilt by high-speed data service providers offering speeds of 100 Mbps or higher. As of December 31, 2021, approximately 18% of the residential homes passed in our markets have access to fiber-to-the-premises from our competitors who typically offer only high-speed data service. Higher overall competition rates in 2021 were due primarily to the impact of acquired operations and improved tracking capabilities as opposed to significant overbuilder activity. Further overbuilding could cause more of our customers to purchase data and video services from our competitors instead of from us. We also face increasing competition from wireless telephone companies for residential voice services, as our customers continue to replace our residential voice services completely with wireless voice services. In addition, new entrants with significant financial resources may compete on a larger scale with our video and data services, and as more wireless voice service providers offer unlimited data options, some customers may choose to forgo our data services altogether. We may also face increasing competition from various providers of wireless internet offerings, including wireless telephone carriers that are deploying high-speed “5G” wireless networks and public locations or commercial establishments offering Wi-Fi at no cost.

Certain municipalities have also announced plans to construct their own data networks with access speeds that match or exceed ours through the use of fiber-to-the-node or fiber-to-the-premises technology. In some cases, local government entities and municipal utilities may legally compete with us without obtaining a franchise from an LFA, reducing their barriers to entry into our markets. The entrance of municipalities as competitors in our markets would add to the competition we face and could lead to additional customer attrition.

Our video business also faces substantial and increasing competition from other forms of in-home and mobile entertainment, including, among others, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, YouTube TV and an increasing number of new entrants who offer OTT video programming, including many traditional programmers. Because of the significant size and financial resources of many of the companies behind such service offerings, we anticipate that they will continue to invest resources in increasing the availability of video content on the internet, which may result in less demand for the video services we provide. In addition, companies that offer OTT content in certain markets also provide data services, such as Alphabet, and they may seek to increase sales of their streaming content by lowering the cost of data services for their customers, which would further increase price competition for the data services we offer. In addition to creating competition for our video services, OTT content also significantly increases the volume of traffic on our data networks, which can lead to decreases in access speeds for all users if data networks are not upgraded so that their broadband capacity can keep pace with increased traffic.

Competition for dedicated fiber-optic services for enterprise business customers is also intense as both local telephone companies and regional overbuilders offer data and voice services over dedicated fiber connections.

Any of these events could have a material negative impact on our operations, business, financial results and financial condition.

Our business is characterized by rapid technological change, and if we do not adapt to technological changes and respond appropriately to changes in consumer demand, our competitive position may be harmed.

Our success is, to a large extent, dependent on our ability to acquire, develop, adopt, upgrade and exploit new and existing technologies to address changing consumer demands and distinguish our services from those of our competitors. We may not be able to accurately predict technological trends or the success of new products and services. If we choose technologies or equipment that are less effective, cost-efficient or attractive to our customers than those chosen by our competitors, or if we offer services that fail to appeal to consumers, that are not available at competitive prices or that do not function as expected, our competitive position could deteriorate and our business and financial results could suffer.

The ability of some of our competitors to introduce new technologies, products and services more quickly than we can may adversely affect our competitive position. Furthermore, advances in technology, decreases in the cost of existing technologies or changes in competitors’ product and service offerings may require us in the future to make additional research and development expenditures or to offer at no additional charge or at a lower price certain products and services that we currently offer to customers separately or at a premium.

In addition, we generally seek to leverage overall industry experience before rolling out new technology in order to avoid investing in technology that has not been proven successful in other markets. We implement this approach to avoid costly mistakes made by early adopters of new technology that does not provide expected returns, and it exposes us to the risk that one of our competitors will adopt successful new technology before us and leverage this new technology to attract our customers, increasing the level of customer attrition we experience and adversely affecting our business.

Business services sales increasingly contribute to our results of operations, and we face risks as we attempt to further focus on sales to our business customers.

Growth in revenue from sales to our business customers in legacy Cable One markets was 5.5% and 6.5% in 2021 and 2020, respectively, after exceeding 10% for each year between 2019 and when we started focusing on business services sales in 2011. During 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic and the government's associated responses resulted in suppressed sales growth from small business customers. We may encounter additional challenges as we continue our initiative to expand sales of data, voice and video services to our business customers. To accommodate this expansion, we expect to commit a greater proportion of our expenditures on technology, equipment and personnel toward our business customers. If we are unable to sufficiently maintain the necessary infrastructure and internal support functions necessary to service these customers, potential future growth of our business services revenues would be limited. In many cases, business customers have service level agreements that require us to provide higher standards of service and reliability. If we are unable to meet our service level requirements, or more broadly, the expectations of our business customers, or if pandemic-related headwinds associated with business sales resume, our business sales may not increase and our results of operations may be materially negatively affected.

The increase in programming costs and retransmission fees may continue in the future, resulting in lower margins and/or decreased demand for our video products.

Over the past few years, the sales margins on our residential video services, which accounted for 21.2%, 25.1% and 28.7% of our total revenues in 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively, have decreased as a result of increased programming costs and retransmission fees and customer cord-cutting. Programming costs and retransmission fees paid to major programmers and broadcasters may continue to increase as content providers are expected to continue to seek higher fees. Moreover, programming cost and retransmission fee increases have caused us, and may in the future cause us, to cease carrying channels offered by certain programmers and broadcasters, which may result in attrition of video subscribers as well as customers who subscribe to double-play or triple-play packages that include video service. These customer losses and increased costs could result in further decreases in our residential video margins, adversely impact our revenues and revenue growth rates, and adversely impact our business.

We may not be able to obtain necessary hardware, software and operational support.

We depend on a limited number of third-party suppliers and licensors to supply some of the hardware and software necessary to provide some of our services, including our access to the network backbone, the modems that we lease to our customers and the delivery of our IPTV video service. Some of these vendors represent our sole source of supply or have, either through contract or as a result of intellectual property rights, a position of some exclusivity. If any of these parties breaches or terminates its agreement with us or otherwise fails to perform its obligations in a timely manner; demand exceeds these vendors’ capacity; they experience operating or financial difficulties (including due to general adverse economic conditions); they experience shortages of electronic components as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or labor or other supply constraints; they significantly increase the amount we must pay for necessary products or services or they cease production of any necessary product due to lack of demand, profitability, a change in their ownership or otherwise, then our ability to provide some services may be materially adversely affected. Any of these events could adversely affect our ability to retain and attract subscribers and have a material negative impact on our operations, business, financial results and financial condition.

We may fail to realize the benefits anticipated as a result of the Hargray Acquisition.

On May 3, 2021, we completed the Hargray Acquisition. The success of the Hargray Acquisition will depend, in part, on our ability to realize the anticipated business opportunities and growth prospects from combining Hargray with our business. We may never realize these business opportunities and growth prospects. We may devote significant senior management attention and resources to preparing for and then integrating our business practices and operations with those of Hargray. We may fail to realize some of the anticipated benefits of the Hargray Acquisition or may not realize some of the anticipated benefits within the anticipated timeframe if the integration process takes longer than expected or is more costly than expected.

We recently made numerous acquisitions and strategic investments, and may make other acquisitions and strategic investments in the future, which expose us to risks and uncertainties associated with acquisitions and strategic investments.

We completed the NewWave acquisition in May 2017, the Clearwave acquisition in January 2019, the Fidelity acquisition in October 2019, the MBI investment in November 2020, the Hargray Acquisition in May 2021 and the CableAmerica acquisition in December 2021. In addition, we have made and may make other acquisitions and strategic investments (each such acquired business or investee, a “Strategic Acquiree” and, collectively, the “Strategic Acquirees”). Such acquisitions and strategic investments could involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including:

If a Strategic Acquiree fails to operate as anticipated, cannot be successfully integrated with our existing business or other risks and uncertainties, including one or more of the risks and uncertainties identified above, occur in connection with our acquisitions and strategic investments, our operations, business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially negatively affected.

Implementation of our new ERP system could disrupt business operations.

We implemented a new ERP system in the second quarter of 2021. The implementation has required and may continue to require significant investments of time, money and resources and may result in the diversion of senior management’s attention from our ongoing operations. Furthermore, the implementation has resulted and may continue to result in changes to many of our existing operational, financial and administrative business processes, including, but not limited to, our budgeting, purchasing, receiving, provisioning, servicing, accounting and reporting processes. The new ERP system has required and may continue to require both the implementation of new internal controls and changes to existing internal control frameworks and procedures. If technical problems or other significant issues arise in connection with the implementation or operation of the new ERP system, it could have a material negative impact on our operations, business, financial results and financial condition.

We rely on network and information systems and other technology, and a disruption or failure of such networks, systems or technology as a result of cybersecurity incidents, as well as outages, natural disasters (including extreme weather), pandemics, terrorist attacks, accidental releases of information or similar events, may disrupt our business.

Network and information systems and other technologies are critical to our operating activities, both to internal uses and in supplying data, video and voice services to customers. Network or information system shutdowns or other service disruptions caused by cyber-attacks, such as distributed denial of service attacks, ransomware, dissemination of malware and other malicious activity, pose increasing risks. Both unsuccessful and successful cyber-attacks on companies, including ours, have continued to increase in frequency, scope and potential harm in recent years and, because the techniques used in such attacks have become more sophisticated and change frequently, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. From time to time, third parties make malicious attempts to access our network or the networks of third-party vendors we use. Cyber-attacks could result in an unauthorized release of information, degradation to our network and information systems or disruption to our data, video and voice services, all of which could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.

Our network and information systems are also vulnerable to damage or interruption from power outages, natural disasters (including extreme weather arising from short-term weather patterns or any long-term changes), pandemics, terrorist attacks and similar events, and the individuals responsible for such systems may also be imperiled by certain such events. For example, prior to 2018, the damage to our network infrastructure caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina and the Joplin, Missouri tornado each created a significant disruption in our ability to provide services in affected areas. Any similar events could have an adverse impact on us and our customers in the future, including degradation of service, service disruption, excessive call volume to call centers and damage to our plant, equipment, data and reputation. Such an event also could result in large expenditures necessary to repair or replace such networks or information systems or to protect them from similar events or damage in the future. Further, the impacts associated with extreme weather or any long-term changes, such as intensified storm activity, may cause increased business interruptions.

Security breaches and other disruptions, including cyber-attacks, and our actual or perceived failure to adequately protect business and consumer data could give rise to liability or reputational harm.

