We Hope Your Holiday Season is a Magical OneHappy Holidays from Sandhill Telephone Cooperative! May the magic of the season fill your home and may you enjoy many sparkling moments with family and friends.

As you prepare for the holidays, remember Sandhill is right here to provide the updated communications services you need to fully enjoy today’s devices. Have questions? Call 843-658-3434 or stop by one our offices.

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N O v e M b e r 2 0 1 4

A NEWSLETTER FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT SANDHILL TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE

Your Sandhill ConNEXTion

A Message from the CeO

As many of you know, the television industry has gone through a lot of changes the

past few years. Since the end of traditional antenna TV, providers have had to invest in

new digital technology to support the growing demand for options including HDTV, DVR,

Netflix, Hulu, and TV viewing on cell phones and tablets. Customers have more choices

than ever on what they want to view as well as how and where they want to view it.

When Sandhill decided

to start providing digital

television service to our

Members, we wanted a

product that provided the

best channels at a reason-

able cost. For most of our

service area, the only choices

had been Dish or DirecTV.

Because these services need

to cater to the entire country, they offer a wide selection of channels and many different

service packages. By contrast, Sandhill chose to focus on just two packages featuring the

most-viewed channels in our area.

Unfortunately, working with the broadcasters has become increasingly difficult. They

are beginning to demand higher premiums for their content as well as requiring us to

provide additional channels we might not have planned to carry. This has impacted the

cost of providing our digital television service. Sandhill is continuing to work with our

Members on ways to offer a quality product while keeping the price down.

One thing that has helped set us apart from Dish and DirecTV these past six months has

been the addition of more local programming on Co-op Channel 2. We have shown many

of the local festival parades and are now broadcasting the Sandhill High School Football

Game of the Week along with a coaches show. If you have other things you would be

interested in seeing on your local channel, please email or call us with your suggestions.

Sandhill realizes you have many choices when it comes to television. We greatly appre-

ciate your choice of us as your television provider and are pleased to bring you other

communications services as well.

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

, CEO/General Manager

ContactSandhill Telephone Cooperative122 S Main St., Jefferson, SC 29718107 N Page St., Chesterfield, SC 29709124 S Seventh St., McBee, SC 29101112 N Cedar St., Pageland, SC 29728

Phone: 843-658-3434

Office Hours: M–F 8:30 am to 5:00 pm

repair Service:843-658-3471• 611 • 866-521-7776

24-Hour Technical Support:843-498-6600

email: yourshtc@shtc.net

visit Us Online: www.shtc.net

Holiday Closures• Thursday-Friday,

November 27-28

• Wednesday-Thursday, December 24-25

• Thursday, January 1

We Offer HDTv for Free! It’s Clearly Superior entertainment

With HDTV from Sandhill Television, your eyes and ears are in for a real treat. You’ll

get an incredibly lifelike picture that’s so vivid and crisp, it feels like you’re right in the

middle of the action. You can watch full-screen versions of movies, see more of the big

games, and experience truer colors with sharper details. Plus, HDTV further enhances

your entertainment experience with high-quality digital sound.

Best of all, with a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) you can watch what you want, when you

want. You never have to miss your favorite programs again — simply use your remote to

record one episode or an entire season of your favorite programs. When you’re ready to

watch, your selections will be waiting for you.

Making the switch to Sandhill Television is easy. Call 843-658-3434 to sign up. Our tech-

nician will come to your home and install a set-top box that connects to your HDTV set.

You can enjoy digital TV service from Sandhill for as little as $24.95 per month. Plus with

Sandhill Television, you don’t pay extra for HD channels and installation is FREE!

Clear picture. Clear sound. Clear value. We think you’ll agree that digital television service from Sandhill is clearly the best choice.

Understanding 4K Ultra HD TvsIf you’ve shopped for televisions lately, you may have noticed signs about the new 4K Ultra High Definition technol-ogy. What is 4K?

