Pay-per-view content aggregator In Demand will look to serve fight fans online seeking to purchase DAZN’s May 7 Canelo Alvarez-Dmitry Bivol fight with its new, interactive-based PPV.com website that the company hopes will grow as more viewers look to access big events digitally. 

The site, which the Cox Communications, Charter Communications and Comcast-owned In Demand launched this past December in partnership with interactive video company Kiswe, offers online users the opportunity to purchase PPV events like Avarez-Bivol outside of the company’s traditional linear PPV offering. PPV.com has already distributed 10 to 15 sports-themed events and has another three events scheduled through the month of May, according to In Demand senior VP of programming and marketing Mark Boccardi.

In Demand will launch a PPV.com app and hopes to have deals soon for mobile platforms Apple iOS and Android, as well as deals with connected TV platforms such as Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV by the end of the year. Boccardi recently outlined In Demand’s business plan for PPV.com with Multichannel News. Here's an edited transcript of that conversation. 

Also: Fite to Distribute Floyd Mayweather PPV Exhibition Bout 

Multichannel News: How does PPV.com fit into In Demand’s overall strategy of distributing major pay-per-view events to consumers? 

Mark Boccardi: In Demand along with our owners decided to launch a direct to consumer streaming platform because the pay-per-view business has become splintered. For every event, it’s become very confusing for the customer as to where they need to go to buy it – is it on Showtime? Is it Fox Sports? Is it DAZN? Is it Fite? Is it Triller? We already have relationships with all of these programmers and we’re carrying their content already via traditional PPV, so we thought we would consolidate all forms of pay-per-view distribution under one roof. We want it to be easy to find an event without having to subscribe to a whole new service. The beauty of PPV.com is that you just buy what you want.

MCN: Are you finding that more consumers are turning to the digital platform to purchase PPV events? 

MB: Absolutely. I think what we've recognized is that in order to be successful in this distribution environment, you have to be where the customers are. Clearly what we have seen happening across the entire TV landscape is a shift to digital as an option, and pay-per-view is a big part of that. It’s really just about customer options and being where customers are going to be. Having said that, the traditional pay-per-view platform with cable, satellite and telco distributors still represent the majority of pay-per-view buys for any one event. So what we're doing is really complimentary to the core business that we've always done. Now that we're in both, we can track and see how they move with each other, but the important thing for us is to be in both places.

MCN: What are some of the bells and whistles that PPV.com offers beyond the traditional event feed? 

MB: We offer a hosted chat where we bring in industry experts to guide the discussion between consumers on different subjects throughout the event. For [Alvarez-Bivol] we’re going to offer a bilingual chat. We also have an option for viewers to post video selfies to allow them to be part of the community. What we’ve heard from fans is that they love this more communal way to watch a pay-per-view event – you’re not just sitting alone at home but instead you’re part of this larger community. 

MCN: Will you look to expand PPV.com’s lineup beyond predominately ring sports events?

MB: I think everything is on the table. One of the nice things about having this new service is that we have a lot of programmers coming to us saying, ‘I have this concert or this sporting event.’ I’m confident that we’ll be carrying content outside of boxing, wrestling and soccer events. 

PPV.com May Event Schedule 

(Dates, Events and PPV Purchase Price)

May 7 – Boxing: Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol ($79.99)

May 14 – Boxing: Sergey Kovalev vs. Tervel Pulev ($29.99)

May 28 – Boxing: Gervonta Davis vs. Rolando Romero ($74.99)

May 29 – Pro Wrestling: AEW: Double or Nothing Price ($39.99)

Comcast has purchased two municipal broadband systems in Braintree and Russell, Massachusetts after the communities said that necessary network build outs would be too expensive. 

The two Massachusetts communities have long histories in the municipal broadband business, with Braintree Electric Light Department (BELD), the town’s municipal electric utility, launching service in 2003. Russell launched its cable TV system in 1988. According to the town’s website, pricing for Russell Cable TV is $77 per month for expanded basic service and broadband charges range from $65 per month for 10 Mbps service and $120 per month for 50 Mbps service. 