In the ordinary course of our business, we electronically maintain confidential, proprietary and personal information in our information technology systems and networks and those of third-party vendors, including customer, personnel and vendor data. These systems have been, and may continue to be, targets of attack by cyber criminals or other wrongdoers seeking to steal such information for financial gain or to harm our business operations or reputation. The loss, misuse, compromise, leakage, falsification or accidental release of such information has resulted, and may in the future result, in costly investigations, remediation efforts and notification to affected consumers, personnel and/or vendors. For example, in 2019 we identified an information security incident that could affect the personal information of some of our current and former associates as well as, in some cases, their dependents, beneficiaries and others. Cyber-attacks have consumed, and may in the future consume, internal resources, and they could also adversely affect our operating results and result in government investigations, fines and penalties, litigation or potential liability for us and otherwise harm our business.

Various Federal, state and international laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of consumer data and sensitive personal information that could be used to commit identity theft. This area of the law is evolving, and interpretations of applicable laws and regulations differ. Legislative and regulatory activity in the privacy area may result in new laws that are relevant to our operations, for example, use of consumer data for marketing or advertising. Claims of failure to comply with our privacy policies or applicable laws or regulations could form the basis of governmental or private-party actions against us. Such claims and actions may cause damage to our reputation and could have an adverse effect on our business.

We also are subject to stringent data security and data retention requirements that apply to website operators and online services directed to children under 13 years of age, or that knowingly collect or post personal information from children under 13 years of age. Other privacy oriented laws have been extended by courts to online video providers and are increasingly being used in privacy lawsuits, including class actions, against providers of video materials online. Most states have security breach notification laws that generally require a business to give notice to consumers and government agencies when certain information has been disclosed due to a security breach, and the FCC has adopted security breach rules for voice services. Several states have also enacted general data security requirements to safeguard consumer information, including the proper disposal of consumer information. We cannot predict whether, when or to what extent these obligations may impose costs on or otherwise adversely affect our business.

Intellectual property and proprietary rights of others could prevent us from using necessary technology to provide our services or subject us to expensive intellectual property litigation.

We periodically receive claims from third parties alleging that our network and information technology infrastructure infringes the intellectual property rights of others. We are sometimes named as joint defendants in these suits together with other providers of data, video and voice services. Typically, these claims allege that aspects of our system architecture, electronic program guides, modem technology or VoIP services infringe on process patents held by third parties. It is likely that we will continue to be subject to similar claims as they relate to our business. Addressing these claims is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor, regardless of the merits of the claims. In order to resolve such a claim, we could determine the need to change our method of doing business, enter into a licensing agreement or incur substantial monetary liability. It is also possible that our business could be enjoined from using the intellectual property at issue, causing us to significantly alter our operations. If any such claims are successful, then the outcome would likely affect our services utilizing the intellectual property at issue and could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

Risks Relating to Regulation and Legislation

The profitability of our data service offerings may be impacted by legislative or regulatory efforts to impose net neutrality and other new requirements on cable operators.

The majority of our Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures comes from residential data services, and a majority of our residential customers are data-only. We have aligned our resources to emphasize increased sales of data services as well as sales to business customers. In order to continue to generate Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures at our desired level from data services, we need the continued flexibility to develop and refine business models that respond to changing consumer uses and demands and to manage data usage efficiently, including by charging our data subscribers higher rates based on the speed as well as overall bandwidth capacity available to, or used by, them, referred to as “usage-based billing.” Our ability to implement usage-based billing or other network management initiatives in the future may be restricted by any new net neutrality requirements on cable operators.

To the extent the FCC in the future limits our ability to price our data services, we may not be able to generate the margins on our data services that we anticipated in shifting our focus from video to data services, and our business could be materially negatively impacted. While the FCC has eliminated most net neutrality requirements, the FCC, Congress, states or the courts may revisit this determination in the future. For example, in July 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy that encouraged the FCC to consider adopting net neutrality rules similar to those originally adopted in 2015. Numerous parties also have urged the FCC to take action regarding net neutrality. Further, Congress and numerous states, including Minnesota and Missouri (where we have subscribers) have proposed legislation and/or administrative actions that would lead to increased regulation of our provision of data services, including proposed rules regarding net neutrality. Several states, including Oregon and Washington (where we also have subscribers), have adopted legislation that requires entities providing broadband internet access service in the state to comply with net neutrality requirements or that prohibits state and local government agencies from contracting with internet service providers that engage in certain network management activities based on paid prioritization, content blocking or other discrimination. Further, current rules only require that a portion of revenues from VoIP services be contributed to the USF and USF is not applied to broadband services. The changes brought about by how USF monies are distributed may provide funding and subsidies to those who either compete with us or seek to compete with us and therefore put us at a competitive disadvantage. Moreover, if the FCC imposes USF fees on broadband services, bundled services or a larger portion of VoIP services, it would increase the cost of our services and harm our ability to compete.

The regulation of broadband activities, including net neutrality obligations, and any related court decisions could cause us to incur additional compliance costs, restrict our ability to profit from our existing broadband network, limit the return we can expect to achieve on past and future investments in our broadband networks and adversely affect our business. We cannot predict what, if any, proposals might be adopted or what effect they might have on our business.

Our video and voice services are subject to additional regulation by Federal, state and local authorities, which may impose additional costs and restrictions on our businesses.

Our video services business operates in a highly regulated environment. Our systems generally operate pursuant to franchises, permits and similar authorizations issued by states or local governments controlling the public rights-of-way, which typically are non-exclusive and limited in time, contain various conditions and limitations and provide for the payment of fees to the local authority, determined generally as a percentage of revenues. Failure to comply with all of the terms and conditions of a franchise may give rise to rights of termination by the franchising authority.

We have the ability, pursuant to the Copyright Act, under certain terms and conditions and assuming that any applicable retransmission consents have been obtained, to retransmit the signals of television stations pursuant to a compulsory copyright license. From time to time, revisions to the cable compulsory copyright rules are considered. It is possible that changes in the rules or copyright compulsory license fee computations or compliance procedures could have an adverse effect on our business by, for example, increasing copyright compulsory license fee costs or by causing us to reduce or discontinue carriage of certain broadcast signals that we currently carry on a discretionary basis. Copyright clearances for non-broadcast programming services are arranged through private negotiations. Cable operators also must obtain music rights for locally originated programming and advertising from the major music performing rights organizations. These licensing fees have been the source of litigation in the past, and we cannot predict with certainty whether license fee disputes may arise in the future.

In addition, Congress, the FCC and other government agencies have implemented regulations that affect the types of set-top boxes that we can lease or deploy to our subscribers, and we expect these regulations may change in the future. The imposition of energy conservation regulations on the hardware products we provide to our customers could impede innovation and require mandatory upgrades in our set-top boxes and be costly to us. In addition, the FCC may revisit adopting rules requiring any retail video device to work on any cable operator’s system. Various parties continue to advocate to Congress and the administrative agencies for new regulatory approaches to reduce consumer dependency on traditional operator-provided set-top boxes. We cannot predict when, whether or to what extent any of these types of proposals will be adopted or how they will affect our operations.

Our telecommunications services are subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny, and our interconnected VoIP services are also subject to a growing degree of regulation. Complying with these regulations may increase the costs we incur and decrease the revenues we derive from our voice business. While the compliance costs associated with the current regulatory structure applicable to our voice services are manageable, changes in this regulatory structure are unpredictable and have the potential to further negatively impact our voice services by increasing compliance costs and/or taxes.

Our cable system franchises are subject to non-renewal or termination. The failure to renew a franchise in one or more markets could adversely affect our business.

Many of the LFAs from whom we have obtained franchises, permits and similar authorizations required to operate our video services business have established comprehensive facilities and service requirements as well as specific customer service standards and monetary penalties for non-compliance. In many cases, our franchises are terminable if we fail to comply with significant provisions set forth in the applicable franchise agreement governing our video operations. Franchises are generally granted for fixed terms and must be periodically renewed. LFAs may resist granting a renewal if either past performance or the prospective operating proposal is considered inadequate. LFAs often demand concessions or other commitments as a condition to renewal. The traditional cable franchising regime has undergone significant change as a result of various Federal and state actions. Some state franchising laws do not allow us to immediately opt into favorable statewide franchising. In many cases, state franchising laws will result in fewer franchise-imposed requirements for our competitors who are new entrants than for us, until we are able to opt into the applicable state franchise. We cannot assure that we will be able to comply with all significant provisions of our franchise agreements and certain of our franchisers have from time to time alleged that we have not complied with these agreements. Additionally, although historically we have renewed our franchises without incurring significant costs, we cannot assure that we will be able to renew, or to renew as favorably, our franchises in the future. A termination of or a sustained failure to renew a franchise in one or more markets could materially negatively affect our business in the affected geographic area.

In addition, certain of our franchise agreements require that the applicable LFA approve a transfer of control of the Company or an assignment of a franchise to another entity. Although FCC rules provide that a transfer application shall be deemed granted if it is not acted upon within 120 days after submission, as a practical matter, cable operators often waive the deadline if the LFA has not completed its review to facilitate discussions and thereby avoid an LFA denying the transfer of control. Failure to obtain such consents on commercially reasonable and satisfactory terms may impair our entitlement to the benefit of these franchise agreements in the event of a potential transfer of control of the Company or transfers of individual franchises to another entity.

We may encounter increased pole attachment costs.

Federal law requires most telephone companies and electric power utilities owning utility poles to provide cable systems with access to poles and underground conduits. Federal law also requires those utilities to charge reasonable rates to cable operators for utilizing space on such poles or in such underground conduits. The FCC’s pole attachment rules contain a formula for calculating pole rental rates that provide for similar rates for telecommunications attachments and cable attachments and prohibit utility companies from charging higher rates for pole attachments used to provide broadband internet access service. The FCC has also adopted rules to facilitate new attachments, including a one-touch make-ready procedure for new attachments. As a general matter, changes to our pole attachment rate structure could significantly increase our annual pole attachment costs and materially negatively impact our operations, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in broadcast carriage regulations could impose significant additional costs.

Although we would likely choose to carry all primary video feeds of local broadcast stations in the markets in which we operate voluntarily, so-called “must carry” rules could, in the future, require us to carry some local broadcast television signals on some of our systems that we might not otherwise carry. If the FCC seeks to revise or expand the “must carry” rules, such as to require carriage of multicast streams, we would be forced to carry video programming that we would not otherwise carry and potentially drop other, more popular programming in order to free capacity for the required programming, which could make us less competitive. Moreover, if the FCC adopts rules that are not competitively neutral, cable operators could be placed at a disadvantage versus other video providers.

