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By Mavis Scanlon
Connecticut is a little state with a lot of big cable operators. Adelphia, Comcast, Cablevision, Charter and Cox all serve subs in the state, along with Eastern Connecticut Cable, a family-owned operator, and Tele-Media, whose systems are majority owned and operated by Adelphia through a joint venture. As the auction for Adelphia kicks into higher gear this week, industry observers will focus on the bids for Adelphia's largest and most attractive systems in Los Angeles, Florida and in the Pennsylvania-New York-Ohio region, but a smaller drama may play out in Connecticut, where some horse-trading among MSOs may ensue.
Including the Tele-Media systems, Adelphia serves about 10% of the state's 1.1 million cable subs. In May, Tele-Media chairman and CEO Robert Tudek stated his desire to buy out Adelphia's interest in its joint-venture systems in Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Florida; other operators also have expressed interest in expanding in Connecticut.
The cable fragmentation presents some marketing challenges. While Comcast serves most of Hartford, for example, Cox services the surrounding area, leading to some overlap. Adelphia's Norwich system, which serves 21,000 subs and has basic cable penetration of 70%, abuts Charter's Willimantic system, which is the smaller of its two systems in Connecticut. If Time Warner Cable is successful in bidding for Adelphia, that could start the ball rolling for sales or swaps; although it is headquartered in Stamford, Time Warner is the only big MSO without subs of its own in the state.
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