ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996 TAG: 9603200053
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Tele-Media Co., which operates cable television systems in Botetourt and Bedford counties, has agreed to sell all but one of its cable operations in Virginia and North Carolina.
The buyer, Fanch Communications Partners of Denver, intends to contribute the property it acquires from Tele-Media to TWFanch-One Co., a new partnership that involves Time-Warner Entertainment Co., Fanch Cablevision of Indiana and Hornell Television Service Inc., according to correspondence between Tele-Media and Botetourt officials.
The sale, which Tele-Media expects to complete around June 1, involves 150,000 of the company's customers in the two states, including about 9,000 in Botetourt County and a smaller number in Bedford County, said company Vice President Frank Vicente. Terms of the sale haven't been disclosed, he said.
Tele-Media will retain one cable system in Virginia, in the Hopewell area, Vicente said. The company, based in Pleasant Gap, Pa., will retain several hundred thousand cable customers around the country, he said.
Vicente said the company is reorganizing and consolidating its assets. It also owns several radio stations and recently sold security companies it owned and part of its satellite dish business, he said. The company may acquire additional cable operations, including systems outside the United States, he said.
Tele-Media has operated about nine years in Botetourt County and spent much money upgrading its system there, Vicente said "We've built a lot of plant there to serve those new subdivisions," he said.
The company received harsh criticism from Botetourt residents in 1993, who charged that its rates were too high and service poor, but the complaints have dropped since the company increased its investment in the county.
Vicente said Tele-Media's franchise with Botetourt County requires that the cable operator completely rebuild and modernize its system within four years of last October. The new owners would have to live up to that requirement, he said.
The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed approving the assignment of Tele-Media's franchise to the cable system's prospective new owners, however.
County Attorney William Heartwell advised the board that the county doesn't know enough about the TWFanch-One partnership. He also said the county needs to determine what effect the sale would have on a rate case pending against Tele-Media before the Federal Communications Commission.
The county has claimed Tele-Media overcharged its customers of basic cable television service $93,000 from September 1993 to May 1994. If the county wins that case, basic cable customers would be due about $21 each or about two months worth of free service.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB