New York-based private-equity firm Crestview Partners, an early investor in Charter Communications, has turned its eye toward overbuilders, investing $125 million in Wide Open West.

WOW has about 782,000 subscribers, mostly in the Midwest. Crestview is purchasing the interest from Avista Capital Partners and other investors. Avista, a New York-based private equity firm, purchased its interest in WOW in 2006 for $800 million.News of the deal was first reported in the Wall Street Journal, which said Crestview will end up with a 35% stake in the overbuilder.

As part of the investment, Crestview partner and Marcus Cable founder Jeffrey Marcus will become chairman of WOW, replacing Colleen Abdoulah, who will retire and remain on the board of directors. Marcus has a long history in the cable industry – he founded Marcus Cable, grew it to 1.1 million subscribers and in 1998 sold it to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for $2.8 billion. Allen went on to purchase Charter Communications and several other operators before leaving the company shortly after it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009.

"We are delighted to be partnering with Crestview on this investment. WOW has grown substantially by diversifying its product offering, expanding into new markets, and continuing to provide a differentiated experience to customers,” Avista co-managing partner and president David Burgstahler said in a statement. “This investment will enable WOW to capitalize on additional growth opportunities. We look forward to working closely with incoming Chair of the Board, Jeff Marcus, and want to thank Colleen Abdoulah for her outstanding leadership and service to WOW."

Marcus, who leads Crestview's media practice, said in a statement that the WOW investment is Crestview’s fourth since its founding in 2004. “We know this industry quite well and believe, through this new partnership and given our extensive experience, we can help drive additional value creation while continuing to build on WOW's outstanding customer experience," he continued.

Marcus and Crestview were investors in Charter during the bankruptcy, mostly by purchasing debt. The company sold its Charter stake in 2013, around the time of Liberty Media’s $2.6 billion purchase of 27% of Charter stock that year.  Marcus also exited Charter’s board of directors in 2013.

In addition to Charter, Crestview had owned stakes in Insight Communications (which was sold to Time Warner Cable in 2012) and Puerto Rico cable operator One Link Communications (sold to Liberty  Global in 2012).

"We are tremendously excited to welcome Crestview Partners, a highly respected firm with extensive experience in the telecommunications industry, to the WOW! family. The investment by Crestview, together with the continued support of Avista, will help WOW to further capitalize on future growth opportunities while continuing to deliver the award-winning customer experience for which we are known. We look forward to a highly successful partnership with Avista and Crestview," said WOW CEO Steven Cochran in a statement.

Credit Suisse acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal advisor to WOW! and Avista in connection with the transaction.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal advisor to Crestview in connection with the transaction.

Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Rob Marcus told analysts Thursday that its testing of an IP-based video product in New York utilizing Roku boxes  is a lot of things, but one thing it isn’t is an attempt to go over-the-top.

Time Warner Cable began testing the service earlier this week, offering the full suite of its video offerings through a Roku box. Some reports said that TWC was planning to test a $10 monthly service with about 20 channels and a full-blown offering for about $50 per month.  

On a conference call with analysts to discuss its third quarter results, Marcus said the trial is a natural extension of its TWC TV app, available on IoS and Android smartphones and other devices.

“The way I would characterize the New York City trial is really the next step in the evolution of TWC TV," Marcus said. "When we launched the TWC TV app the goal was to create an offering that was complementary to our traditional video product. As we move forward and what we’re trialing with this beta [test] in New York is we're going to move that TWC TV capability toward a full video offering that could be substitutional for the traditional set-top box-based video product. Where we're headed is the ability of customers to access the complete video product without having to rent a set-top box from us, whether they use a Roku or ultimately another IP-enabled device. But what we need to accomplish that is first we need to ensure that the video product complies with Title VI of the [1996] Telecom Act in the same way our traditional service does.”

That means making sure the product includes Emergency Alert service; has the complete TWC channel lineup, including PEG channels, and improving the video picture resolution from standard definition to high definition.

Marcus said that further enhancements could be made to the product down the road, but stressed that the product is not an attempt by Time Warner Cable to offer an over-the-top product.

“Our IP video offering is not over-the-top,” Marcus said. “This is a video service that we are delivering over our facilities, not anybody else’s. Over time there might be a TV Everywhere component to this just like there is one to our traditional video offering. But what we’re talking about here is a managed video service over our network.”

He added that while the tests involve the full Time Warner Cable video offering, it doesn’t mean that later iterations wouldn’t include smaller packages.    

“We’re fans of choice,” Marcus said.

He said TWC will continue to promote smaller packages like its basic cable offering plus a premium channel or its low-cost TV Essentials package aimed at cost-conscious consumers. He noted, though, that in the quarter, about 82% of new customers opted for the full video package.

Who says good things don’t come to those who wait?

Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Rob Marcus is set to reap $91.95 million in cash, stock and other benefits as a result of his company’s  merger with Charter Communications, according to documents filed with the Securtites and Exchange Commission Friday.

That payday -- $21.8 million in cash, $67.1 million in equity, $365,000 in perquisites and $2.6 million in “other” is a 15% premium to the $80 million Marcus would have received had TWC’s earlier merger plans with Comcast panned out. Comcast terminated its merger with TWC on April 24,  after it became apparent the deal would not pass regulatory muster.

