Our offices will be closed Monday, September 2 for the Labor Day Holiday
As always, 24 hour emergency repair will be available by calling 800-475-8309
The first and only stadium style eSports event in the region, the GigaZone Gaming Championship, returns to the Sanford Center Ballroom in Bemidji Saturday, November 2.
All the fun is FREE! FREE to game and participate in any of the gaming tournaments
The only money you’ll need is for food/beverages or GigaZone Gaming merchandise which will be available all day
Doors Open at 10 a.m. and it will conclude between 7-8 with the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate GigaZone Gaming Championship match on main stage
Tournaments for all ages with over $5,000 in cash and prizes
Each tournament has a limited number of entrants and registration starts on-site starting at 10 a.m. until full. Rules, registration, and more info is online at gigazonegaming.com
Main Stage Main Tournament: Super Smash Brothers Ultimate
Other tournaments include:
Fortnite Overwatch 3v3 Madden 20 Mario Kart 8
Beat Saber 2 Magic the Gathering Booster Drafts
Walls lined with more Arcade Games than ever before!
There is also a Cosplay Contest for those who dress up and embrace their inner fantasy character with prizes of up to $200 for the top costume of the weekend.
“We’re excited to bring back GigaZone Gaming Championship to the region! It gets bigger and better every year. There is a large gaming community in our area and this event is a way that we can give all gamers, whether competitive or just in it for fun, to come out and enjoy a one of a kind gaming event” said Gary Johnson, Paul Bunyan Communications CEO/General Manager.
“With the GigaZone providing Internet speeds up to a Gigabit per second it is the ultimate connection for the online gaming experience. Our cooperative has one of the largest rural fiber gigabit networks in the country and this event showcases the GigaZone Internet speeds and the impact it has on the overall gaming experience.” added Leo Anderson, Paul Bunyan Communications Digital Services Supervisor.
For more information on the GigaZone Gaming Championship visit www.gigazonegaming.com
Paul Bunyan Communications is providing all PBTV subscribers a free preview of the NFL RedZone the first two weeks of the regular season, September 8 and 15.
NFL RedZone is available on PBTV channel 77 or in HD on channel 577.
NFL RedZone whips around every NFL game during the regular season on Sunday afternoons, delivering all the touchdowns and exciting moments LIVE. When a team goes inside the 20 on their way to the end zone, you will see the crucial plays as they happen. NFL RedZone, puts viewers first and goal.
After the free preview, PBTV subscribers can continue to receive NFL RedZone by subscribing to both the PBTV Sports and PBTV Extra package.
Bemidji State University will hold its 14th Annual Community Appreciation Day Thursday, August 29. The free event is Bemidji State’s “thank you” to the residents, business owners and friends in Beaver Nation for all they do to support the university.
The free, public event will run from 4:30-6 p.m. on the 19th Street lawn between Tamarack Hall and the Gillett center.
Paul Bunyan Communications is a major sponsor of the event, which will include “A Taste of BSU,” featuring free food samples from local restaurants and organizations along with live music.
There will also be “Meet the Beavers” stations where kids can meet student-athletes from BSU’s intercollegiate varsity sports. The players will be leading a number of interactive games and Bucky the Beaver will be available for pictures.
In addition, dozens of booths from various campus departments/activities and local businesses and organizations, along with a variety of games and activities for children will be available throughout the evening.
Twins fans, nearly all 162 games are televised on a sports network available through PBTV but not today. If you want to watch the Twins/Brewers at 1:10 you will need to do so online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C3v61GbI0c
The game will be available exclusively on YouTube as part of the digital platform’s expanded partnership with Major League Baseball.
All four of the Minnesota Vikings preseason games will be available to watch with Paul Bunyan Television!
PBTV west side customers can watch the game on Fox 9 PBTV channel 8 or HD channel 508.
PBTV east side customers can watch it on WDIO Duluth channel 13 or HD channel 513.
Game 1 is Friday, August 9 at 7 p.m. vs New Orleans Saints
Game 2 is Sunday, August 18 at 7 p.m. vs Seattle Seahawks
Game 3 is Saturday, August 24 at Noon vs Arizona Cardinals
Game 4 is Thursday, August 29 at 6 p.m. vs Buffalo Bills
For more information visit https://www.vikings.com/
Over $2.8 million has been returned to members of Paul Bunyan Communications!
Paul Bunyan Communications is a not for profit company that strives to provide the highest quality service at the most affordable rates. As a cooperative, membership in Paul Bunyan Communications includes the opportunity to share in the financial success of the company. When profits are earned they are allocated to the members based on their proportional share of the allocable revenues. These allocations may then be returned to the individual members through capital credit retirements.
For current members with a distribution amount less than $75, a credit has been applied to your August bill. Checks have been mailed out for distributions of $75 or more.
“The state of our cooperative is very strong with over 22,000 members throughout our 5,500 square mile service territory. We have been very busy building one of the largest all-fiber optic rural Gigabit networks in the country, the GigaZone, which is revolutionizing the way members live, work, and play. It is rewarding to see all those efforts continue to pay off and return these profits to our membership” said Gary Johnson, Paul Bunyan Communications CEO/General Manager.
“For over 65 years we have been providing the latest in technology at cost. There is no membership fee to join Paul Bunyan Communications and there are no annual membership dues. All you need to do is subscribe to either one line of local phone or Broadband Internet service and you become a member. You get the latest in technology backed up by our talented team of over 130 local employees that all live and work here” added Dave Schultz, Paul Bunyan Communications Chief Financial Officer.
