Vast Broadband, which provides broadband and video service to about 60,000 residential and business customers in South Dakota and Minnesota, said that it has agreed to be purchased by private equity firm GI Partners. Terms were not disclosed.

Vast Broadband, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was formed in 2013 by industry veteran James Gleason and private equity players Pamlico Capital and Oak Hill Capital. 

GI Partners has invested in several data infrastructure companies, including Wave Broadband (which it sold in 2017 to TPG Capital). In the Vast Broadband deal, GI is partnering with former Wide Open West chief financial officer  Rich Fish, who  become CEO of Vast after the deal is closed.

“Vast is committed to providing its customers with access to the most reliable, high-speed broadband connectivity available,” Fish said  in a press release.  “As a native of the Great Plains, I am thrilled to partner with the local employees at Vast to bring high quality internet connectivity to my home region.”

The transaction is expected to close following satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.  GI Partners will make the investment from the GI Data Infrastructure Fund. Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted as legal counsel to GI Partners.  RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Vast Broadband and Alston & Bird acted as legal counsel.

“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Rich Fish and the GI Partners team.  We have had tremendous success during our tenure and we are delighted that our team in South Dakota and Minnesota will have the opportunity to continue to grow in the communities we serve,” Gleason said in a press release.

Headquartered in Sikeston, Missouri, cable operator Vast Broadband serves TV/video, high-speed broadband and landline voice services to business and residential customers in South Dakota and Minnesota. It offers three tiers of bundled pay TV service, starting with a skinny $33-a-month base tier that includes around 20 channels, most of them local broadcast affiliates.

Also read: Tech vendor says its turning small cable companies like Chattanooga's EPB into virtual MVPDs

Fiber broadband provider Vexus Fiber, meanwhile, operates in Texas and Louisiana, bundling a package of 260 channels with 1-gig symmetrical broadband.

Together, these two telecoms serve 75,000 customers, MobiTV said.

“Vast Broadband and Vexus have been increasing their geography, fiber penetration and service offerings to include residential services in underserved areas,” said Charlie Nooney, CEO of MobiTV, in a statement. “They turned to MobiTV as a trusted provider with a full end-to-end platform that would enable them to continue to serve their traditional markets and, at the same time, offer enhanced IP-based services.”

Visit Next TV to read more stories like this one. 

In late-March, Nooney told Next TV that MobiTV had around 120 clients for its MobiTV Connect software-as-a-service product, which effectively provides operators a custom virtual MVPD to bundle with their broadband service.

“We’re a white-label service that allows our operator clients to maintain their own channel lineup and their own branding, and basically keep control of their video service.”

Privately funded with $213.8 million, according to Crunchbase, MobiTV launched its Connect platform in July 2017 with Mississippi’s C Spire. As of March, MobiTV Connect had transport licenses with around 350 cable networks and roughly 4,000 local broadcast stations, allowing it to create highly customized channel lineups for its operator clients.

The MobiTV app-based streaming TV service platform, requiring only off-the-shelf consumer-grade CPE. It contains a user-friendly interface that can be customized according to the service provider’s content and design preferences. The Connect platform includes on-demand, live TV, catch-up TV, unlimited network DVR, and recommendations. The SaaS-based platform allows for real-time enablement of new technologies such as 4K/HEVC, cloud DVR, replay TV, and robust voice control.

“As a competitive provider, we need to offer our subscribers innovative services in double- or triple-play bundles that will meet their viewing, broadband and telephony needs,” added Larry Eby, COO of Vast Broadband and Vexus. “MobiTV has a proven product that we could launch speedily as we build out our residential fiber-to-the-home platform in newly acquired and existing markets. MobiTV Connect will enable us to differentiate our service offerings in a competitive market.”

Headquartered in Sikeston, Missouri, cable operator Vast Broadband serves TV/video, high-speed broadband and landline voice services to business and residential customers in South Dakota and Minnesota. It offers three tiers of bundled pay TV service, starting with a skinny $33-a-month base tier that includes around 20 channels, most of them local broadcast affiliates.

Also read: Tech vendor says its turning small cable companies like Chattanooga's EPB into virtual MVPDs

Fiber broadband provider Vexus Fiber, meanwhile, operates in Texas and Louisiana, bundling a package of 260 channels with 1-gig symmetrical broadband.

Together, these two telecoms serve 75,000 customers, MobiTV said. 

“Vast Broadband and Vexus have been increasing their geography, fiber penetration and service offerings to include residential services in underserved areas,” said Charlie Nooney, CEO of MobiTV, in a statement. “They turned to MobiTV as a trusted provider with a full end-to-end platform that would enable them to continue to serve their traditional markets and, at the same time, offer enhanced IP-based services.”

In late-March, Nooney told Next TV that MobiTV had around 120 clients for its MobiTV Connect software-as-a-service product, which effectively provides operators a custom virtual MVPD to bundle with their broadband service.

