TDS Makes Quarter-Billion Cable Play

Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) has bought New Mexico cable
company Baja Broadband for $267.5 million, according to Edwards Wildman Palmer,
attorney for the seller.

Waller Capital advised Baja owners M/C Partners and Columbia Capital in the deal. Baja comprised a number of former Charter systems.

The deal is expected to close third quarter 2013 subject to
regulatory approvals.

Baja, with revenues of $82.4 million in 2012, provides
video, high-speed broadband and voice to both residential and commercial
customers in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and Utah. As of the end of last year,
it passed 212,000 homes, 74,000 video subs, 56,000 high-speed broadband subs
and 15,000 digital voice subs.

TDS, a Madison, Wis.-based LEC, is eyeing more
cable buys, company president LeRoy Carlson Jr. said in a statement. "We
continue to seek opportunities to invest our resources where we believe they
can deliver strong returns over time, and expand into adjacent businesses like
cable."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.