BELD didn’t say how much it sold the system for, which was launched in 2003 and had about 2,500 customers, about 500 less than last year. Comcast has been providing video, voice and data service in Braintree for several years but did not previously offer service in Russell. 

BELD dropped its cable TV offering in 2019, citing the high cost of programming. 

Also: More Muni, More Money 

According to a statement issued on its website, BELD Internet general manager Bill Bottiggi said a study conducted by the utility showed it would need to invest millions of dollars to maintain the quality of the service, which would result in the municipality having to charge significantly higher rates for service. BELD launched a 1 Gigabit per second service in 2019 and charged as low as $39.95 per month for the first year for 100 Megabit per second service.

According to BroadbandNow, BELD charged $99.95 per month for 1Gbps service and $79.95 per month for 400 Mbps service. The town said the transition to Comcast will begin later this month. Promotional pricing for Comcast service in the area ranges from $29.99 for the first two years for 200 Mbps speeds and $79.99 for the first 24 months for 1.2 Gbps service. 

"We are proud of our 20-year history as a top internet Service Provider and are sincerely thankful for our customers' loyalty," Bottiggi said in a statement. "Our top priority has always been our customers, and we continue to think of their best interests while adjusting to market conditions.  After evaluating our options, we are confident the best decision is to connect our business with Comcast's best in-class network, products, services and customer experience."

A Comcast spokesperson said the purchases represent two separate and unique opportunities and that it was coincidental they closed at the same time. Talks to purchase the Russell system began about two years ago, while BELD approached Comcast about a possible transaction beginning in April. 

“We chose Comcast because it is the best operator in the business with the fastest and most reliable network,”  Russell Municipal Cable manager Randy Merritt said in a statement. “They are true innovators who continuously invest in their network to meet customers’ current and future needs and we are confident this sale will ensure our customers have access to Comcast’s best-in-class network, products, services and customer experience.” 

Braintree is about 12 miles from Boston, and at least three other nearby communities -- Quincy, Weymouth and Milton -- have expressed plans to offer their own municipal broadband service. 

Russell is located within Hampden County in western Massachusetts and has a population of 1,640 people, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. 

In a blog post, Comcast said it plans to transition Russell Municipal Cable TV customers to its Xfinity services through the end of the year and in January. 

“The acquisition of Russell Municipal Cable TV gives Comcast an opportunity to provide customers in the Town of Russell with access to our Xfinity and Comcast Business innovative products and services, including our broadband internet experience with the fastest broadband speeds available to residents,” Comcast Western New England Region SVP Carolyne Hannan said in the blog post. “We have a longstanding commitment to serving the communities in the Commonwealth where our customers and employees live and work and are proud to extend that commitment to our newest community in western Massachusetts.”

Cable One said it has purchased Cable America Missouri, a small broadband and cable operator with about 14,000 customers in rural areas in the central part of the state, for about $113 million in cash.

Cable One revealed the debt-free purchase in its 10-Q quarterly financial statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission filed on Nov. 5.

On a conference call with analysts to discuss its Q3 results on Nov. 5, Cable One CEO Julie Laulis said the Cable America properties are close to markets the company purchased in 2019 with its buy of Fidelity Communications.  

“Due to its adjacency to our Fidelity markets as well as alignment with culture, growth and competitive profile, we expect Cable America to be an excellent fit to our growing family of brands,” Laulis said on the call. “The transaction is expected to be financed with cash on hand and close prior to year-end.” 

The Cable America deal comes shortly after Cable One said it would form a fiber joint venture with Clearwave Communications and Hargray Communications.  

Liberty Global said Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its UPC Poland operation to mobile operator Play for $1.8 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

Play is part of the iliad Group, which also operates mobile networks in France (under the Free trade name) and Italy (under the iliad name), and has about 15 million subscribers in Poland. Iliad S.A. is the parent of iliad Group. SAa. the mobile subsidiary of Polish telecom company Iliad S.A.  

UPC Poland has about 1.5 million subscribers and passes 3.7 million homes in the country. Liberty said the sale price represents about 9 times UPC Poland’s 2021 estimated adjusted EBITDA.  

