Brief by Central Staff
Telecommunications – January 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
The sale of several cable TV systems in rural Colorado has been delayed, but it’s still in process, according to the buyer. The seller is (or was) AT&T Broadband, which acquired the small systems when it acquired Denver-based TCI several years ago.
In April of 2001, AT&T announced plans to sell rural systems that served about 320,000 customers in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Among the Colorado systems were Salida, Alamosa, Buena Vista, Montrose, and Canon City. The buyer was Bresnan Communications of White Plains, N.Y., which specializes in operating smaller systems.
The transaction was supposed to be completed by Oct. 1, but it probably won’t happen until early 2003, according to Maureen Huff at Bresnan. “There’s no special reason for the delay,” she said. “It’s just taking longer than we thought it would.”
In November, the Federal Communications Commission approved AT&T’s plan to get out of the cable business entirely, with Comcast buying all of AT&T Broadband to form a new company, called AT&T Comcast, which will control 29% of the national market.
“So actually, Bresnan will be buying the systems from AT&T Comcast, rather than AT&T Broadband,” Huff said, “but the deal is still on.”
She said Bresnan still plans to invest in improved service in its new territory, but made no promises about high- speed internet access.