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Basic cable in Las Vegas runs a little more than $30 a month, but a lot of people supplement that service with extra channels, at extra cost. Prime Cable's Las Vegas system has 300,000 subscribers; it's a basic minimum of $9 million a month in gross revenues.
So why sell it?
Because the price is right, according to speculation from industry analysts.
Charter Communications Inc., a multi-system operator from St. Louis, put in a bid to buy Prime's Las Vegas system, said Anita Lamont, Charter's corporate communications director.
Lamont didn't reveal the size of that bid, but trade publications have reported a sale of the Las Vegas system may command $1 billion or more for it and related businesses. Besides Charter, individuals familiar with the talks said the bidders are Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc. and Tele-Communications Inc.
Brian Greenspun, who oversees his family's various business interests, including the Las Vegas Sun, did not return repeated telephone calls. Harris Bass, Prime's Las Vegas vice president and general manager, also failed to return a call for comment.
Prime, an Austin, Texas-based multiple-system operator, is a partner with the Greenspun family in the Las Vegas system. The Greenspun family owns more than 60 percent of the system; Prime manages it.
"I'm not surprised the system is on the block," said Paul Traudt, associate professor and telecommunications coordinator at UNLV's Greenspun School of Communication. "In today's media, fewer and fewer companies own more and more properties."
Steve Effros, president of the Cable Telecommunications Association, a trade group, also noted a consolidation trend. "Despite what folks in Las Vegas think, you're no different than the rest of us," Effros said.
"There is significant restructuring in the cable industry," said Effros, whose Virginia-based association represents companies serving between 85 percent and 90 percent of all cable subscribers. "Folks are deciding to refinance, change, get out of the business."
Analysts also note that publicly traded cable companies are hot properties today. "Cable stocks are quite healthy. This is a good time (to acquire)," said Stuart Brotman, president of Stuart N. Brotman Communications in Lexington, Mass. and a...