“This transaction highlights, yet again, the significant value of fiber-rich HFC networks in Europe, as well as the substantial synergy benefits inherent in fixed-mobile convergence mergers,” Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said in a press release. “We have been operating in Poland for over 20 years and are proud of our contributions to the country’s growing digital economy and the impact that we’ve made in the communities where we operate.”

Liberty Global said the cash proceeds from the deal — about $600 million — will boost its already hefty cash balance of $4.1 billion.

“As ever, we remain squarely focused on value creation and are pleased with the premium valuation we received for our Polish business, providing a strong return for Liberty Global shareholders,” Fries continued.

Proceeds from the sale, net debt repayment, will be used for general corporate purposes, including reinvestment into its business and for share repurchases. Liberty Global also has agreed to provide Play with certain transitional services — mainly network and information technology functions — for a period of up to four years.

Credit Suisse acted as financial advisor to Liberty Global for the transaction.

GI Partners, the private equity company that bought Vast Broadband last year, has agreed to purchase Orbcomm in a cash and assumed debt transaction that values the network equipment maker at about $1.1 billion.

As part of the deal, which will take the company private, Orbcomm shareholders will receive $11.50 in cash for every share of the company they own. In addition, GI Partners will assume about $200 million in Orbcomm debt. The deal, expected to close in the second half of the year, represents a 52% premium to Orbcomm’s share price on April 7 of $7.57 each. Orbcomm shares immediately rose past the offering price, and were up 53% ($3.97 each) to $11.55 per share in early tradingThursday. 

Orbcomm makes telematic devices, modems and other network products and said the deal will help it gain momentum in the Internet of Things (IoT) space as well as help it increase sales, marketing technology innovation and expand globally. When the deal closes, Orbcomm will no longer be a public company. 

“This transaction will provide immediate and substantial value to ORBCOMM stockholders, reflecting the tremendous commitment and work of our employees and stakeholders. The partnership with GI Partners will provide us the opportunity to rapidly advance our long-term strategy,” Orbcomm CEO Marc Eisenberg said in a press release. “GI Partners has an established track record of working with companies to accelerate growth, and we look forward to continuing to drive innovation, providing world-class service to our global customers and expanding our market share in the industrial IoT as a privately held company.”

Orbcomm said its board of directors has unanimously approved the deal and said a special meeting of shareholders will be held as soon as practicable to vote on the transaction.

“Orbcomm has a long history of innovation, providing mission-critical services to customers across the global logistics landscape and a broad range of other industries,” GI Partners managing director Mark Prybutok said in a press release. “We are excited to work with the Orbcomm team to take the business forward as IoT use cases continue to evolve and grow.”

GI Partners primarily invests in data infrastructure companies and in October purchased Vast Broadband, a high-speed data service provider with about 60,000 customers in South Dakota and Minnesota. In 2012 it teamed up with Oak Hill Capital Partners to buy Wave Broadband, selling that interest five years later to TPG Capital.  TPG sold Wave along with RCN, Grande Communications and enTouch Communications (collectively known as Astound Broadband) in a deal valued at $8.1 billion. 

The deal also allows Orbcomm to seek out another buyer during a 30-day “go shop” period that will expire on May 7.  

EchoStar Corp. confirmed that “fewer than 100” of about 4,000 employees were recently laid off amid shifts in the market.

“EchoStar implemented a small reduction in force in late January, in response to recent changes in the marketplace,” Michael T. Dugan, CEO and president of EchoStar, said in a statement. “This reduction in force has impacted fewer than 100 of our nearly 4000 employees. We came to this decision after a careful review of our options, realizing a number of good people would be affected.”

The Denver Post reported first reported of the recent reduction in force, noting that another 1,800  EchoStar employees were moving to corporate cousin Dish Network following an early announced asset transfer.

That transaction, completed today, includes a transfer of certain DBS assets, including a 10% stake in Sling TV from EchoStar and control of EchoStar’s set-top box business.

RELATED: Dish to Consolidate EchoStar DBS Assets

The Post also said EchoStar confirmed that it terminated two office leases last year – one near its Denver area headquarters, and a sublease in Atlanta.

