MUMBAI: Cablevision Systems Corp, the fifth-largest US cable operator, is in plans to buy Bresnan Communications Co. for $1.3 billion.
Cablevision will buy out the company from private equity firm Providence. In 2003, Providence had bought Bresnan and began exploring a potential sale of the company in March.
The company‘s auction follows last year‘s death of founder William Bresnan.
Cablevision elbowed out competitors including six other bidders like TPG Capital, BC Partners Ltd., Suddenlink Communications and Ascent Media Corp in the final round last Friday.
Founded in 1984, Bresnan Communications provides communications services like high-speed internet access, high-definition television, video-on-demand and digital telephone service to residential and business customers. It has over 320,000 customers in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
Acquiring Bresnan would give Cablevision a bigger slice of the mushrooming high-speed internet services market where revenue is expected to rise to $210 billion globally in 2014 from $164 billion in 2009.
The purchase expands the customer base of Cablevision from the New York City region into the western US market which is attractive because it has lower pay-TV penetration rates than Cablevision’s home market.