In a nutshell, 4K Ultra HD TVs (also known as UHD TVs) deliver four times the picture resolution of the 1080p Full HD TV you probably own now. That’s eight million pixels compared to two million pixels! Those numbers translate into better image clarity with finer detail, more nuance, and greater texture. The higher pixel density of a 4K panel also enables you to get much closer without the grid-like structure of the image itself becoming visible. It’s important to note, however, that the full benefit of 4K UHD TVs won’t be realized until more 4K movies and TV shows are widely available, which may not be until 2015 or 2016.

even if you keep your current Tv, you can enhance your enter-tainment with Tv packages from Sandhill Television. visit www. shtc.net for details.

You don’t have to wait another minute to enjoy the clearly superior enter-tainment of HDTV. Sandhill can bring high definition channels into your home right now. Our growing list of channels includes popu-lar network programming, sports, and movies such as:

Sandhi l l Telephone Cooperat ive • 843-658-3434 • www.shtc.net

Current HD Channels9 WSOC

10 WIS

33 ETV

46 FOX

13 CBS

105 Fox News

106 Fox Business

200 ESPN

203 ESPN2

204 Outdoor

207 FS1

301 HGTV

315 Travel

317 Smithsonian

320 Nat Geo

513 FX

518 MGM

521 Epix

526 FXX

527 FX Movie

Coming Soon to HD110 CNBC

111 MSNBC

209 NBC Sports

521 Syfy

517 USA

524 Bravo

525 Oxygen

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We know you have options in TV service these days. So why should you choose Sand-

hill Television over a satellite provider? Because Sandhill Television service offers a

long list of advantages that benefit both you and your community:

1. Local Channels – You get local news, local weather reports, and community program-

ming without an extra fee.

2. Co-op Channel 2 – A local access channel that delivers local community news and

announcements, along with high quality video productions from our communities

including the Sandhill High School Football Game of the Week, town festivals, parades

and local debates.

3. Capital Credits – Members accrue capital credits on Sandhill Television as well as

other services offered by the Cooperative.

4. No Dish on Your Roof – With Sandhill Television, there’s no ugly satellite dish on

your roof and you don’t have to worry about costly roof damage.

5. Always-clear Signal – Satellite dishes can lose reception during bad weather. So if you

don’t want to climb on your roof to remove snow and ice, relax inside with the always-

clear signal of Sandhill Television.

6. Emergency Alert System – Our service includes an Emergency Alert System to warn

you of impending dangerous weather — a feature not offered by the satellite provider.

7. Local Customer Service – When you need help or have questions, you can call or

stop by one of our local offices and get personal attention from people working in your

community. You won’t have to waste time being placed on hold after calling an 800

number.

8. Support of Local Economy – When you choose Sandhill Television, you’re support-

ing the local provider and keeping your money right here at home. We are also a local

employer and contribute to many local community organizations and events.

For more details or to sign up for Sandhill Television, call 843-658-3434.

Count the Advantages of Sandhill Television

Our Job is being on Your SideOur goal is to manage your monthly bill by fighting against excessive TV network fee increases from large, pow-erful media conglomerates. That’s why Sandhill is a member of the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), a collective of more than 900 indepen-dent cable and broadband companies across the United States. This allows us to negotiate as one larger group to gain the cost benefits that the larger providers enjoy, while still enabling us to provide hometown service to our customers.

• We know you want a good value. When networks demand huge fee increases, we work to get the best offerings at the best price possible so we can keep your bill as low as possible.

• You want more choice and control with your TV programming: We strive to get networks to offer their shows to you on YOUR terms, not theirs.

• We ask that networks do not hold their channel hostage from you while we are negotiating. When they pull their signal, they are hoping to get you to do their negotiating for them — and we all end up paying more.

• In a dispute, we will offer solu-tions to help you get through the short time a network typically pulls its signal.

FAQs About Channel Selection

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Sandhi l l Telephone Cooperat ive • 843-658-3434 • www.shtc.net

How does Sandhill Television determine the list of channels in your lineup?We have contracts with the content providers

that require certain channel locations in our

lineup, the carriage of their affiliate channels,

minimum carriage requirements, and pack-

ages in which we must provide the channels

to our customers. These contracts make it

difficult for us to change channel locations

or remove/add channels. Content providers

often do what’s referred to as “tying” channels

— this means they require us to take several of

their affiliate channels in order to get the one

channel we are interested in.