Dish and EchoStar have not confirmed an earlier report, corroborated by industry sources, that they are ceasing the manufacturing of standalone Slingboxes, the iconic place-shifting device whose functions are now integrated in some Dish set-top/receivers and has been obviated in part by the emergence of video apps that run on mobile and TV-connected devices. EchoStar recently shut down “Sage By Hughes,” a do-it-yourself home security/automation product.

RELATED: Sling Media Halts Slingbox Manufacturing: Report

The asset swap comes years after the company split itself into Dish Network (for the pay TV business) and the EchoStar unit, which included the set-top and equipment business.

Dish CEO Charlie Ergen discussed the logic of the original split during the company’s Q4 earnings call last month.

“We had a theory on where we thought the market was going to go,” he said. “Some of those theories didn't turn out to be exactly right.”

One aim was to have EchoStar, as a separate company, sell set-tops to cable operators and into other industries.

That product suite, marketed under the “Aria” brand, failed to gain much traction, and EchoStar eventually scrapped the idea of selling boxes and user interfaces to cable operators.

RELATED: EchoStar Shutting Down U.S. Cable Set-Top Unit

Cable One said it has agreed to purchase mid-sized cable operator NewWave Communications from private equity group GTCR for $735 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

Buying NewWave, headquartered in Sikeston, Mo.,  will add about 214,000 residential primary service units (PSUs, a measure of video, voice and broadband customers) in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas to Cable One. Phoenix-based Cable One had 315,589 residential video customers, 466,668 residential broadband customers and 100,510 residential  telephony customers at the end of the third quarter.

“We are excited about our acquisition of NewWave, which operates in non-urban markets similar to ours and has significant high-speed data and business services opportunities that we are well-positioned to execute on,” said Cable One CEO Julie Laulis in a statement. “The transaction represents an attractive opportunity to utilize Cable One’s existing balance sheet capacity for a value-enhancing acquisition.”

NewWave was formed by one of cable’s pioneering families – the Gleasons – after the demise of its Galaxy Communications in 2001. The Gleasons built NewWave to about 90,000 subscribers before selling it in 2013 to Rural Broadband Investments, then a new entrant to the space backed by GTCR. Terms of that deal were never disclosed but sources in the financial community at the time said it could have sold for as much as $300 million. That would mean with the recent sale, GTCR more than doubled its money.   

The 2013 deal with RBI was the second for the Gleasons – in 2011 they sold about 70,000 subscribers to Time Warner Cable for $265 million. And the family wasn’t out of the business just yet. In 2013 former NewWave president Jim Gleason formed Vast Broadband, a provider of video, voice and data service to about 50,000 customers in South Dakota, northwestern Iowa and southwestern Minnesota, with longtime backer Pamlico Capital.

RELATED: Rising Cable One Stock About to Hit a Wall [subscription required]

With the addition of NewWave, the combined company will serve more than 1.2 million PSUs. NewWave has fully-upgraded systems and a high capacity plant, including more than 10,500 network plant miles and over 3,700 fiber miles. That seems to fit in with Cable One’s broadband-centric strategy, which has favored high-speed Internet customer growth over video subscriber gains.

“It has been my great pleasure to lead the NewWave team these past several years, and I am proud of the hard work of our employees and their many accomplishments,” said NewWave CEO Phil Spencer in a statement. “Over the last four years we have invested significant capital to upgrade our networks, roll out 100 Mbps internet service and enhance our business services. We are excited to become a part of the Cable One team. We both share a common vision and commitment to bring high-quality products and services to the communities we serve.”

RELATED: Julie Laulis Named Cable One CEO

The deal is valued at about 11.5 times NewWave’s last quarter annualized (LQA) cash flow of $64 million for Q4 2016, before cost synergies and 8.4 times after cost savings of about $24 million are realized and 6.6 times after estimated tax benefits, according to Cable One.

Cable One estimates that the combined company would have annual revenue of  more than $1 billion and cash flow margins of  about 41% before cost synergies. The purchase is expected to provide estimated tax benefits of about $152 million on a present value basis.