The FCC took steps in 2017 to relax its media ownership rules, including restrictions on the number of commonly owned television stations per market as well as on newspaper/broadcast and radio/television station cross-ownership. After numerous court proceedings, the FCC’s rules were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2021. These changes relaxing media ownership rules will likely lead to increased consolidation of the television broadcast stations and station groups, with a corresponding increase in the negotiating leverage that broadcasters and station groups hold in retransmission consent negotiations, thereby possibly increasing the amounts we pay to broadcasters for retransmission consent. The FCC is now conducting its regular review of its media ownership rules. We cannot predict the outcome of the ongoing reviews by the FCC and any subsequent review by the courts, and whether or to what extent any further revisions of the rules by the FCC or the courts may affect our operations or impose additional costs on our business.

Additional government-mandated broadcast carriage obligations, including those related to the FCC’s enhanced technical broadcasting option (Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0), could disrupt existing programming commitments and increase our costs of carrying such programming.

Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness

We have incurred substantial indebtedness, including in connection with various acquisitions, and the degree to which we are now leveraged may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations and cash flows.

We currently have a substantial amount of indebtedness which could limit our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, strategic investments, debt service requirements, stock repurchases or other purposes. It may also increase our vulnerability to adverse economic, market and industry conditions (including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic), limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business operations or to our industry overall, and place us at a disadvantage in relation to our competitors that have lower debt levels.

Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our indebtedness, including the debt incurred in connection with acquisitions, as well as any future debt that we may incur, will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future from operations, financings or asset sales. Our ability to generate cash is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control.

The terms of our indebtedness restrict our current and future operations, particularly our ability to incur debt that we may need to fund initiatives in response to changes in our business, the industries in which we operate, the economy and governmental regulations.

The terms of our indebtedness include a number of restrictive covenants that impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us and limit our ability to engage in actions that may be in our long-term best interests. These may restrict our ability to take some or all of the following actions:

As a result of all of these restrictions, we may be:

A breach of any of these covenants, if applicable, could result in an event of default under the terms of our indebtedness. If an event of default occurs, the lenders would have the right to accelerate the repayment of such debt and the event of default or acceleration may result in the acceleration of the repayment of any other of our debt to which a cross-default or cross-acceleration provision applies. Furthermore, the lenders of this indebtedness may require that we pledge our assets as collateral as security for our repayment obligations. If we were unable to repay any amount of this indebtedness when due and payable, the lenders could proceed against the collateral that secures this indebtedness. In the event our creditors accelerate the repayment of our borrowings, we may not have sufficient assets to repay such indebtedness and our financial condition will be materially negatively affected.

We have variable rate indebtedness that subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $2.3 billion of outstanding term loans and an additional $459.8 million of undrawn revolving credit capacity with variable rates of interest that expose us to interest rate risks. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness would increase even though the amount borrowed remains the same, and our net income and cash flows will correspondingly decrease. In addition, we will be exposed to the risk of rising interest rates to the extent that we fund our operations with additional short-term or variable-rate borrowings. We have entered into and in the future may enter into additional interest rate swaps in order to hedge against future interest rate volatility. We may elect not to maintain such interest rate swaps with respect to our variable rate indebtedness, if any, and any swaps we have entered into or may enter into may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk. As a result, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially negatively affected.

The transition away from LIBOR and the adoption of alternative reference rates could adversely affect the cost of servicing our indebtedness.

A substantial portion of our indebtedness bears interest at variable interest rates, primarily based on LIBOR. In recent years, initiatives have been underway to replace LIBOR as a benchmark interest rate and, on March 5, 2021, ICE Benchmark Administration (“IBA”) confirmed it would cease publication of Overnight, 1, 3, 6 and 12 Month US Dollar LIBOR settings immediately following the LIBOR publication on June 30, 2023. The Alternative Reference Rates Committee, which was convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the New York Federal Reserve, has identified the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as the recommended risk-free alternative rate for US Dollar LIBOR. We expect a substantial portion of our indebtedness will eventually transition to bearing interest based on SOFR. At this time, it is not possible to predict the effect the anticipated discontinuance of LIBOR, or the establishment of alternative reference rates such as SOFR, will have on us or our borrowing costs. SOFR is a relatively new reference rate and its composition and characteristics are not the same as LIBOR. Given SOFR’s very limited history and potential volatility as compared to other benchmark or market rates, the future performance of SOFR cannot be predicted based on historical performance. The consequences of using SOFR could include an increase in the cost of our variable rate indebtedness.

Our inability to raise funds necessary to repurchase, or settle conversions of, either series of the Convertible Notes (as defined below), upon a fundamental change as described in the applicable Convertible Notes Indenture (as defined below), may lead to defaults under such indenture and under agreements governing our existing or future indebtedness.

If we repurchase the Convertible Notes for cash, which holders may require upon a fundamental change as described in the applicable Convertible Note Indenture, or settle such Convertible Notes by cash or by a combination of cash and shares of our common stock in the event a holder elects to convert their Convertible Notes following a fundamental change, we will be required to make cash payments with respect to the Convertible Notes being converted or repurchased.

However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make purchases of the Convertible Notes being surrendered or converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the Convertible Notes or to pay cash upon conversion of Convertible Notes is limited by the agreements governing our existing indebtedness and may also be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements that will govern our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase Convertible Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the applicable Convertible Notes Indenture or to pay cash payable on future conversions of the Convertible Notes as required by such indenture would constitute a default under such indenture. A default under the applicable Convertible Notes Indenture or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our existing or future indebtedness (including the Credit Agreement and the Senior Notes Indenture, each as defined elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K).

The conditional conversion feature of either series of the Convertible Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

In the event the conditional conversion feature of either series of the Convertible Notes is triggered, holders of the applicable Convertible Notes will be entitled to convert such Convertible Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Convertible Notes, we initially elect to satisfy our conversion obligations by combination settlement. In addition, in the future, we may elect to settle all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert the Convertible Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Convertible Notes as a current liability, rather than a long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.

Conversion of either series of the Convertible Notes will dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders or may otherwise depress the price of our common stock.

The conversion of some or all of the Convertible Notes will dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders to the extent we deliver shares of our common stock upon conversion of any of the Convertible Notes. The Convertible Notes may from time to time in the future be convertible at the option of their holders prior to their scheduled terms under certain circumstances. Any sales in the public market of the common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the Convertible Notes may encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of the Convertible Notes could be used to satisfy short positions or anticipated conversion of the Convertible Notes into shares of our common stock could depress the price of our common stock.

Risks Relating to Our Common Stock and the Securities Market

We cannot assure you that we will continue to pay dividends on our common stock, and our indebtedness limits our ability to pay dividends on our common stock.

The timing, declaration, amount and payment of future dividends to stockholders falls within the discretion of our Board. Our Board’s decisions regarding the amount and payment of future dividends will depend on many factors, including our financial condition, earnings, capital requirements of our business and covenants associated with debt obligations, as well as legal requirements, regulatory constraints, industry practice and other factors that our Board deems relevant. There can be no assurance that we will continue to pay any dividend in the future.

Certain provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws and Delaware law may discourage takeovers and the concentration of ownership of our common stock will affect the voting results of matters submitted for stockholder approval.

Several provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Amended and Restated By-laws and Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition that is opposed by our Board or certain stockholders holding a significant percentage of the voting power of our outstanding voting stock. These include provisions that:

These and other provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Amended and Restated By-laws and Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent certain types of transactions involving an actual or a threatened acquisition or change in control of the Company, including unsolicited takeover attempts, even though the transaction may offer our stockholders the opportunity to sell their shares of our common stock at a price above the prevailing market price.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, associates or stockholders.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that, subject to limited exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or associate of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) or (iv) action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation described above. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other associates, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and associates. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

General Risk Factors

Adverse conditions in the U.S. economy could impact our results of operations.

Unfavorable general economic conditions, such as a recession or economic slowdown in the United States, heightened inflation and the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, could negatively affect the affordability of and demand for some of our products and services. In difficult economic conditions, consumers may seek to reduce discretionary spending by forgoing purchases of our products and services, electing to use fewer higher margin products and services or obtaining lower cost products and services offered by other companies. Similarly, under these conditions the business customers that we serve in the United States may delay purchasing decisions, delay full implementation of service offerings or reduce their use of services. In addition, adverse economic conditions may lead to an increased number of our residential and business customers that are unable to pay for services. If any of these events were to occur, it could have a material negative effect on our operations, business, financial condition and results of operations.

The demand for our residential data and business services may be lower than we expect.

The future growth in demand for our services is difficult to predict and may differ materially from our current expectations. Our business could be adversely affected if the future demand for our services, including in particular our residential data and business services, is materially lower than we expect.

Our stock price may fluctuate significantly, depending on many factors, some of which may be beyond our control.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly, depending on many factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including:

Low trading volume for our stock, which may occur if an active trading market is not sustained, among other reasons, would amplify the effect of the above factors on our stock price volatility.

Stock markets in general can experience volatility that is unrelated to the operating performance of a particular company. These broad market fluctuations could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.

Your percentage ownership in the Company may be diluted in the future.

Your percentage ownership in the Company may be diluted in the future because of equity awards granted, and that we expect to grant in the future, to our directors, officers and other associates. In addition, we may issue equity as all or part of the financing or consideration paid for acquisitions and strategic investments that we may make in the future or as necessary to fund our ongoing operations. We also had $920.0 million of convertible notes outstanding as of December 31, 2021 that may further dilute your percentage ownership in the Company in the future. 

Any damage to our reputation or brand image could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Maintaining a positive reputation and brand image are important factors impacting our ability to sell our products and services. The speed at which negative publicity is disseminated has increased dramatically through the use of electronic communication, including social media, websites and blogs. Our success in maintaining our brand image depends on our ability to adapt to this rapidly changing media environment. Adverse publicity or negative commentary in any media outlet could damage our reputation and reduce the demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our business. Our reputation or brand image could be adversely impacted by negative publicity, commentary or communications (whether or not valid), including related to the following topics: our failure to maintain high ethical and social practices in all of our operations and activities; our failure to be perceived as appropriately addressing matters of social responsibility; our use of social media; or public perception of statements or positions made or taken by us, including our executives and associates.

If we are unable to retain key associates, our ability to manage our business could be adversely affected.

Our operational results have depended, and our future results will depend, upon the retention and continued performance of our management team. The competitive environment for management talent in the broadband communications industry could adversely impact our ability to retain and hire new key associates for management positions. The loss of the services of key members of management and the inability or delay in hiring new key associates could adversely affect our ability to manage our business and our future operational and financial results.

Our ability to incur future indebtedness, whether for general corporate purposes or for acquisitions and strategic investments, may not be available on favorable terms, or at all.

