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RSSDeseret News (Salt Lake City)
By Anthony Massucci Bloomberg News
Charter Communications Inc., controlled by billionaire Paul Allen, plans to sell cable-television systems with 43,700 analog subscribers to units of Orange Broadband Holding Co.
Charter, the No. 4 U.S. cable-TV provider, will sell systems in Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, the St. Louis-based company said in a statement Wednesday. Terms weren't disclosed.
The planned sale of cable assets is Charter's second in the past month. Charter Chairman Allen, 53, is selling widely dispersed systems to raise money to pay down debt and introduce phone services to more customers. At the end of last year, the company ran systems in 37 states.
"We're just shedding assets as we said we would," said Charter spokesman David Andersen in a telephone interview. He said the systems Charter is selling are "geographically non-strategic." The systems have 12,300 digital cable TV customers and 13,400 high- speed Internet access subscribers, Charter said.
Shares of Charter rose 4 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close at $1.07 Wednesday on Nasdaq. The stock is down 12 percent this year.
Charter, which operates in states including California, Michigan and Massachusetts, agreed to sell some less-profitable rural cable systems last month for about $896 million. Andersen said that once the latest sales are completed, Charter will run systems in 32 states.
Closely held Orange Broadband was formed by three investment groups: Boston-based M/C Venture Partners; Oak Investment Partners, based in Palo Alto, Calif.; and Columbia Capital, based in Arlington, Va. The company is based in Charlotte, N.C., and is buying cable systems that also sell Internet services, Charter said in the statement.
