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N.Y. company, Bresnan Broadband Holdings, takes over cable services in Montana, Wyoming, parts of Colorado and a few systems in Utah.

Close to 200 communities in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado that formerly received cable television service from Comcast Corp. (formerly AT&T Broadband) now are being served by a New York company.

By MICK HOLIEN of the Missoulian

Bresnan Broadband Holdings LLC of White Plains, N.Y., recently paid $525 million in cash for systems serving 314,000 basic subscribers in Montana, Wyoming, parts of Colorado and a few systems in Utah.

As part of the transaction announced in February but finalized last week, Comcast also received preferred and common equity interest in Bresnan.

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider with more than 21 million U.S. subscribers, is turning its emphasis to major metropolitan areas.

This month customers will notice the change in name and billing address but initially little less will be altered.

"There will be no changes in service, no immediate rate changes," said Maureen Huff, a company spokesperson. "Nothing will change in terms of programming lineup or high-speed Internet service. Everything is as is for now."

But there are plans to upgrade the majority of the systems, including those in Billings, Bozeman, Helena, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula, through part of a $200 million capital expenditure plan, said Huff.

"We plan to immediately begin upgrading these systems to be able to launch advanced services such as broadband Internet service and Video on Demand as soon as possible," said Bill Bresnan, president and chief operating officer.

Founded as a broadband communications provider in 1984, Bresnan has operated in Chile and Poland as well as the United States and at one point served more than 1 million customers worldwide.

Bresnan Communications began offering high-speed Internet in the upper peninsula of Michigan in 1997, but the Comcast transaction marks their return into the U.S. cable market after its sale of several Midwest cable systems to Charter Communications in 2000.

"We’ve always concentrated on smaller towns and cities as well as rural areas, so this is an area where we have a lot of experience," said Huff. "That’s part of what made this acquisition so interesting is that this provides us with an opportunity to actually replicate a lot of work that we’d done in the Midwest in the past."

There are several uncontrollable factors that could affect the timing of system upgrades, but Bresnan eventually plans to offer high-speed Internet capabilities to 90 percent of its customers.

"It’s an exciting time for us," said Huff.

Providence Equity Partners Inc. is the leading investor in the transaction which also includes Quadrangle Group LLC, TD Capital Communications Partners and Bresnan management, which will manage the company.

"Bresnan Communications is known throughout the cable industry for our strong commitment to leading-edge technology, high-quality programming and hands-on community involvement," said Bresnan. "We will continue to be guided by these business principles."

Reporter Mick Holien can be reached at 523-5262 or at [email protected]

http://missoulian.com/articles/2003/03/30/news/local/news04.txt

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