The nation’s largest cable and broadband company is expanding its customer base by acquisition.
Comcast today said it will buy 70 percent of
Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Communications (SusCom) that it doesn’t already own
for $540 million cash.
The Philadelphia-based company plans to offer high-speed data,
video-on-demand
to SusCom’s 225,000 basic cable subscribers in Pennsylvania, New York,
Maine and Mississippi. Comcast currently has 21.4 million cable customers
and 7.7 million broadband subscribers.
“These cable systems have been well run and are very complementary to
Comcast’s service areas,” Brian L. Roberts, Comcast Chairman and CEO, said
in a statement. “We look forward to introducing Comcast’s advanced suite of
broadband services in these markets soon.”
The deal requires regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first
half of 2006.
The sale of York, Penn.-based SusCom by its privately held parent is not a
surprise. Earlier this year, Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. hired UBS
Investment Bank to help explore potential deals citing “changes in corporate
and family circumstances.”
Company officials said customers will benefit from being part of Comcast’s
network.
“Technological innovation is occurring rapidly in the cable and
telecommunications industries, providing the ability for large companies
like Comcast to cost-effectively deliver more traditional cable channels, as
well as advanced services like Video on Demand and Voice over Internet
Protocol telephony,” William H. Simpson, president and CEO of Susquehanna
Pfaltzgraff, said in a statement.
Separately today Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. also agreed to sell Susquehanna
Radio’s operations to a partnership led by Cumulus Media.