Cable One said it plans to finance the deal with $650 million of senior secured loans and cash on hand.

J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisor, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acted as legal advisor to Cable One on the transaction. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Waller Capital and Garrett M. Baker Advisors served as financial advisors to RBI and GTCR. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel and PriceWaterhouseCoopers served as accounting advisor to RBI and GTCR.

WASHINGTON — Comcast may yet get to buy Time Warner Cable.

Various Wall Street analysts have lowered the odds that No. 1 U.S. MSO Comcast’s purchase of No. 2 TWC will be consummated, but they’re still arguing that the $69 billion deal has a better-than-even chance of getting past the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC’s decision to apply phone company-style Title II common-carrier regulations to broadband Internet-service providers could be a plus for the deal, though opponents last week were trying to make sure that decision did not provide any momentum.

Comcast faces a dual vetting challenge. The FCC and Justice Department are looking at the combination’s traditional cable- TV subscribers, though Comcast is spinning off systems to Charter Communications and the newly created GreatLand Connections to keep that tally below 30% of the national pay TV customer count.

As of year-end 2014, Comcast counted some 22.4 million video customers, while Time Warner Cable had 10.8 million pay TV subscribers. After the merger and the system swaps are done, the post-deal Comcast would have just under 30 million subscribers.

FOCUS ON BROADBAND

But likely even more important to an FCC focused on broadband and the power of ISPs over the Internet is the combined company’s share of the high-speed data market.

The FCC plans to change its statutory definition of what constitutes advanced telecommunications deployment, in terms of broadband speed, to a minimum of 25 Megabits per second downstream. This could penalize Comcast and Time Warner Cable for providing that high-speed service, as the companies would have a greater share of those subscribers than they did under the prior 4 Mbps benchmark.

But that might be a miscalculation, said Bernstein Research senior analyst Paul de Sa. While reducing the size of the high-speed market would increase the combined company’s share, de Sa said, it also means that Comcast-TWC would control fewer high-speed households.

“Comcast has a higher share of a smaller number of subscribers, reducing anticompetitive concerns,” de Sa said in a note to investors two weeks ago.

“While the FCC recently set a new number as an aspiration for advanced broadband (a number which over 90% of Comcast customers are already receiving), they’ve set different thresholds for different proceedings,” Comcast executive vice president David Cohen told Multichannel News in an email. “The market for broadband is local, not national, and that’s the way the FCC and the DOJ have looked at it in past transactions.

“Even if taken it as a national market, because TWC has so many fewer customers on higher speeds than we do, the percentage increase when the companies combine increases only 1%,” Cohen added.

Analyst Craig Moffett, who had laid the odds at 80-20 in favor of approval as recently as January, was down to 70-30 last month and now has deal approval at 60-40. That was partly due to the FCC’s decision to redefine high-speed Internet service at 25 Mbps, which he called “emblematic of a relatively anti-cable zeitgeist in Washington.”

Wheeler has singled out ISPs as the potential blocking and degrading link in the Internet chain, with the incentive and opportunity to discriminate against both consumers and edge providers.

The FCC could approve the Comcast-TWC deal with conditions that assured that its new Title II regulations would apply to the largest ISP regardless of whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit might throw them out again.

In addition, as part of the proposed Title II regime, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed creating a new complaint regime for interconnection issues, such as over-the-top video provider Netflix’s longstanding complaint about having to pay for peering.

That regime could make the FCC more comfortable with allowing a Comcast-TWC combination, particularly given the aggressive stance assumed by Enforcement Bureau chief Travis LeBlanc, who would investigate those interconnection complaints.

TITLE II BOOST?

Bernstein’s de Sa said he sees Title II as a slightly net positive for the deal.

“[T]he new rules provide a basic framework for preventing discrimination by broadband providers against internet content,” he told clients. “In principle, therefore, if the rules work, post-merger Comcast will not be able to exploit the market power that opponents of the deal are concerned about.”

Whichever, Comcast’s Cohen suggests he hopes the Title II decision means the FCC can get moving on the deal.