We may need to seek additional financing for our general corporate purposes or for acquisitions and strategic investments in the future. We may be unable to obtain additional indebtedness on terms favorable to us, or at all, including because of the terms of our current indebtedness. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund our future activities, which could negatively affect our business. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity securities, our stockholders could experience dilution of their ownership interest. If we raise additional funds by issuing debt, we may be subject to limitations on our operations due to restrictive covenants.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation includes provisions limiting the personal liability of our directors for breaches of fiduciary duty under the DGCL.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation contains a provision permitted under the DGCL relating to the liability of directors. This provision eliminates a director’s personal liability to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL for monetary damages resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty; provided that such provision will not eliminate or limit a director’s liability:

The principal effect of the limitation on liability provision is that a stockholder will be unable to prosecute an action for monetary damages against a director unless the stockholder can demonstrate a basis for liability for which indemnification is not available under the DGCL. This provision, however, should not limit or eliminate our rights or any stockholder’s rights to seek non-monetary relief, such as an injunction or rescission, in the event of a breach of a director’s fiduciary duty. This provision will not alter a director’s liability under federal securities laws. The inclusion of this provision in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation may discourage or deter stockholders or management from bringing a lawsuit against directors for a breach of their fiduciary duties, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise have benefited us and our stockholders.

None.

Our headquarters is located in Phoenix, Arizona. The majority of the offices and headend facilities of our individual systems are located in buildings owned by us.

Our principal physical assets consist of our broadband plant and equipment, including signal receiving, encoding and decoding devices, headend facilities, fiber-optic transport and distribution networks and customer premise equipment for each of our systems. Our broadband plant and related equipment generally attach to utility poles under pole rental agreements with local public utilities and telephone companies, although in certain areas our transport and distribution network is buried in underground ducts or trenches. We own or lease real property for signal reception sites and own most of our service vehicles.

The physical components of our broadband network requires maintenance and periodic upgrades to improve performance and capacity and support existing and new services and products. We also operate a network operations center that monitors our network at all times.

We believe that our properties are generally in good condition and are suitable and adequate to support our operations.

In the ordinary course of business, we periodically receive claims from third parties alleging that our network and information technology infrastructure infringes the intellectual property rights of others. We have sometimes been named as joint defendants in these suits together with other providers of data, video and voice services. Typically these claims allege that aspects of our system architecture, electronic program guides, modem technology or VoIP services infringe on process patents held by third parties. In addition, we have been subject to various civil lawsuits in the ordinary course of business, including contract disputes, actions alleging negligence, invasion of privacy, violations of applicable wage and hour laws and statutory and common law claims involving various other matters. We do not view any of these proceedings as material to our business and are currently not subject to any other material legal proceedings.

Not applicable.

PART II

Market Information

Our common stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbol “CABO” on the New York Stock Exchange.

Holders

As of February 18, 2022, there were approximately 826 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

We currently expect to continue to pay comparable quarterly cash dividends on shares of our common stock, subject to approval of the Board.

Performance Graph

The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return of our common stock between December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2021 with the cumulative total returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index and a custom peer group index (the “Peer Group”). For purposes of this graph, it assumes a hypothetical $100 investment on December 31, 2016 and that dividends, if any, were reinvested. The Peer Group of data, video and voice services companies consists of Altice USA, Inc. (beginning June 22, 2017, when it first became a publicly traded company); Charter Communications, Inc.; Comcast Corporation; and WideOpenWest, Inc. (beginning May 25, 2017, when it first became a publicly traded company).

The stock price performance shown on this graph is based on historical results and is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance. The graph is furnished solely to accompany this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is not being filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer

The following table sets forth certain information relating to the purchases of our common stock by us and any affiliated purchasers within the meaning of Rule 10b-18(a)(3) under the Exchange Act during the three months ended December 31, 2021 (dollars in thousands, except per share data):

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as the discussion in the section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Business.” This discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in the sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors.”

Throughout this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” all totals, percentages and year-over-year changes are calculated using exact numbers. Minor differences may exist due to rounding.

The results discussed below include Valu-Net operations for the period since the July 1, 2020 acquisition date and Hargray operations (which includes the Anniston System) for the period since the May 3, 2021 acquisition date and excludes the Anniston System operations for the period from the October 1, 2020 disposition date until it was reacquired with the Hargray Acquisition. Measures as of December 31, 2021 also include CableAmerica, which was acquired on December 30, 2021.

Overview

We are a fully integrated provider of data, video and voice services to residential and business customers in 24 Western, Midwestern and Southern states as of December 31, 2021. The markets we serve are primarily non-metropolitan, secondary and tertiary markets, with approximately 74% of our customers located in seven states as of December 31, 2021: Arizona, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. Our biggest customer concentrations are in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region and in the greater Boise, Idaho region. We provided service to approximately 1.2 million residential and business customers out of approximately 2.7 million homes passed as of December 31, 2021. Of these customers, approximately 1,055,000 subscribed to data services, 261,000 subscribed to video services and 149,000 subscribed to voice services as of December 31, 2021.

We generate substantially all of our revenues through three primary product lines. Ranked by share of our total revenues during 2021, they are residential data (52.0%), residential video (21.2%) and business services (data, voice and video: 19.2%). The profit margins, growth rates and/or capital intensity of these three primary product lines vary significantly due to competition, product maturity and relative costs.

In 2021, our Adjusted EBITDA margins for residential data and business services were approximately nine and eleven times greater, respectively, than for residential video. We define Adjusted EBITDA margin for a product line as Adjusted EBITDA attributable to that product line divided by revenue attributable to that product line (see “Use of Adjusted EBITDA” below for the definition of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure). This margin disparity is largely the result of significant programming costs and retransmission fees incurred to deliver residential video services, which in each of the last three years represented between 64% and 66% of total residential video revenues. Neither of our other primary product lines has direct costs representing as substantial a portion of revenues as programming costs and retransmission fees represent for residential video, and indirect costs are generally allocated on a per PSU basis.

We focus on growing our higher margin businesses, namely residential data and business services. Beginning in 2013, we began our shift away from our prior concentration on growing revenues through subscriber retention and maximizing customer PSUs. We adapted our strategy to face the industry-wide trends of declining profitability of residential video services and declining revenues from residential voice services. The declining profitability of residential video services is due primarily to increasing programming costs and retransmission fees and competition from other content providers, and the declining revenues from residential voice services are due primarily to the increasing use of wireless voice services instead of residential voice services. Separately, we have also focused on retaining customers who are likely to produce higher relative value over the life of their service relationships with us, are less attracted by discounting, require less support and churn less. This strategy focuses on increasing Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures and producing higher margins.

Excluding the effects of our recently completed and any potential future acquisitions and divestitures, the trends described above and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted, and are expected to further impact, our three primary product lines in the following ways:

We continue to experience increased competition, particularly from telephone companies, fiber and municipal overbuilders, OTT video providers and DBS television providers. Because of the levels of competition we face, we believe it is important to make investments in our infrastructure. In addition, a key objective of our capital allocation process is to invest in initiatives designed to drive revenue and Adjusted EBITDA expansion. More than 60% of our total capital expenditures since 2017 were focused on infrastructure improvements that were intended to grow these measures. We continue to invest capital to, among other things, increase fiber density and coverage, expand our footprint, increase plant and data capacity, enhance network reliability and improve the customer experience. As of December 31, 2021, we offered Gigabit data service to approximately 99% of our homes passed and have deployed DOCSIS 3.1, which, together with Sparklight TV, further increases our network capacity and enables future growth in our residential data and business services product lines.

We expect to continue to devote financial resources to infrastructure improvements in existing and newly acquired markets as well as to expand high-speed data service in areas where our consortium was designated the winning bidder for the RDOF Phase I auction. We believe these investments are necessary to continually meet our customers’ needs and to remain competitive. The capital enhancements associated with recent acquisitions include rebuilding low-capacity markets; reclaiming bandwidth from analog video services; implementing 32-channel bonding; deploying DOCSIS 4.0; consolidating back office functions such as billing, accounting and service provisioning; migrating products to legacy Cable One platforms; and expanding our high-capacity fiber network.

Our primary goals are to continue growing residential data and business services revenues, to increase profit margins and to deliver strong Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures. To achieve these goals, we intend to continue our disciplined cost management approach, remain focused on customers with expected higher relative value and follow through with further planned investments in broadband plant upgrades, including the deployment of DOCSIS 4.0 capabilities and new data service offerings for residential and business customers. At the same time, we intend to continue balancing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, associates, customers and other stakeholders. We also plan to continue seeking broadband-related acquisition and strategic investment opportunities in rural markets in addition to pursuing organic growth through market expansion projects.

On January 8, 2019, we acquired Clearwave, a facilities-based service provider that owns and operates a high-capacity fiber network offering dense regional coverage in Southern Illinois. We paid a purchase price of $358.8 million in cash on a debt-free basis. The acquisition provides us with a premier fiber network within our existing footprint, further enables us to supply our customers with enhanced business services solutions and provides a platform to allow us to replicate Clearwave’s strategy in several of our other markets. The all-cash transaction was funded through a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from new indebtedness. On January 1, 2022, a majority of Clearwave's operations were contributed to the Clearwave Fiber joint venture discussed below.

On October 1, 2019, we acquired the data, video and voice business and certain related assets of Fidelity, a provider of connectivity services to residential and business customers throughout Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. We paid a purchase price of $531.4 million in cash on a debt-free basis. Cable One and Fidelity share similar strategies, customer demographics and products. The acquisition provides us opportunities for revenue growth and Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion as well as the potential to realize cost synergies. The all-cash transaction was funded through a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from new indebtedness.

On May 4, 2020, we made a minority equity investment for a less than 10% ownership interest in Nextlink for $27.2 million. On November 5, 2021, we invested an additional $50.0 million in Nextlink, resulting in us owning an approximately 17% equity interest in Nextlink.

On July 1, 2020, we acquired Valu-Net, an all-fiber internet service provider headquartered in Kansas with approximately 5,000 residential data subscribers at the time of the acquisition. We paid a purchase price of $38.9 million in cash on a debt-free basis. The acquisition provides us the opportunity to further grow our business in and around Emporia, Kansas and realize operational synergies and Adjusted EBITDA growth.

On July 10, 2020, we acquired an approximately 40% minority equity interest in Wisper for total consideration of $25.3 million.

On October 1, 2020, we contributed the Anniston System to Hargray in exchange for an approximately 15% equity interest in Hargray on a fully diluted basis. The Anniston System had approximately 19,000 residential data subscribers at the time of the transaction. On May 3, 2021, we acquired the remaining approximately 85% equity interest that we did not already own in Hargray, a data, video and voice services provider to residential and business customers throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, for a purchase price of approximately $2.0 billion that implied a $2.2 billion total enterprise value for Hargray on a cash-free and debt-free basis. The Hargray Acquisition was financed with cash on hand and net proceeds from indebtedness. The Hargray Acquisition expands our presence in the Southeastern U.S. and we expect to capitalize on Hargray’s experience and expertise in fiber expansion.

