THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 15, 1994 TAG: 9408130445
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: LAST WEEK
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
TeleCable Corp., one of the largest companies based in Hampton Roads, said it accepted a $1.5 billion buyout offer from Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable operator.
The Norfolk-based company decided it is better to sell out than fight it out in the increasingly competitive business of delivering TV information and entertainment.
``We foresee that the distribution of video signals and telephone services will overlap and compete very soon,'' said Frank Batten, chairman of TeleCable. Batten also is chairman of Landmark Communications Inc., parent of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
Atlantic Studios Corp., a portion of a group that brought a short-lived slice of Hollywood to Suffolk, is at it again.
Four years after the demise of Atlantic Film Studios, this newly named corporation and a small group of investors signed papers to lease and eventually buy back their failed studio on the banks of the Nansemond River.
Just how much the group is willing to pay for the Suffolk studio is being kept quiet. A real estate company marketed the 2.1-acre property for $1.57 million.
Carl Akers, vice president of finance for the new company, said the firm plans to begin selling stock in the next three to five years.
A 10-acre movie and entertainment complex planned for Chesapeake is about to become a reality.
Regal Cinemas Inc., based in Knoxville, Tenn., plans to begin construction within the next two months of a mega-cinema complex in the Crossways Center shopping center on Greenbrier Parkway across from Greenbrier Mall.
The 80,000-square-foot entertainment complex will cost between $6.8 million and $7.2 million to develop, said Greg Dunn, vice president of marketing at Regal.
Regal owns 89 theaters with 665 screens in 15 states. The firm is building a movie theater in Newport News in addition to its South Hampton Roads operation.
Another discount retailer is coming to Hampton Roads, and this one will offer a warehouse full of shoes for women.
Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, an Atlanta-based company, plans a Thursday opening for a 12,500-square-foot store being readied at Loehmann's Plaza, the Virginia Beach shopping center.
The store will be open only four days a week, Thursday through Sunday. It will sell brand-name shoes at a 25 percent discount from department store prices, said John Shannon, company president. Each store stocks at least 25,000 pairs of shoes, priced chiefly between $30 and $60, with some around $150.
In an effort to better control the rising demand for its electricity, Virginia Power said it will solicit help from outside companies selling energy-management services.
``We are looking for companies that can provide a broad array of energy services to a (Virginia Power) customer,'' said William H. Byrd, a spokesman for the Richmond-based utility.
The companies, he said, would be capable of procuring and installing energy-efficiency equipment as well as providing advice to Virginia Power customers.
Similar programs have been used by electric utilities in the Northeast and the West but are rare in the South, Byrd said. by CNB