Spencer cable company formally rebrands as Haefele Connect

SPENCER — Haefele Connect, a cable company based in Tioga County, recently rebranded from its former name of Haefele TV Inc.

Haefele Connect celebrated with a ribbon-cutting event with the Tioga Chamber of Commerce and the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce.

The cable company hired Blink Digital to help with the redesign of the logo and rebrand, Amber Harris, marketing manager, tells CNYBJ. The firm is located at 24 E. Tioga St. in the village of Spencer and has been in business for 35 years. 

Haefele Connect serves residential subscribers, but has some municipality and commercial subscribers. As of early July, it had 5,724 subscribers across 22 municipalities, per Harris. Haefele served only Spencer when it first opened in 1983. 

In 2015, Gov. Andrew Cuomo established the $500 million “New NY Broadband Program,” which provides New York State grant-funding in three phases to support projects that deliver high-speed Internet access to unserved underserved areas of the state. Haefele was awarded money in each of the three phases. The first phase, which was awarded in 2015, gave Haefele $271,568. Phase 2 granted the firm more than $5 million in 2016. And most recently, phase 3 gave the cable company just over $2.9 million.

Haefele Connect, which has used these funds to provide Internet access and cable TV to more people across the state, prides itself on its local workforce, which Harris says allows for a quick response to customers.

Haefele employs 23 people — all local and some of whom have worked there for more than 15 years, Harris says.

The company moved into its office space in 1987, which is evenly split between technicians and administrators, Harris says. 

Lee Haefele, a former TV repairman, founded the company in 1983. Haefele is still president, and his youngest son Jeremy, is now VP of the company.

Harris says the company gives back to its community by supporting local initiatives, such as the Broome-Tioga County Relay for Life, the Inspire S-VE Community and Fitness Center, and the Nichols Pond Park renovation.