On November 12, 2020, we acquired a 45% minority equity interest in MBI for $574.9 million in cash. MBI provides high-speed data, video and voice services to residential and business customers in rural markets in 16 states under the Vyve Broadband brand and is majority-owned by funds affiliated with GTCR LLC, a private equity firm based in Chicago (“GTCR”). As of December 31, 2021, MBI’s network passed approximately 652,000 homes and has upgraded systems and a high-capacity plant with more than 15,800 network plant miles, including over 4,100 fiber route miles, capable of delivering Gigabit speeds across its footprint. As part of this investment, we acquired the right, but not the obligation, to purchase all but not less than all of the remaining equity interests in MBI that we do not already own between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 (the “Call Option”). If we do not exercise the Call Option, investors affiliated with GTCR have the right, but not the obligation, to sell (and to cause all members of MBI other than us to sell) to us and, in such case, we are obligated to purchase, all but not less than all of the direct and indirect equity interests in MBI that we do not already own between July 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025 (the “Put Option” and, together with the Call Option, the “Call and Put Options”). The purchase price payable upon the exercise of the Call Option or the Put Option, as applicable, will be calculated under a formula based on a multiple of MBI’s adjusted EBITDA. MBI generated revenues of approximately $287 million during 2021.

On October 1, 2021, we made a minority equity investment for a less than 10% ownership interest in Point Broadband for $25.0 million.

On October 18, 2021, we completed a minority equity investment for a less than 10% ownership interest in Tristar for $20.8 million.

On December 30, 2021, we acquired certain assets and assumed certain liabilities from CableAmerica, a data, video and voice services provider in central Missouri, for $113.1 million in cash on a debt-free basis, subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The CableAmerica acquisition was financed with cash on hand and is expected to provide the Company opportunities for footprint expansion in Missouri, margin growth and potential cost synergy realization. 

On January 1, 2022, we closed a joint venture transaction in which we contributed certain fiber operations (including a majority of Clearwave's operations and certain fiber assets of Hargray) and certain unaffiliated third-party investors contributed cash, to a newly formed entity, Clearwave Fiber LLC ("Clearwave Fiber"). The operations we contributed generated approximately 3% of our consolidated revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2021. Our approximately 58% investment in Clearwave Fiber was valued at $440.0 million as of the closing date. Clearwave Fiber is intended to accelerate deployment of fiber internet to residents and businesses in existing markets and near-adjacent areas, as well as to provide connectivity to unserved and underserved areas in such markets via fiber-to-the-premises service. Joint ventures often involve many of the same risks and uncertainties applicable to acquisitions and they also present additional areas of risk due to the shared ownership and control of the venture.

Refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations for 2020 compared to 2019 contained in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

COVID-19 Update

During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and our associated responses negatively impacted Adjusted EBITDA by $17.6 million, primarily during the second and third quarters of the year. The negative impacts were driven by a $12.3 million decrease in revenues largely from the now-concluded suspensions of data overage fees, late charges and reconnect fees as well as diminished growth in business services revenues, coupled with $5.3 million of higher labor costs and other operating expenses, net of lower travel costs. These negative Adjusted EBITDA impacts were more than offset by a greater-than-usual gain in residential data customers in 2020 and the associated increase in residential data revenues.

The actions we took during 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic did not have any notable negative impact on our results for 2021, due primarily to the resumption of billing late charges, reconnect fees and data overage fees as well as the normalization of labor costs since the fourth quarter of 2020. We experienced a positive impact on residential data revenues during 2021 as a result of retaining a significant number of residential data customers acquired during 2020 and continued growth of residential data customers during the period, and we expect that there will continue to be a positive impact on future residential data revenues from these factors, albeit at a slower pace. However, we continue to face various uncertainties related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall economy and our business, including whether we will be able to sustain continued customer growth, our level of bad debt expense, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and whether some of the expense reductions realized during the pandemic will continue or if those expenses will return to more normal levels given the fluid situation regarding pandemic-related restrictions across the country. In addition, the continually evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the government's associated responses have contributed to fluctuations in our expenses from period to period and have increased the difficulty of projecting costs into the future.

Refer to the section entitled “Risks Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional risks we face due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results of Operations

PSU and Customer Counts

Selected subscriber data for the periods presented was as follows (in thousands, except percentages):

In recent years, our customer mix has shifted away from double- and triple-play packages combining data, video and/or voice services, which is in line with our strategy of focusing on our higher margin residential data and business services product lines. This is largely because some residential video customers have defected to DBS services and OTT offerings and households continue to discontinue residential voice service. In addition, we have focused on selling data-only packages to new customers rather than cross-selling video to these customers. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic and our responses to it have accelerated this customer mix shift.

Use of Nonfinancial Metrics and ARPU

We use various nonfinancial metrics to measure, manage and monitor our operating performance on an ongoing basis. Such metrics include homes passed, PSUs and customer relationships. Homes passed represents the number of serviceable and marketable homes and businesses passed by our active plant. A PSU represents a single subscription to a particular service offering. Residential bulk multi-dwelling PSUs are generally classified as residential and are counted at the individual unit level. Business voice customers who have multiple voice lines are counted as a single PSU. A customer relationship represents a single customer who subscribes to one or more PSUs.

We believe homes passed, PSU and customer relationship counts are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. Similar measures with similar titles are common measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry, although our measures of homes passed, PSUs and customer relationships may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

We use ARPU to evaluate and monitor the amount of revenue generated by each type of service subscribed to by customers and the contribution to total revenues as well as to analyze and compare growth patterns. Residential ARPU values represent the applicable residential service revenues (excluding installation and activation fees) divided by the corresponding average of the number of PSUs at the beginning and end of each period, divided by the number of months in the period, except that for any PSUs added or subtracted as a result of an acquisition or divestiture occurring during the period, the associated ARPU values represent the applicable residential service revenues (excluding installation and activation fees) divided by the pro-rated average number of PSUs during such period. Business services ARPU values represent business services revenues divided by the average of the number of business customer relationships at the beginning and end of each period, divided by the number of months in the period, except that for any business customer relationships added or subtracted as a result of an acquisition or divestiture occurring during the period, the associated ARPU values represent business services revenues divided by the pro-rated average number of business customer relationships during such period.

We believe ARPU is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. ARPU and similar measures with similar titles are common measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry, although our measure of ARPU may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

2021 Compared to 2020

Revenues

Revenues increased $280.6 million, or 21.2%, including $206.9 million from Hargray operations. The remaining increase was due primarily to increases in residential data, business services and other revenues of $91.7 million, $14.1 million and $5.1 million, respectively, partially offset by decreases in residential video and residential voice revenues. In 2020, certain actions we took in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which concluded in 2020 and included waiving late charges, suspending collection activities (which reduced reconnect fees) and temporarily discontinuing charging data overage fees, negatively impacted consolidated revenues by $12.3 million. This negative impact on 2020 consolidated revenues, of which $7.4 million was associated with other revenues, was more than offset by a larger-than-usual gain in residential data customers and the associated increase in residential data revenues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Revenues by service offering for 2021 and 2020, together with the percentages of total revenues that each item represented for the years presented, were as follows (dollars in thousands):

Residential data service revenues increased $166.2 million, or 24.8%, due primarily to $74.5 million from Hargray operations as well as organic subscriber growth, a reduction in package discounting and increased customer subscriptions to premium tiers.

Residential video service revenues increased $6.9 million, or 2.1%, due primarily to $36.6 million from Hargray operations and a rate adjustment implemented in March 2021, partially offset by a decrease in organic residential video subscribers.

Residential voice service revenues decreased $0.1 million, or 0.2%, due primarily to a decrease in organic residential voice subscribers, partially offset by $7.4 million from Hargray operations.

Business services revenues increased $74.1 million, or 31.6%, due primarily to $60.0 million from Hargray operations and organic growth in our business data and voice services to small and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers.

Other revenues increased $33.6 million, or 82.7%, due primarily to $28.5 million mainly associated with regulatory revenues from Hargray operations and higher advertising revenues, late charges and reconnect fees compared to the prior year period. The actions we took during 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including temporarily discontinuing data overage fees, waiving late charges and suspending collection activities, negatively impacted other revenues in 2020.

ARPU for the indicated service offerings for 2021 and 2020 were as follows:

Costs and Expenses

Operating expenses (excluding depreciation and amortization) were $455.4 million for 2021 and increased $36.6 million, or 8.8%, compared to 2020. The increase in operating expenses was primarily attributable to $58.8 million of additional expenses related to Hargray operations and a $2.2 million increase in network backbone costs, partially offset by decreases of $22.7 million in programming expenses and $4.7 million in labor and other compensation-related costs. Operating expenses for 2020 included $5.3 million of higher labor costs and other operating expenses, partially offset by lower travel costs, as a result of actions we took in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating expenses as a percentage of revenues were 28.4% and 31.6% for 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $347.1 million for 2021 and increased $91.9 million, or 36.0%, compared to 2020. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily attributable to $57.2 million of additional expenses related to Hargray operations and increases of $14.3 million in labor and other compensation-related costs, $6.9 million in acquisition-related costs, $6.1 million in health insurance costs, $4.2 million in marketing costs, $4.1 million in professional fees and $3.5 million in system conversion costs, partially offset by a $3.6 million decrease in bad debt expense. The increase in labor and other compensation-related costs was due to higher stock-based compensation and performance-based compensation, increased headcount and higher average salary rates. The increase in acquisition-related costs was primarily due to expenses related to the Hargray and CableAmerica acquisitions. The increase in health insurance costs was the result of lower-than-normal costs in the prior year from reduced claims activity in connection with stay-at-home orders issued during the pandemic. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues were 21.6% and 19.3% for 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Depreciation and amortization expense was $339.0 million for 2021, including $66.1 million from Hargray operations, and increased $73.4 million, or 27.6%, compared to 2020. Depreciation and amortization expense as a percentage of revenues was 21.1% and 20.0% for 2021 and 2020, respectively.

We recognized a net loss on asset sales and disposals of $7.8 million in 2021 and a net gain on asset sales and disposals of $1.1 million in 2020 that included a $6.6 million non-cash gain on the sale of certain tower properties.

We also recognized an $82.6 million non-cash gain on sale of business in 2020 in connection with the Anniston Exchange.

