The cable company that serves the Altoona-Johnstown area is being purchased by a Canadian firm.
Atlantic Broadband LLC, whose lines "pass" 108,000 homes in this area, entered into a stock purchase agreement in July with Cogeco Cable Inc. of Montreal, according to a letter received by the City of Altoona, where Atlantic Broadband has a cable franchise.
"This change in ownership does not affect the management or operations of our cable systems, nor will it change our rates and services," stated Atlantic's general counsel, Bartlett Leber, in the letter.
Cogeco, which dates to 1972, serves 877,000 basic cable customers in Quebec and Ontario, according to a profile on the Cogeco website.
Atlantic Broadband, founded in 2003 and headquartered in Quincy, Mass., is the 14th largest cable TV system operator in the U.S., serving customers in four major clusters in western Pennsylvania, Miami Beach, Maryland and Delaware, and in Aiken, S.C., according to its website.
The takeover will allow Atlantic "to continue our service improvements and innovative product offerings," the letter to the city states.
The new firm will serve more than 1.1 million basic video customers in Canada and the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported.
Cogeco plans to finance the purchase with cash, $550 million from a credit facility and $660 million in "borrowings under committed debt financing at Atlantic Broadband," according to the Journal.
Officials at both companies did not return calls Wednesday.
