At least three companies have submitted bids for roughly 340,000 AT&T
Broadband subscribers in Montana, Wyoming and parts of Colorado -- cable legend
Bill Bresnan, Alaskan cable and telecommunications company General
Communications Inc. and private investor Avalon Equity Partners -- sources close
to the process said.
AT&T Broadband put the systems on the block earlier this month, telling
interested bidders proposals were due June 25. According to sources familiar
with the situation, AT&T Broadband expects to make a decision on the systems
by mid-July.
Sources said Charter Communications Inc. and Mediacom Communications Corp.
have also looked at the systems, but a Charter spokesman said the MSO was not
interested in the properties because they are not located near its existing
clusters.
Mediacom chairman Rocco Commisso did not return calls for comment.
Bresnan was out of town and unavailable for comment. Officials at Avalon
declined comment.
GCI spokesman David Morris said the company does not comment on specific
deals. But he added that the company -- which has about 130,000 cable and
telephone customers in Alaska -- has been looking to expand.
'What I can confirm is that we have expressed an interest in expanding into
the lower 48 states,' Morris said. 'That would be an area that would be
attractive to us.'
Denver cable-investment banker Daniels & Associates Inc. is handling the
potential sale for AT&T Broadband.
In March, AT&T Broadband struck another systems deal with Charter,
selling operations in St. Louis, Nevada and Alabama to Charter for $1.8 billion
in cash, stock and systems.