Interest Expense

Interest expense was $113.4 million for 2021 and increased $39.8 million, or 54.1%, compared to 2020, driven primarily by additional outstanding debt and higher interest rate swap settlement expense.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other expense, net, was $6.0 million for 2021 and consisted primarily of a $50.3 million non-cash loss on fair value adjustment associated with the MBI Net Option and $2.1 million of debt issuance cost write-offs, partially offset by a $33.4 million non-cash gain on fair value adjustment associated with our existing investment in Hargray upon the Hargray Acquisition, $11.6 million of investment and interest income and a $2.3 million non-cash mark-to-market investment gain. Other expense, net, was $16.4 million for 2020 and consisted primarily of a $17.5 million non-cash loss on fair value adjustment associated with the MBI Net Option, $6.2 million of debt issuance cost write-offs and $1.2 million of financing-related fees, partially offset by $8.5 million of investment and interest income.

Income Tax Provision

Income tax provision was $45.8 million for 2021 and decreased $30.6 million, or 40.0%, compared to 2020. Our effective tax rate was 13.6% and 20.1% for 2021 and 2020, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate was due primarily to a $35.4 million income tax benefit from the reversal of a pre-existing deferred tax liability on the investment in Hargray, partially offset by a $13.0 million income tax benefit attributable to the net operating loss ("NOL") carryback provision of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the "CARES Act") in the prior year period that did not recur in 2021 and an $8.0 million increase in income tax expense related to a change in the valuation allowance associated with the MBI Net Option.

Net Income

Net income was $291.8 million for 2021 compared to $304.4 million for 2020. The prior year's net income included the $82.6 million pre-tax non-cash gain on sale of business in connection with the Anniston Exchange. 

Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Cash Flow Hedges and Other, Net of Tax

Unrealized gain on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax was $57.9 million for 2021 compared to an unrealized loss of $72.5 million for 2020 due primarily to higher projected future increases in interest rates.

Use of Adjusted EBITDA

We use certain measures that are not defined by GAAP to evaluate various aspects of our business. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and should be considered in addition to, not as superior to, or as a substitute for, net income reported in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is reconciled to net income below, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income plus interest expense, income tax provision (benefit), depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation, (gain) loss on deferred compensation, acquisition-related costs, (gain) loss on asset sales and disposals, system conversion costs, rebranding costs, (gain) loss on sale of business, equity method investment (income) loss, other (income) expense and other unusual items, as provided in the following table. As such, it eliminates the significant non-cash depreciation and amortization expense that results from the capital-intensive nature of our business as well as other non-cash or special items and is unaffected by our capital structure or investment activities. This measure is limited in that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain capitalized tangible and intangible assets used in generating revenues and our cash cost of debt financing. These costs are evaluated through other financial measures.

We use Adjusted EBITDA to assess our performance. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA generally correlates to the measure used in the leverage ratio calculations under the Credit Agreement and the Senior Notes Indenture (as defined elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K) to determine compliance with the covenants contained in the Credit Agreement and the ability to take certain actions under the Senior Notes Indenture. Adjusted EBITDA is also a significant performance measure used by us in our incentive compensation programs. Adjusted EBITDA does not take into account cash used for mandatory debt service requirements or other non-discretionary expenditures, and thus does not represent residual funds available for discretionary uses.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA and similar measures with similar titles are common measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry, although our measure of Adjusted EBITDA may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Financial Condition: Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity

Our primary funding requirements are for our ongoing operations, capital expenditures, potential acquisitions and strategic investments, payments of quarterly dividends and share repurchases. We believe that existing cash balances, our Senior Credit Facilities and operating cash flows will provide adequate support for these funding requirements over the next 12 months. However, our ability to fund operations, make capital expenditures, make future acquisitions and strategic investments, pay quarterly dividends and make share repurchases depends on future operating performance and cash flows, which, in turn, are subject to prevailing economic conditions and to financial, business and other factors, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which are beyond our control.

As part of our 45% minority equity interest in MBI, we acquired the Call Option to purchase all but not less than all of the remaining equity interests in MBI that we do not already own, which is exercisable at any time between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024. If we do not exercise the Call Option, then investors affiliated with GTCR may exercise the Put Option under which we are obligated to purchase all but not less than all of the direct and indirect equity interests in MBI that we do not already own from all members of MBI other than us, which is exercisable at any time between July 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025. The purchase price payable upon the exercise of the Call Option or the Put Option, as applicable, will be calculated under a formula based on a multiple of MBI’s adjusted EBITDA. We have not yet obtained the capital that we believe will be necessary to pay the purchase price if either the Call Option or the Put Option are exercised.

In light of the volatility in the debt markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as our desire to enhance our flexibility in pursuing acquisitions and strategic investments, in May 2020, we completed a public offering of 287,500 shares of our common stock (the “Public Offering”) and raised $469.8 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses.

The following table shows a summary of our net cash flows for the years indicated (dollars in thousands):

The $130.0 million year-over-year increase in net cash provided by operating activities was primarily attributable to an increase in Adjusted EBITDA of $165.2 million, tax refunds received compared to taxes paid in the prior year and lower system conversion costs, partially offset by a decrease in accounts payable and accrued liabilities compared to an increase in the prior year and an increase in cash paid for interest and acquisition-related costs.

The $1.5 billion year-over-year increase in net cash used in investing activities was due primarily to $2.1 billion in net cash paid for the Hargray and CableAmerica acquisitions, $95.8 million invested in Nextlink, Point Broadband and Tristar and an $82.0 million increase in cash paid for capital expenditures, partially offset by $612.1 million in equity investments in the prior year, $68.7 million in dividends received from MBI in the current year and $38.3 million in net cash paid for Valu-Net in the prior year.

The $750.9 million year-over-year increase in net cash provided by financing activities was due primarily to net proceeds of $895.2 million and $789.8 million from the offering of the Convertible Notes and Term Loan B-4 issuance, respectively, during 2021 compared to $1.1 billion in proceeds in 2020 from a $650.0 million private offering of Senior Notes, $300.0 million in proceeds from the Term Loan B-3 and a $100.0 million draw on the Revolving Credit Facility and $581.5 million in lower debt repayments, partially offset by $469.8 million of net proceeds from the Public Offering in the prior year period that did not recur. Refer to the following section for further information on the Company's financing activity.

On July 1, 2015, the Board authorized up to $250.0 million of share repurchases (subject to a total cap of 600,000 shares of our common stock). Purchases under the share repurchase program may be made from time to time on the open market and in privately negotiated transactions. The size and timing of these purchases are based on a number of factors, including share price and business and market conditions. Since the inception of the share repurchase program through the end of 2021, we have repurchased 210,631 shares of our common stock at an aggregate cost of $104.9 million. No shares were repurchased during 2021. Although we have not repurchased shares of our common stock in recent periods pursuant to this authority, we may, from time to time, opportunistically repurchase shares depending on the trading price of our common stock, market conditions and other factors.

We currently expect to continue to pay comparable quarterly cash dividends on shares of our common stock, subject to approval of the Board. During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Board approved a quarterly dividend of $2.75 per share of common stock, which was paid on December 17, 2021, bringing total dividends distributed during 2021 to $63.5 million. On February 1, 2022, the Board approved a quarterly dividend of $2.75 per share of common stock to be paid on March 4, 2022 to holders of record as of February 15, 2022.

Financing Activity

Senior Credit Facilities

In May 2021, we amended the third amended and restated credit agreement among us, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and the lenders party thereto, dated as of October 30, 2020 (as amended, the "Credit Agreement"), to provide for a new seven-year incremental term "B" loan in an aggregate principal amount of $800.0 million maturing in 2028 (the "Term Loan B-4"). The interest margin applicable to the Term Loan B-4 is, at our option, equal to either LIBOR or a base rate, plus an applicable margin equal to 2.0% for LIBOR loans and 1.0% for base rate loans. The Term Loan B-4 may be prepaid at any time without penalty or premium (subject to customary LIBOR breakage provisions). The Term Loan B-4 benefits from certain “most favored nation” pricing protections and is not subject to the financial maintenance covenants under the Credit Agreement. The Term Loan B-4 amortizes in equal quarterly installments at a rate (expressed as a percentage of the original principal amount) of 1.0% per annum (subject to customary adjustments in the event of any prepayment), with the outstanding balance due upon maturity. The Term Loan B-4 was drawn in full in connection with the closing of the Hargray Acquisition.

The Credit Agreement also provides for senior secured term loans in original aggregate principal amounts of $700.0 million maturing in 2025 (the “Term Loan A-2”), $250.0 million maturing in 2027 (the “Term Loan B-2”) and $625.0 million maturing in 2027 (the “Term Loan B-3”), as well as a $500.0 million revolving credit facility maturing in 2025 (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and, together with the Term Loan A-2, the Term Loan B-2, the Term Loan B-3 and the Term Loan B-4, the “Senior Credit Facilities”). Other than with respect to maturity, amortization and pricing, the Term Loan B-4 contains terms that are substantially similar to the Term Loan B-2 and Term Loan B-3. The Revolving Credit Facility also gives us the ability to issue letters of credit, which reduce the amount available for borrowing under the Revolving Credit Facility.

We have issued letters of credit totaling $33.0 million under the Revolving Credit Facility on behalf of Wisper to guarantee its performance obligations under an FCC broadband funding program. The fair value of the letters of credit approximates face value based on the short-term nature of the agreements. We would be liable for up to the total amount outstanding under the letters of credit if Wisper were to fail to satisfy all or some of its performance obligations under the FCC program. Wisper pledged certain assets in favor of us as collateral for issuing the letters of credit, which pledge was terminated in the third quarter of 2020 at the same time that we closed an equity investment in Wisper, and Wisper has guaranteed and indemnified us in connection with such letters of credit. As of December 31, 2021, we have assessed the likelihood of non-performance associated with the guarantee to be remote, and therefore, no liability has been accrued within the condensed consolidated balance sheet. As of December 31, 2021, letter of credit issuances under the Revolving Credit Facility totaled $40.2 million and bore interest at a rate of 1.88% per annum.

The Credit Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and affirmative and negative covenants, including limitations on indebtedness, liens, restricted payments, prepayments of certain indebtedness, investments, dispositions of assets, restrictions on subsidiary distributions and negative pledge clauses, fundamental changes, transactions with affiliates and amendments to organizational documents. The Credit Agreement also requires that we maintain specified ratios of total net indebtedness and first lien net indebtedness to consolidated operating cash flow. The Credit Agreement also contains customary events of default, including non-payment of principal, interest, fees or other amounts, material inaccuracy of any representation or warranty, failure to observe or perform any covenant, default in respect of our and our restricted subsidiaries’ other material debt, bankruptcy or insolvency, the entry against us or any of our restricted subsidiaries of a material judgment, the occurrence of certain ERISA events, impairment of the loan documentation and the occurrence of a change of control.