Other TWC executives also stand to cash in big as a result of the merger. According to the proxy statement filed Friday, chief operating officer Dinni Jain will receive $34.9 million; general counsel Marc Lawrence-Apfelbaum will receive $19.7 million; executive vice president Peter Stern will get $16.8 million in awards; and former chief financial officer Artie Minson, who resigned earlier this month to become CEO of online office space provider WeWork, will get $5 million.

Charter agreed to purchase TWC in a deal valued at $78.7 billion on May 26. The deal marked the end of a years-long pursuit of the company – Charter made its first offer to buy TWC in 2013 – and one that was almost derailed by a European telecom giant.

According to the proxy, Charter CEO Rutledge and Liberty Media chairman John Malone (a key Charter shareholder) contacted Marcus on the day that Comcast terminated its deal to try to work out a combination. Over the next few weeks, Charter and TWC went back and forth on prospective prices – Charter had initially offered $172.50 per share for the company, a 9% premium to Comcast’s $158.87 offer. But around that time a European telecom firm – identified only as Company A in the proxy but widely thought to be Luxembourg-based Altice – contacted TWC, indicating it would be willing to pay up to $200 per share for the company.

While talks with Altice progressed, TWC advisers notified Charter that it may be in their interest to submit a higher bid, suggesting that a failure to do so could result in a “loss of an opportunity.” Charter raised its bid to $195.71 per share about 10 days later and sealed the deal on May 26.

Severe winter weather in the Midwest and Northeast helped push The Weather Channel to its best February total audience performance since 2011, the network said Friday.

As record snowfalls and arctic-like temperatures battered the Midwest and Northeast with storms with names like Linus, Marcus, Octavia and Pandora, viewers flocked to the channel, which averaged 292,000 Total Audience (P2+) across the broadcast month.

"These numbers make it clear, when there are important weather events happening people of all ages turn to TV - and when they turn to TV they turn to The Weather Channel,” TWC president David Clark said in a statement. “We have made dramatic improvements to modernize our storm coverage capabilities, and it's heartening to see audiences respond."

To cover the storms, The Weather Channel said it deployed more crews and meteorologists around the clock over more consecutive days than any winter in its history. Highlights included:

·         The Weather Channel averaged 292K in total audience (P2+) across the broadcast month, our strongest performance since 2011, even beating February 2013, which included the massive Winter Storm Nemo.

·         This audience was not only the network's largest, but also the network's most engaged over the same period,with the average viewer spending over an hour each week watching the network  (time spent viewing (TSV) of 66 minutes).

·         Along with the growth in total audience, The Weather Channel is seeing its core demographic (P25-54) grow bigger and more engaged. In total day, Feb 2015 (96k) outperformed the prior year by +26% and time spent viewing (TSV) grew by +28%. Also in February 2015 vs. February 2014:

o    Live programming grew +20% with coverage of several winter storms

o    Original programming grew +47%

o    Most dayparts posted double-digit gains across the month

·         Original programming continued its winning streak, on pace to register its 8th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

·         With new co-hosts, “AMHQ” posted its best monthly average (89K) during the 7-10am time period.

·         During weekday mornings, “Wake Up with Al” saw an increase of +58% over the prior year’s average for the 5-7am block (84K vs 53K).  This was the highest performance for the block since 2013.

·         Weekend mornings (9a-12p) on The Weather Channel was the top grossing daypart, averaging a 146K (+54% yoy)

·         Fans were a big part of the storytelling during the February winter weather, sharing thousands of videos with The Weather Channel for use on the network, weather.com and The Weather Channel mobile apps.

In a year characterized by constant takeover speculation and a month-long retransmission consent battle that forced the largest single video subscriber loss in its history, Time Warner Cable executives saw their total compensation packages dip significantly.

Chairman and CEO Glenn Britt, who retired at the end of the year, saw his total compensation drop by about 18% in 2013 to $14.2 million from $17.4 million in the previous year. Chief operating officer Robert Marcus, who assumed the chairman and CEO spot on Jan.1 and less than two months later agreed to sell the company to Comcast in a deal valued at about $45 billion in equity,  saw his total compensation drop about 15% for the year to $8.5 million.

Reductions in stock option awards and non-equity incentive compensation was the main reason

for the decline. Britt received about $3.5 million in option awards and $5.7 million in non-equity incentives in 2013, below the $5.2 million in options and $6.6 million in non-equity incentives. Marcus, who will receive an $80 million golden parachute if the Comcast deal is approved, received about $2.1 million in stock awards in 2013, down from the $3.6 million he received in 2012.

Former chief financial officer Irene Esteves, who resigned in May 2013, received total compensation of $4.3 million in 2013, down from about $5.5 million in 2012.

2013 was a tough year for Time Warner Cable – it lost about 304,000 video customers in the wake of a month-long retransmission consent dispute with CBS, weathered criticism for its pricy regional sports networks in Los Angeles and had to fight off unwanted takeover advances from Charter Communications beginning in June. Charter made an unsolicited offer for TWC in January – valuing the company at about $61 billion – which was promptly rejected.

In the wake of the Charter offer – which at times turned nasty – Comcast swooped in with its deal. That transaction is currently going through the regulatory approval process.