 “We’re a white-label service that allows our operator clients to maintain their own channel lineup and their own branding, and basically keep control of their video service.”

Privately funded with $213.8 million, according to Crunchbase, MobiTV launched its Connect platform in July 2017 with Mississippi’s C Spire. As of March, MobiTV Connect had transport licenses with around 350 cable networks and roughly 4,000 local broadcast stations, allowing it to create highly customized channel lineups for its operator clients. 

The MobiTV app-based streaming TV service platform, requiring only off-the-shelf consumer-grade CPE. It contains a user-friendly interface that can be customized according to the service provider’s content and design preferences. The Connect platform includes on-demand, live TV, catch-up TV, unlimited network DVR, and recommendations. The SaaS-based platform allows for real-time enablement of new technologies such as 4K/HEVC, cloud DVR, replay TV, and robust voice control.

“As a competitive provider, we need to offer our subscribers innovative services in double- or triple-play bundles that will meet their viewing, broadband and telephony needs,” added Larry Eby, COO of Vast Broadband and Vexus. “MobiTV has a proven product that we could launch speedily as we build out our residential fiber-to-the-home platform in newly acquired and existing markets. MobiTV Connect will enable us to differentiate our service offerings in a competitive market.”

Vast will deploy Evolution Digital’s eVue-TV content delivery system to provide its 57,000 residential and business customers with app-based access to more than 300 linear channels, video on demand, network DVR and pay-per-view programming through platforms including Roku, Apple TV, iOS and Android Mobile. The app is also playable on Evolution Digital’s proprietary Android TV powered eStream 4K devices.

Vast customers will also use Evolution’s eMerge user interface. The Centennial, Colorado-based vendor said its client will have its deployment completed by the end of the year.

Related: Evolution Digital Launches eMerge App-Based UI for Operators

"After careful consideration of the options available to us in the marketplace, we chose Evolution Digital as our trusted IPTV partner to lead our business and customers into the next generation of streaming content across the most popular managed and retail devices," said Vast CEO Jim Gleason, in a statement. "Evolution Digital's eVue-TV and eMerge offerings allow us to cost-effectively make the transition to IP with the aggregation of high-value IP content.”

Evolution Digital reps say they have several tier 2 operators almost ready to announce deployments of the full eVue-TV pipline. Others, the company said, are in trials. 

The company will continue to be based in Winona and operate under the Hiawatha Broadband Communications name. Pending regulatory approvals, the purchase is expected to close on Dec. 31.

This is the second purchase Schurz has made this year. In July it announced the purchase of Vast Broadband.

“HBC has been an integral part of Southeast Minnesota for 20 years and that’s not going to change,” said Schurz Communications CEO Todd Schurz in a statement. “We plan to continue investing in the business and the employees because we know that our success is at the local level where the day to day business will be run. On behalf of Schurz we want to welcome HBC to our family of companies and look forward to growing together.”

HBC offers gigabit broadband, telephone, and video service with more than 300 channels, video on demand and extensive local high school and college sporting events produced by HBC Studios. The company also has wholesale, construction, business consulting and engineering divisions and is the operator of the RS Fiber Cooperative gigabit fiber-to-the-farm project in Minnesota.

"The board and management of HBC carefully evaluated whether Schurz was the right company to carry forward the true spirit and intent of what the HBC team has worked hard to create in Minnesota,” Hiawatha Broadband CEO Dan Pecarina said in a statement. “Schurz believes, as we do, that a good company is actively engaged in and cares about the communities they serve. Schurz focuses on employees and customers and believes that local employees making the day-to-day decisions serve the customer best. We’re pleased to join Schurz as they share our vision of not just what HBC is today but also what we believe HBC can be in the future.”

Schurz, based in Mishawaka, Ind., owns cable systems and publishes daily and weekly newspapers in medium and small markets and has a presence in Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and South Dakota.

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Michael McHugh and FBR Capital Markets & Co. acted as financial advisors for the transaction.

Vast Broadband’s operations adjoin existing Schurz systems in the two states, operating under the name Long Lines Broadband. The acquired properties are located in several communities including N. Sioux City, S.D. and Storm Lake, Iowa. In addition, Schurz also purchased 200 miles of fiber network infrastructure throughout the service area connecting South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.

“Combining Vast Broadband systems into Long Lines Broadband extensive operations will offer new products and services to residents and businesses” Schurz SVP Broadband Brian Lynch said in a statement. “We see great opportunities to grow the business in these communities.” Once the integration work is completed later this summer, former Vast customers will benefit from new all-digital video, new HD channels and new high speed internet choices on Long Lines Broadband. “

Schurz, based in Mishawaka, Ind., owns cable systems, newspapers and digital media and has a presence in eight states -- Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and South Dakota.