As of December 31, 2021, we had $2.3 billion of aggregate outstanding term loans and $459.8 million available for borrowing under the Revolving Credit Facility. A summary of our outstanding term loans as of December 31, 2021 is as follows (dollars in thousands):

Senior Notes

In November 2020, we completed a private offering of $650.0 million aggregate principal amount of 4.00% senior notes due 2030 (the “Senior Notes”). The Senior Notes bear interest at a rate of 4.00% per annum payable semi-annually in arrears on May 15th and November 15th of each year, beginning on May 15, 2021. The terms of the Senior Notes are governed by an indenture dated as of November 9, 2020 (the “Senior Notes Indenture”), among the Company, the guarantors party thereto and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A. (“BNY”), as trustee. The Senior Notes are required to be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by each of our existing and future wholly owned domestic subsidiaries that guarantees our obligations under the Credit Agreement or that guarantees certain capital markets debt of ours or a guarantor in an aggregate principal amount in excess of $250.0 million.

At any time and from time to time prior to November 15, 2025, we may redeem some or all of the Senior Notes for cash at a redemption price equal to 100% of their principal amount, plus the “make-whole” premium described in the Senior Notes Indenture and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the applicable redemption date. Beginning on November 15, 2025, we may redeem some or all of the Senior Notes at any time and from time to time at the applicable redemption prices listed in the Senior Notes Indenture, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the applicable redemption date. In addition, at any time and from time to time prior to November 15, 2023, we may redeem up to 40% of the aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes with funds in an aggregate amount not exceeding the net cash proceeds from one or more equity offerings at a redemption price equal to 104% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the applicable redemption date.

Upon the occurrence of a Change of Control and a Below Investment Grade Rating Event (each as defined in the Senior Notes Indenture), we are required to offer to repurchase the Senior Notes at 101% of the principal amount of such Senior Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the date of repurchase.

Convertible Notes

In March 2021, we completed a private offering of $575.0 million aggregate principal amount of 0.000% convertible senior notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) and $345.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.125% convertible senior notes due 2028 (the “2028 Notes” and, together with the 2026 Notes, the “Convertible Notes,” and the Convertible Notes collectively with the Senior Notes, the "Notes"). The net proceeds from the offering were $895.2 million after deducting initial purchaser discounts and other offering costs and expenses. We used the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including to finance a portion of the purchase price for the Hargray Acquisition. The Convertible Notes are senior unsecured obligations of ours and are guaranteed by our wholly owned domestic subsidiaries that guarantee the Senior Credit Facilities or that guarantee certain of our Notes in an aggregate principal amount in excess of $250.0 million. The 2026 Notes do not bear regular interest, and the principal amount of the 2026 Notes do not accrete. The 2028 Notes bear interest at a rate of 1.125% per annum. Interest on the 2028 Notes is payable semiannually in arrears on March 15th and September 15th of each year, beginning on September 15, 2021, unless earlier repurchased, converted or redeemed. The 2026 Notes are scheduled to mature on March 15, 2026, and the 2028 Notes are scheduled to mature on March 15, 2028. The initial conversion rate for each of the 2026 Notes and the 2028 Notes is 0.4394 shares of our common stock per $1,000 principal amount of 2026 Notes and 2028 Notes, as applicable (equivalent to an initial conversion price of $2,275.83 per share of common stock). The initial conversion price of each of the 2026 Notes and the 2028 Notes represents a premium of 25.0% over the last reported sale price of $1,820.83 per share of our common stock on March 2, 2021. The Convertible Notes are convertible at the option of the holders. The method of conversion into cash, shares of our common stock or a combination thereof is at our election.

Other Debt-Related Information

We were in compliance with all debt covenants as of December 31, 2021.

In connection with various financing transactions completed during 2021 and 2020, we capitalized $13.7 million and $15.1 million of debt issuance costs and wrote-off $2.1 million and $6.2 million of existing unamortized debt issuance costs. We recorded debt issuance cost amortization of $5.6 million and $4.3 million for 2021 and 2020, respectively, within interest expense in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

Unamortized debt issuance costs consisted of the following (in thousands):

Unamortized debt discount associated with the Convertible Notes was $20.6 million as of December 31, 2021. The Company recorded debt discount amortization of $3.5 million during 2021 within interest expense in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive income.

In March 2021, we terminated $900.0 million of definitive bridge loan commitments that were originally received to finance a portion of the Hargray Acquisition purchase price.

We are party to two interest rate swap agreements to convert our interest payment obligations with respect to an aggregate of $1.2 billion of our variable rate LIBOR indebtedness to a fixed rate. Under the first swap agreement, with respect to a notional amount of $850.0 million, our monthly payment obligation is determined at a fixed base rate of 2.653%. Under the second swap agreement, with respect to a notional amount of $350.0 million, our monthly payment obligation is determined at a fixed base rate of 2.739%. Both interest rate swap agreements are scheduled to mature in the first quarter of 2029 but each may be terminated prior to the scheduled maturity at our election or that of the financial institution counterparty under the terms provided in each swap agreement. We recognized losses of $31.3 million and $22.5 million on interest rate swaps for 2021 and 2020, respectively, which were reflected within interest expense in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

Refer to notes 10 and 12 to the consolidated financial statements for further details regarding our financing activity, outstanding debt and interest rate swaps.

Capital Expenditures

We have significant ongoing capital expenditure requirements as well as capital enhancements associated with acquired operations, including rebuilding low-capacity markets; reclaiming bandwidth from analog video services; implementing 32-channel bonding; deploying DOCSIS 4.0; consolidating back office functions such as billing, accounting and service provisioning; migrating products to legacy Cable One platforms; and expanding our high-capacity fiber network. Capital expenditures are funded primarily by cash on hand and cash flows from operating activities.

Our capital expenditures by category for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 were as follows (in thousands):

Contractual Obligations and Contingent Commitments

The following table summarizes our outstanding contractual obligations as of December 31, 2021 (in thousands):

We incur the following costs as part of our operations, however, they are not included within the contractual obligations table above for the reasons discussed below:

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements or financing arrangements with special-purpose entities.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. We base our estimates on historical experience and other assumptions believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it is important to our results of operations and financial condition and if it requires management’s most difficult, subjective and complex judgments in its application. For a summary of all our significant accounting policies, see note 2 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Long-lived Assets

A long-lived asset or asset group is tested for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Indicators of impairment may include:

When an indicator of impairment is determined, the first step is to identify the future intent of the asset or asset group: hold for continued use, hold for sale or dispose by a means other than sale. If the asset is held for continued use and the carrying amount exceeds the undiscounted sum of cash flows expected from the use and eventual disposition of the property, the impairment loss is recognized as the difference between the carrying amount and the estimated fair value of the asset or asset group, and the new cost basis is depreciated over the remaining useful life of the asset. If the intent is to hold the asset for sale and certain other criteria are met (e.g., the asset can be disposed of currently, appropriate levels of authority have approved the sale and there is an active program to locate a buyer), the impairment test involves comparing the asset’s carrying value to its estimated fair value less disposal costs. To the extent the carrying value is greater than the asset’s estimated fair value less disposal costs, an impairment charge is recognized for the difference. If the asset is to be disposed by a means other than sale, the depreciation estimates are revised to reflect the use of the asset over its shortened useful life.

Significant judgments in this area involve determining whether an event has occurred, determining the future cash flows for the assets involved and selecting the appropriate discount rate to be applied in determining estimated fair value.

Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets

We have a significant amount of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets that are reviewed at least annually for impairment. These balances were as follows (dollars in thousands):

Goodwill Reporting Unit. Goodwill is calculated as the excess of the consideration transferred over the fair value of identifiable net assets acquired in a business combination and represents the future economic benefits expected to arise from anticipated synergies and intangible assets acquired that do not qualify for separate recognition, including an assembled workforce, noncontractual relationships and other agreements. We assess the recoverability of our goodwill as of October 1st of each year, or more frequently whenever events or substantive changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a reporting unit may exceed its fair value. We test goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level, for which we have identified a single goodwill reporting unit based on the chief operating decision maker’s performance monitoring and resource allocation process and the similarity of our geographic divisions.

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets Units of Accounting. Our intangible assets with an indefinite life are from franchise agreements that we have with state and local governments and certain trade names. Franchise agreements allow us to contract and operate our business within specified geographic areas. We expect our franchise agreements to provide us with substantial benefit for a period that extends beyond the foreseeable horizon, and we have historically obtained renewals and extensions of such agreements without material modifications to the agreements for nominal costs, and these costs are expensed as incurred. We currently expect to utilize certain of our trade names for a period that extends beyond the foreseeable horizon and expect the cost to maintain such asset to be nominal.

We assess the recoverability of our indefinite-lived intangible assets as of October 1st of each year, or more frequently whenever events or substantive changes in circumstances indicate that the assets might be impaired. We have identified a single unit of accounting for our franchise agreements for use in impairment assessments based on our current operations and the use of our assets.

Property, Plant and Equipment

Our industry is capital intensive, and a significant portion of our resources is spent on capital activities associated with extending, rebuilding and upgrading our network. The following tables present certain information regarding our net property, plant and equipment and our cash paid for property, plant and equipment for the periods indicated (dollars in thousands):

Property, plant and equipment represents the costs incurred in the design, construction and implementation of plant, infrastructure and capacity improvements and upgrades. Costs associated with the installation and upgrade of services and the acquiring and deploying of customer premise equipment, including materials, internal and external labor costs and related indirect and overhead costs, are also capitalized.

Capitalized labor costs include the direct costs of engineers and technical personnel involved in the design and implementation of plant and infrastructure; the costs of technicians involved in the installation and upgrades of services and customer premise equipment; and the costs of support personnel directly involved in capitalizable activities, such as project managers and supervisors. These costs are capitalized based on internally developed standards by position, which are updated annually (or more frequently if required). These standards are developed utilizing a combination of actual costs incurred where applicable, survey information, operational data and management judgment. Overhead costs are capitalized based on standards developed from historical information. Indirect and overhead costs include payroll taxes; insurance and other benefits; and vehicle, tool and supply expense related to installation activities. Costs for repairs and maintenance, disconnecting service or reconnecting service are expensed as incurred.

The estimated useful lives assigned to our property, plant and equipment are reviewed on an annual basis or more frequently if circumstances warrant and such lives are revised to the extent necessary due to changing facts and circumstances. Any changes in estimated useful lives are reflected prospectively.