Will I ever be able to purchase only the channels I want to watch?Due to the channel tying described above, à

la carte TV is not currently possible via any

cable or satellite provider, including Sandhill

Television. There’s been much discussion

in recent years with the FCC about these

programming tactics by content providers,

but the FCC has done little to regulate this

aspect of the business.

Will my Sandhill Television bill go up like satellite providers?We buy our programming from content pro-

viders and pay monthly rates per subscriber

for it. The vast majority of your monthly bill

pays for this programming. It’s important

to note that the rates we pay in our rural

communities are almost always higher than

what’s offered to larger companies in more

populated areas. We have very little control

in determining the rates as most contracts

are a “take it or leave it” offer from the con-

tent providers.

If you have questions, call us at 843-658-3434.

TOTAL CHOICE (Includes Local Choice)Basic $54.95 • With DVR $58.40

LOCAL CHOICEbasic $24.95

With Dvr $28.40

STARZ MOVIE PACKAGE

$12.00

2 Cooperative Channel3 CBS WBTV9 ABC WSOC10 NBCWIS11 THIS TV13 CBS WBTW15 ABCWPDE17 ME-TV18 CW WCCB19 CBS WLTX21 CWWWMB25 ABCWOLO33 ETV34 SCC35 ETVW36 NBCWCNC46 FoxWJZY55 MyTV57 FoxWACH64 IndWAXN101 LocalWeather108 HSN109 QVC700 TBN701 JCTV702 Inspiration703 The Word Network704 Daystar Network

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Installation: Sandhill will install up to three Set-Top-Boxes (STB) free, excluding STB lease fee, with two-year agreement. Additional STBs can be installed at subscriber’s expense of $50 per STB, plus lease fees. Customized wiring is also available for an additional fee. Early Termination Fee (ETF): ETF of $150 for first STB and $50 for each additional STB. Set-Top-Box Lease: Additional Basic Set-Top-Box $6.50 per month. Additional DVR Set-Top-Box $9.95 per month. $25 upgrade fee applies to each DVR. Total number of STBs depends on proximity to serving office. EPIX: EPIX package is available to Local Choice Subscribers for $9.95 per month. STARZ: STARZ Package is available for an additional $12.00 per month for Local Choice and Total Choice Subscribers. Prices: Price does not include applicable taxes or fees. Prices and channel line-up are subject to change.

801 Starz802 Starz Edge803 Starz in Black804 Starz Cinema805 Starz Kids & Family806 Starz Comedy807 Encore808 Encore Action809 Encore Classic810 Encore Suspense811 Encore Black812 Encore Westerns813 Encore Family

100 Weather Channel102 CNN103 HLN104 BBCWorld105 Fox News106 Fox Business107 RFD110 CNBC111 msnbc200 ESPN201 ESPN Classic203 ESPN 2204 Outdoor Channel205 ESPNews206 ESPN U207 Fox Sports 1208 Golf Channel209 NBC Sports210 Fox Sports 2211 SEC299 SEC Overflow301 HGTV302 Food Network303 DestinationAmerica304 Animal Planet305 Discovery306 Discovery Family

307 OWN308 TLC309 Science310 Fitness & Health311 ID312 American Heroes313 Cooking314 DIY315 Travel316 History317 Smithsonian318 H2319 fyi,320 Nat Geo400 Nickelodeon401 Boomerang402 Cartoon Network403 Disney404 Disney XD405 ABC Family406 TV Land407 Disney Junior500 Comedy Central501 Blue Highways502 E!504 A&E505 TBS

506 TNT507 BBC America508 SPIKE509 Lifetime510 BET511 Lifetime Movie512 SyFy513 FX514 AMC515 Hallmark516 HMM517 USA518 MGM519 LRW521 EPIX522 EPIX2523 EPIX3524 Bravo525 Oxygen526 FXX527 FX Movie550 Telemundo600 CMT601 MTV602 VH1603 GAC