“In a highly competitive industry with national competitors our cooperative has been successful because we put our region and our members first. We don’t have to worry about customers all over the place like in Sioux Falls, Fargo, Minneapolis, or anywhere else. Our investments go here, back into our network, our services, and our communities.” added Brian Bissonette, Paul Bunyan Communications Marketing Supervisor.
If you were a member of the cooperative in 2002 and/or 2018 and accrued more than $10 in total capital credit allocations, but do not receive the credit on your account or a check by September 22, please contact Paul Bunyan Communications at (218) 444-1234 or (218) 999-1234.
Service availability depends upon location. Past performance is no guarantee of future capital credit returns. Capital credits are distributed when economically feasible as determined by the cooperative’s member elected board of directors. Some restrictions may apply.
Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Office of Broadband recently released new broadband availability maps. Beltrami County is rated number one in wireline access to Internet speeds of up to a Gigabit per second (Gbps). 98.78% of Beltrami County now has access to those Gigabit speeds.
The map can be found online at https://mn.gov/deed/assets/county-gigabit-map_tcm1045-297681.pdf It provides the perspective by county of where the most advanced Broadband networks exist providing the percentage of households served by wireline broadband service with at least 1 Gigabit speeds. In contrast to Beltrami County, currently only 24.58% of the state has access to Gigabit Internet speeds. There are nine counties where no Gigabit access exists at all.
“From the perspective of county government, we constantly have our eyes on setting ourselves up to be the best community in which to live, raise a family, to recreate, to be educated, and to work. Every single one of those values is positively impacted by the availability of broadband. Even better, for those of us that try to figure out how to cover the cost of so many public services, is the fact that county government did not have to make the investment. Paul Bunyan Communications deserves a wealth of gratitude for their forward thinking investments that put Beltrami County on the map as the #1 county in the entire state when it comes to broadband coverage! Thank you Paul Bunyan!” said Kay Mack, Beltrami County Administrator.
“The investments Paul Bunyan Communications has made in robust communications capacity are foundational and will serve this region for decades to come. Successful economic development and growth in the areas Paul Bunyan serves won’t face the bottleneck of not enough service that so many rural areas face every day. It has been an honor to play a role in helping to reach this fantastic milestone through the Border to Border Broadband Grant Program. Congratulations!” added Danna MacKenzie, Executive Director Office of Broadband, State of Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
“It’s yet another exciting day for our cooperative who has been working so hard for so many years to upgrade and expand what is now one of the largest all-fiber optic rural gigabit networks in the country. The key to it all is our staff and Board of Directors. We are very passionate about providing world class communication services and proud that Beltrami County is Minnesota’s best broadband county!” said Gary Johnson, Paul Bunyan Communications CEO.
According to DEED, the maps use data collected from broadband service providers, reviewed by a third party, and verified if questions are raised. Data is collected annually and the maps and data online are current as of April 2019.
“It’s a great feeling to know we are almost finished expanding and upgrading our all-fiber optic network in Beltrami County, but we are not done. We have upgrades planned over the next two years in the rural Blackduck area. Our cooperative continues to expand our network to regions that are still lacking broadband access including rural areas of North Central and Northeastern Minnesota,” added Steve Howard, Paul Bunyan Communications Information Technology and Development Manager.
Andra Vaughn of Bemidji has won the Grand Prize of the MTV Video Music Awards from Viacom Networks. Andra is a member of Paul Bunyan Communications, an affiliate of Viacom Networks that participated in the sweepstakes.
As the Grand Prize winner, Andra and guest receive roundtrip airfare to New York, NY; three days/two nights hotel accommodations; two tickets to the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards on August 26, and round-trip ground transportation to/from airport and hotel, to/from hotel and the MTV Video Music Awards.
“I’m still in shock. I know a lot of jokesters and thought for sure someone was trying to pull a fast one on me. I love New York City and to be able to return to New York and go to the MTV Video Music Awards is unreal. Thank you Viacom and Paul Bunyan Communications!” said Vaughn.
“Just last month one of our members won the CMT Music Awards Grand Prize so to get the notification that Andra won the MTV Video Music Awards was unbelievable. These are national sweepstakes so the odds of winning are slim, but you can’t win if you don’t enter and it’s a random drawing so you just never know. Andra saw our promotion of the sweepstakes on our Facebook page and figured why not? Why not indeed! We’re excited for Andra to get this special trip to the MTV Video Music Awards in New York,” added Brian Bissonette, Paul Bunyan Communications Marketing Supervisor.
Voting for the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards is now open. Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco will host the event live from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, on August 26. Since its inception in 1984, the VMAs honors the year’s most celebrated music videos. Featuring unparalleled performances and countless celebrity guests, the event serves as a who’s who of the biggest names in entertainment. Tune-in is Friday, August 26th at 8/7c. MTV is on Paul Bunyan Television channel 364 or in HD on channel 864.
About Viacom
Viacom creates entertainment experiences that drive conversation and culture around the world. Through television, film, digital media, live events, merchandise and solutions, our brands connect with diverse, young and young at heart audiences in more than 180 countries.
The Itasca County Fair is August 14-18 in Grand Rapids. Stop by our booth at the Itasca County Fair in Grand Rapids and learn more about our services and get a free gift while supplies last.
For more information on the Itasca County Fair, visit http://itascacountyfair.org/
We’re Paul Bunyan Communications and we’re right here in Itasca County!
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Paul Bunyan Communications is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