Business Combination Purchase Price Allocation

The application of the acquisition method requires the allocation of the purchase price amongst the acquisition date fair values of identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination. Fair values are determined using the income approach, market approach and/or cost approach depending on the nature of the asset or liability being valued and the reliability of available information. The income approach estimates fair value by discounting associated lifetime expected future cash flows to their present value and relies on significant assumptions regarding future revenues, expenses, working capital levels and discount rates. The market approach estimates fair value by analyzing recent actual market transactions for similar assets or liabilities. The cost approach estimates fair value based on the expected cost to replace or reproduce the asset or liability and relies on assumptions regarding the occurrence and extent of any physical, functional and/or economic obsolescence.

Recently Adopted and Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Recent accounting pronouncements which may be applicable to us are described in note 2 to our consolidated financial statements.

Market risk is the potential loss arising from changes in market rates and prices. As of December 31, 2021, our market risk sensitive instruments consisted of our Senior Credit Facilities and interest rate swaps, as each is described within the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Financial Condition: Liquidity and Capital Resources — Financing Activity” and notes 10 and 12 to the consolidated financial statements. None of these instruments were entered into for trading purposes and all instruments relate to the interest rate risk exposure category.

Outstanding borrowings under our Senior Credit Facilities, which bear interest, at our option, at a rate per annum determined by reference to either LIBOR or a base rate, in each case plus an applicable interest rate margin, were approximately $2.3 billion at December 31, 2021. We are also party to two interest rate swap agreements to effectively convert the variable rate interest to fixed base rates of 2.653% and 2.739% for $850.0 million and $350.0 million of such outstanding debt, respectively. Based on the principal outstanding under our Senior Credit Facilities with exposure to LIBOR at December 31, 2021, assuming, hypothetically, that the LIBOR applicable to the Senior Credit Facilities was 100 basis points higher, our annual interest expense would have increased $11.1 million.

Additionally, as of December 31, 2021, we had $650.0 million, $575.0 million and $345.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Senior Notes, 2026 Notes and 2028 Notes, respectively, outstanding. Although the Senior Notes and 2028 Notes are based on fixed rates and the 2026 Notes do not bear interest, changes in interest rates could impact the fair market value of such notes. As of December 31, 2021, the fair market values of the Senior Notes, 2026 Notes and 2028 Notes were $640.3 million, $551.5 million and $341.8 million, respectively.

As of December 31, 2020, outstanding borrowings under our Senior Credit Facilities were approximately $2.2 billion and the notional amount of our effective interest rate swap agreement was $1.2 billion. Based on the principal then-outstanding under our Senior Credit Facilities with exposure to LIBOR at December 31, 2020, assuming, hypothetically, that the LIBOR applicable to the Senior Credit Facilities was 100 basis points higher, our annual interest expense would have been $3.4 million higher in 2020.

Our consolidated financial statements, the related notes thereto and the report of the independent registered public accounting firm are included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K beginning on page F-1 and are incorporated by reference herein.

None.

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

The Company’s management, with the participation of the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2021, the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Based on such evaluation, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of the end of such period, the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective in ensuring that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and were effective in ensuring that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act). The Company’s internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

The Company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

The Company’s management conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). The Company acquired Hargray on May 3, 2021. As permitted by SEC guidance, the Company excluded from the scope of its assessment of internal control over financial reporting the operations and related assets of Hargray. Hargray’s total tangible assets and total revenues represented 7.9% and 12.9%, respectively, of the Company’s total assets and revenues as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021. Based on the results of this assessment, management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2021, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective based on these criteria.

The effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report beginning on page F-2 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

As a result of the Hargray Acquisition on May 3, 2021, the Company has implemented internal controls over financial reporting to include consolidation of Hargray and acquisition-related accounting and disclosures. The Hargray operations utilize separate information and accounting systems and processes. The Company has designed and implemented internal control over financial reporting relating to the Hargray operations effective January 1, 2022.

Except as disclosed above, there has been no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended December 31, 2021 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

None.

Not applicable.

PART III

The names of the executive officers of the Company and their ages, titles and biographies as of February 24, 2022 are incorporated by reference from the section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Business — Information About Our Executive Officers.”

The other information required by this item will be included in our Definitive Proxy Statement to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after our year ended December 31, 2021 in connection with our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2022 Proxy Statement”), or in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this item will be included in the 2022 Proxy Statement, or in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this item will be included in the 2022 Proxy Statement, or in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this item will be included in the 2022 Proxy Statement, or in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this item will be included in the 2022 Proxy Statement, or in an amendment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference.

PART IV

None.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Julia M. Laulis and Steven S. Cochran, and each of them, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto each said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or either of them or their or his or her substitute or substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Cable One, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Cable One, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income, of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

As described in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting, management has excluded Hargray from its assessment of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, because it was acquired by the Company in a purchase business combination during 2021. We have also excluded Hargray from our audit of internal control over financial reporting. Hargray is a wholly-owned subsidiary whose total assets and total revenues excluded from management’s assessment and our audit of internal control over financial reporting represent 7.9% and 12.9%, respectively, of the related consolidated financial statement amounts as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Capitalization of Internal Labor Costs

As described in Notes 2 and 7 to the consolidated financial statements, capitalized labor costs include the direct costs of engineers and technical personnel involved in the design and implementation of plant and infrastructure; the costs of technicians involved in the installation and upgrades of services and customer premise equipment; and the costs of support personnel directly involved in capitalizable activities. These costs are capitalized based on internally developed standards by position, which are updated annually (or more frequently if required). These standards are developed utilizing a combination of actual costs incurred, survey information, operational data and management judgment. Capitalized labor costs represent a portion of the consolidated balance of property, plant and equipment, net of $1.9 billion as of December 31, 2021.

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to capitalization of internal labor costs is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management in determining the internal labor costs to be capitalized and (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity and effort in performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence relating to the determination of internal labor costs to be capitalized related to survey responses and operational data.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to capitalization of internal labor costs. These procedures also included, among others (i) evaluating the appropriateness of management’s process for determining the standard labor costs by position, (ii) testing the data inputs related to payroll and benefits, and (iii) evaluating the reasonableness of the factors considered by management related to survey responses received and the analysis of operational data. Evaluating the reasonableness of the factors involved evaluating whether the factors were consistent with information contained in the survey responses received and the expected time spent on capitalizable activities.

Fair Value of MBI net option

As described in Note 6 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company acquired a 45.0% minority equity interest in Mega Broadband Investments Holdings LLC (“MBI”) in 2020. The Company holds a call option to purchase all but not less than all of the remaining equity interests in MBI that the Company does not already own between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024. If the call option is not exercised, certain investors in MBI hold a put option to sell (and to cause all members of MBI other than the Company to sell) to the Company all but not less than all of the remaining equity interests in MBI that the Company does not already own between July 1, 2025 and September 30, 2025. The call and put options (collectively referred to as the “MBI net option”) are measured at fair value using Monte Carlo simulations that rely on assumptions around MBI’s equity value, MBI’s and the Company’s equity volatility, MBI’s and the Company’s EBITDA volatility, risk adjusted discount rates and the Company’s cost of debt, among others. The value of the MBI net option liability was $123.6 million as of December 31, 2021 and was included within other noncurrent liabilities. The MBI net option is remeasured at fair value on a quarterly basis resulting in a $50.3 million change in fair value of the net option during the year ended December 31, 2021 which is reported within other income (expense), net.  

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the fair value of the MBI net option associated with MBI is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management in developing the fair values of these options using the Monte Carlo simulations, (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumption related to MBI’s equity value, and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.  

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to the fair value of the MBI net option, including controls over MBI’s equity value assumption. These procedures also included, among others, developing an independent range of values for each option and performing a comparison of management’s estimate to the independently developed range to evaluate the reasonableness of management’s estimate. Developing the independent range of values involved (i) developing an independent Monte Carlo simulation model, (ii) testing the completeness and accuracy of the contractual information used by management to calculate the agreed-upon price to acquire the remaining equity interests in MBI, and (iii) evaluating the reasonableness of MBI’s equity value assumption used by management. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in developing the independent Monte Carlo simulation model and developing the independent range of values.

Acquisition of Hargray – Valuation of Acquired Customer Relationships and Franchise Agreements Intangible Assets

As described in Notes 1, 3 and 6 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company completed the acquisition of the remaining approximately 85% equity interest in Hargray that it did not already own in 2021 for net consideration of $2.1 billion, which resulted in $1.6 billion of intangible assets. The intangible assets were comprised primarily of customer relationships of $472 million and franchise agreements of $1.1 billion. Management recorded the customer relationships and franchise agreements at fair value on the date of the acquisition using the multi-period excess earnings method of the income approach. Significant assumptions and estimates used in this method include projected revenue growth rates, customer attrition rates, future EBITDA margins, future capital expenditures, synergies, and appropriate an appropriate the discount rates.  

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the valuation of customer relationships and franchise agreements intangible assets acquired in the acquisition of Hargray is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management in determining the fair value of customer relationships and franchise agreements intangible assets acquired, (ii) a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity, and effort in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumptions related to one customer attrition rate and future EBITDA margins for the customer relationships intangible asset, projected revenue growth rates for the franchise agreements intangible asset, as well as future capital expenditures, synergies, and discount rates for both intangible assets; and  (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.  

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to business combinations, including controls over management’s valuation of the intangible assets development of the significant assumptions related to projected revenue growth rates, customer attrition rate, future EBITDA margins, future capital expenditures, synergies, and discount rates. These procedures also included, among others, reading the purchase agreement and testing management’s process for determining the fair value of the customer relationships and franchise agreements intangible assets. Testing management’s process included (i) evaluating the appropriateness of the multi-period excess earnings method of the income approach, (ii) testing the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used in the multi-period excess earnings method, and (iii) evaluating the reasonableness of significant assumptions related to customer attrition rate, future EBITDA margins, future capital expenditures, synergies, and discount rate for the customer relationships intangible asset and projected revenue growth rates, future capital expenditures, synergies, and discount rate for the franchise agreements intangible asset. Evaluating the reasonableness of the projected revenue growth rates, customer attrition rate, future EBITDA margins, future capital expenditures, and synergies involved considering (i) the past performance of the acquired business, (ii) comparable businesses, industry and peer data, and (iii) whether they were consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit. The discount rates were evaluated by considering the cost of capital of comparable businesses and other industry factors. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in the evaluation of the multi-period excess earnings method and the discount rate assumptions.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Phoenix, Arizona

February 24, 2022

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2014.

CABLE ONE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS