THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 3, 1997 TAG: 9701030490
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 59 lines
Already the largest cable-television provider in Hampton Roads, Cox Communications Inc. picked up 45,000 additional customers in Chesapeake and 30,000 in James City and York counties in separate transactions Thursday.
In swaps of customers with Tele-Communications Inc. and the cable TV unit of US West Inc., Cox expanded its roster of local customers from 260,000 to about 335,000.
Cox already operated cable systems in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Newport News and part of Currituck County, N.C.
A switch to Cox's programming also took effect in Chesapeake and James City and York counties Thursday.
However, the only noticeable change for former TCI customers in Chesapeake was Cox's substitution of the MSNBC news channel for the Fox News Network, which TCI carried, said Franklin R. Bowers, vice president and general manager of Cox Cable Hampton Roads Inc.
Cox eventually will offer its high-speed data and telephone service to businesses in Chesapeake, he said.
Some former TCI activities in Chesapeake will be consolidated with Cox operations elsewhere in the region, Bowers said. However, Cox expects to expand its presence in Chesapeake.
``We're looking at putting a regional warehousing facility there,'' Bowers said.
In early December, Englewood, Colo.-based TCI disclosed plans to close its telemarketing center in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake in February. About 295 employees, most of them part time, will be displaced.
However, most of the employees at the former TCI cable system in Chesapeake have been added to Cox's work force, Bowers said.
Atlanta-based Cox Communications acquired 300,000 customers and cable systems in a half-dozen metro areas and cities, including Chesapeake, by swapping 300,000 of its customers and several systems with TCI.
The exchange included Cox's systems in the greater Pittsburgh area; Spokane, Wash.; Springfield, Ill.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the Quad City region of Illinois and Iowa; and Saginaw, Mich.
In return, Cox received TCI's systems and customers in Chesapeake; Bellevue/LaVista, Neb.; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Scottsdale, Ariz; North Attleboro/Taunton, Mass; Lincoln, R.I; and St. Bernard, La.
Cox and TCI, the largest cable TV concern in the country, agreed to the exchange in 1995. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Cox acquired the customers and cable systems in James City and York counties through a swap with US West, the Denver-based telecommunications company that bought Continental Cablevision Inc. last November.
The customers and cable systems that Cox added in James City and York counties had been part of Continental Cablevision Inc. until last November, when Continental was acquired by US West, a large Denver-based telecommunications company. ILLUSTRATION: THE DEAL: Cox Communication Inc. completed a customer
swap Thursday with Tele-Communications Inc. and US West Inc. THE
IMPACT: The swaps increased Cox's list of Hampton Roads' cable
customers from 260,000 to 335,000.
KEYWORDS: CABLE TELEVISION