Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest cable TV operator, on Monday announced an agreement to acquire cable systems from NewWave Communications in a $260 million cash deal.
Under the agreement, Time Warner Cable will pick up about 70,000 basic video subscribers, 42,000 high-speed data customers and 26,000 phone subscribers in Kentucky and western Tennessee.
The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter following customary closing conditions, including franchise, Federal Communications Commission and antitrust clearance.
American cable companies have been struggling to hang onto their TV subscribers. In its most recent quarter ending March 31, 2011, Time Warner Cable lost 65,000 video subscribers. Its closest rival, Comcast – the nation’s largest cable TV operator – lost 39,000 video customers in the first quarter.
But Time Warner Cable managed to add 189,000 residential and commercial high-speed data customers and 84,000 digital phone subscribers in the first quarter. New York-based TWC serves roughly 14.5 million customers, 3.68 million of whom subscribe to the company’s so-called triple play package of phone, Internet and television services.
The company is scheduled to release its second quarter earnings on July 28.