“Now that the FCC has put in place industry wide rules on the Open Internet — which we’ll evaluate when we see the order — we expect they’ll turn to the pending transaction reviews, both ours and AT&TDirecTV,” Cohen said. “We continue to hope for regulatory approvals early this year.”

Not so fast said the Stop Mega Comcast Coalition, which last week circulated a white paper, “Net Neutrality Rules Are No Cure for Mega-Comcast.”

Comcast last month exercised an option to extend the deal’s breakup date to August.

Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge alluded to the deal that got away at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference Wednesday, but added that second prize in the battle for Time Warner Cable – sales, swaps and spins that will double the size of his company – is ample consolation.

Charter spent the better part of 2013 pursuing Time Warner Cable, but ultimately lost out in February of this year when Comcast – at one time a proposed partner in a Charter-TWC combination – swooped in with an all-stock deal valued at about $69 billion.

But the loss of TWC was softened by a series of transactions that will effectively add about 5 million subscribers to the Stanford, Conn.-based MSOs, through sales, swaps and a 33% interest in a separately publicly traded company, dubbed GreatLand Connections.

“Well, I had another deal in mind and this was the best I could do and it's a good deal,” Rutledge said at Communacopia. He added that in addition to doubling its footprint, the deal concentrates Charter’s operations more tightly allowing it to mass market to practically its entire footprint at once as opposed to just 48% currently.

Rutledge said the company is already working through the regulatory process – it met with Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit and his team recently to discuss transition service agreements.

“Our goal is to close the deal as quickly as possible,” Rutledge said.

Rutledge offered some further insight to the company’s relationship with GreatLand, adding that in some markets, it will co-brand service with its own Spectrum moniker.

“I think in certain markets, we'd bring Spectrum services by GreatLand and the products set will be similar or if not identical from what a customer experiences regardless of which cable footprint they live in,” Rutledge said. “When we market it and take a sale, the customer will get a bill from GreatLand if they're in a GreatLand area; they'll get a bill from Charter if they're in a Charter area, but the experience of buying Spectrum services will be uniform.”

Comcast ended months of speculation concerning its planned subscriber divestiture, striking a complicated trio of transactions valued at about $20 billion that will solidify Charter as the second largest cable operator in the country while hopefully alleviating regulator fears that Comcast’s planned merger with Time Warner Cable will create an unruly behemoth.

The deal will be completed in three stages: Charter will purchase outright about 1.4 million TWC customers in the first stage and in the second stage Charter and Comcast will swap a total of 1.6 million subscribers in a tax-efficient exchange. In the third leg of the transaction, Comcast will spin off about 2.5 million customers into a separately publicly traded company of which Charter would own about 33%.

While specific markets were not revealed, Charter said the transactions will give it a stronger presence in the Midwest and Southwester portions of the country.

Later, on a conference call with analyst to discuss the deal, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said the sales would involve Time Warner Cable systems in Ohio, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana and Alabama, while Charter will unload properties in California, New England, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Washington and Virginia. The spin-off company will hold systems in Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Alabama, Eastern Tennessee, Kentucky and Wisconsin.

“Charter cements its footprint in the Midwest, adding TWC assets in Ohio and Wisconsin, while also acquiring the former Insight Communications in Kentucky and Indiana,” wrote Nomura Securities analyst Adam Ilkowitz in a research note. “SpinCo adds some major markets, namely Minneapolis, Detroit, and Indianapolis. Comcast gains control of key media markets in Los Angeles and Dallas, while divesting subs in a shareholder friendly way. We think shareholders will like this deal for both companies, as it accelerates cash generation and rationalizes their regional footprints.”  

All of the transactions would take place after Comcast received regulatory approval of its merger with TWC, expected sometime by the end of the year.

“Today’s agreement follows through on our willingness to divest subscribers, while also marking an important step in our merger with Time Warner Cable,” said Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts in a statement “These transactions enable us to deliver meaningful value to our shareholders. The realignment of key cable markets achieved in these transactions will enable Comcast to fill in our footprint and deliver operational efficiencies and technology improvements.”

