Cable Politics Make It Hot Time to Gather at Independent Show

By John Eggerton , Mike Farrell , Kent Gibbons and Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 7/26/2010 12:01:00 AM

With so much activity affecting cable in Washington — the Comcast-NBC Universal merger, the national broadband plan, possible common-carrier regulations for broadband — what better time for small and midsized cable operators to gather in a wonky gabfest in nearby Baltimore?

The American Cable Association and the National Cable & Television Cooperative’s combined confab, The Independent Show (July 25 to 28), focuses on dealing with constant change, organizers said.

“The central theme of this year’s Independent Show is the totality of all the seismic changes our members face in both the political/ regulatory landscape and in their business models,” NCTC president Jeff Abbas said.

American Cable Association president Matt Polka said the event will let hundreds of his members “remain involved” in the key issues affecting traditional media and broadband markets in rural America. “This year’s forum will offer detailed updates on our active policy agenda, most notably the Comcast-NBC Universal merger, retransmission consent reform and broadband reclassification.” (Retransmission, how could we forget that one?)

Potential highlights at the Hilton assembly: a Tuesday primer on the national broadband plan and Title II reclassification and the digital nuts and bolts of TV Everywhere. Lunch that day features radio/ cable talk star Sean Hannity.

According to NCTC spokesman Dan Mulvenon, attendance as of last week was around 800, tracking about even with last year. (Family attendance is up this year with the economy in slightly better shape, he noted.) Look for the final to come in around 850.

Members also are concerned about business issues such as the cost of programming, access to content on the Web and bundling, he said. The Wire is guessing ESPN3.com will come up once or twice in Charm City, as well.

At $13,333 a Sub, Hargray’s Pricey But No Record
The Wire was intrigued when The Wall Street Journal reported, on July 8, about Hargray Communications, described as a rural cable and broadband provider in southeastern South Carolina and northeastern Georgia that is up for sale.

Two numbers stood out: $400 million and 30,000. Those, respectively, were said to be the asking price and the number of cable subscribers.

If true, that would be a price of $13,333 per subscriber. Should it work out that way, it would be the priciest cable deal in known history.

The top slot now is held by Daniels & Associates’ Carlsbad, Calif., system, sold for $6,800 per subscriber to Adelphia Communications in 2000.

On closer look, though, there’s probably no cable milestone to be found here.

Hargray’s owner, private-equity boutique Quadrangle Group, is indeed asking $400 million for Hargray, according to several sources. Neither Quadrangle nor Hargray returned a call for comment.

Hargray, though, is primarily a telecom provider, serving business customers in the area. Its cable operations are relatively minuscule, a few investment bankers said.

Quadrangle’s asking price works out to a multiple of 8 times annual cash flow: that’s pretty moderate, although several telecom deals have recently been done in the six times range, some bankers said.

Hargray is certainly flush by cable standards. Doing the math backwards, an eight times multiple implies $50 million in cash flow annually, or about $136 per subscriber per month. That’s almost three times the $50 in cash flow per subscriber per month generated by Comcast, and it has 24 million customers.

Ned Lamont TV Firm Entertains Offers
Speaking of deals, The Wire hears Campus TeleVideo, a leading multichannel-TV provider on college campuses, is entertaining off ers to be sold by its long-term equity owners.

The company, formally Lamont Digital Systems and based in Greenwich, Conn., is well-known for its founder: Ned Lamont. He’s the Connecticut liberal businessman who defeated incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman in the Democratic primary in 2006. Lieberman later won re-election, as an independent, in a three-way race.

Lamont, who worked at Cablevision Systems before setting out on his own in 1983, is running for governor in the Nutmeg State. Should he win the Democratic nod, he likely will be up against another media entrepreneur, decidedly not a liberal: Linda McMahon.

The former WWE CEO is running as a Republican. CTV CEO Brian Benz could not be reached for comment.

Comcast’s Eliason: Parting Ways Is Tweet Sorrow
Frank Eliason, Comcast’s “Twitter man,” is flying the coop.

After joining Comcast in September 2007 as director of digital care, Eliason pioneered the MSO’s use of Twitter to respond — tirelessly — to customer complaints and feedback through the handle @comcastcares.

He’s now moving to Citibank to head social- media efforts. It marks a return to the financial industry: Eliason previously worked at Advanta and Vanguard.

“Thanks to the help of so many people internally, and all the customers I’ve had the chance to interact with, we have made a difference,” Eliason wrote in a July 16 post on the Comcast Voices blog (blog.comcast.com).