Later, on a brief conference call with analysts Monday, Roberts said that the deal will help create larger regional footprints for both companies, which makes it easier to roll out new products and be more competitive.

By shaving about 4 million subscribers from the rolls, Comcast reduces its ultimate size to under 30% of the television homes in the country after the TWC deal is completed, or roughly the size it was after it completed its AT&T Broadband acquisition in 2002 and its Adelphia Communications deal (with Time Warner Cable) in 2006. That could make the TWC merger easier to swallow for some regulators.

Investors seemed extremely pleased. Charter stock soared as high as $142.70 each Monday (up 9.8% or $12.69 per share) before closing at $140.05, up $10.04 each or 7.7%. Comcast shares closed at $51.70 per share, up 73 cents each or 1.4%. Time Warner Cable stock closed at $140.95, up $1.54 each or 1.1%.

The deal should end any speculation that Charter would attempt to make a counter offer for Time Warner Cable and comes a little more than two months after Comcast bested Charter’s $132.50 per share offer with its own $158.85 all-stock bid for TWC on Feb. 13.

On the conference call, Rutledge said the deal with Comcast was “a good outcome” for all parties involved, giving Charter greater scale and an enhanced footprint. Once the deal is closed, Charter will have about 5.7 million subscribers, up from its current 4 million, and will manage about 8.2 million customers.

Even though Comcast shareholders will own the bulk (67%) of the spin-off, Charter does have the ability to increase that stake after two years.

In a note to clients, MoffettNathanson principal and senior media analyst Craig Moffett estimated it would take about four years for Charter to acquire the remainder of the spin-off, and could do other deals to bulk up its footprint in the meantime.

“Suddenly, the path to 10 to 12 million subscribers – about the size of TWC before the deal-making began – looks relatively clear,” Moffett wrote.  “Comcast gets better-clustered systems, more synergies, and more accretion.  It’s a rare, but genuine, win-win.”  

J.P. Morgan and Paul J. Taubman acted as financial advisors to Comcast and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP are its legal advisors.

Goldman Sachs and LionTree Advisors are serving as lead financial advisers to Charter in connection with this transaction. Guggenheim Securities is also a financial adviser to Charter. BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are also financial advisers to Charter, and together with Goldman Sachs, are leading the financing for the transaction. The law firms Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Kirkland & Ellis LLP are also representing Charter.

Rural Broadband Investments, the small-market cable operator formed by private equity firm GTCR last year, has closed on the acquisition of a municipal cable system in Poplar Bluff, Mo., for an undisclosed sum.

The deal is the fifth for RBI and puts the company on the path toward building a platform of 300,000-to-400,000 cable subscribers in small-to-mid-sized rural markets. RBI now served more than 150,000 customers and passes more than 430,000 homes in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Nevada. RBI’s first acquisition was its purchase of NewWave Communications in February 2013,  followed by Cable Management Associates and McDonald Cable/Cablevison systems.

In Poplar Bluff, RBI plans to roll out enhanced services already available in its nearby NewWave markets.

“The Poplar Bluff system is an excellent add-on to our Southern Missouri footprint,” said RBI CEO Phil Spencer in a statement. “We intend to fiber tie the system and offer more HD channels, advanced commercial services and a more robust internet service. This will give us an exceptional opportunity to better serve customers and increase penetration of high-speed internet services as well as advanced commercial services.  We look forward to serving the residents of Poplar Bluff”.

The Poplar Bluff municipal cable system was created in 2001, but City Mayor Ed DeGans said it had become increasingly harder to keep up with technological advances.

“The City of Poplar Bluff has a golden opportunity to provide enhanced cable and internet services to its citizens through the sale of our system to a quality provider with over 150,000 subscribers,” DeGans said in a statement. “We can look forward to more cable options, more HD channels and faster internet speeds.  We are excited to welcome NewWave and Rural Broadband Investments to our community.”

RBI is a portfolio company of private equity firm GTCR, and is owned by GTCR and RBI management.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel and PriceWaterhouseCoopers served as accounting advisor to GTCR.  RBC Capital Markets acted as exclusive financial advisor to RBI and GTCR.