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Vote of Confidence as Auction Heats Up
THE AUCTION FOR BRESNAN Communications reached a fever pitch last week as a number of heavy hitters - including cable legend John Malone and Cablevision Systems - made it to the final round of bidding.
According to executives familiar with the bidding process, it is still too early in the process to determine a winner. About eight bidders have made it to the final round, those sources said, including Cablevision, Malone (through Ascent Media), Suddenlink Communications, a handful of financial players including private-equity firm TPG and Alaskan cable operator General Communication Inc.
Other early round bidders, such as Charter Communications, overbuilder Knology and cable entrepreneur Steve Simmons (with the backing of privateequity giant Blackstone Group) have dropped out of the auction, sources said.
Sources familiar with the process said that the next step is to ? are that list to a manageable level, perhaps down to the top three bidders.
"Then the real negotiations begin," said one source familiar with the process, adding that the auction is not expected to conclude until the first week in July at the earliest.
While it is still too early in the process to determine a lead bidder, sources familiar with the deal said that Malone's interest in Bresnan - through Ascent Media - is a big boost, signaling at least the desire for the cable legend to return to U.S. cable distribution.
"A return of Dr. M, even on a relatively small scale, is a nice vote of confidence in the industry," wrote Pivotal Research Group principal and media and communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak in a report last week.
Malone is a director of Ascent, which was spun off from Discovery Holding Co., in 2008. He also controls about 30% of the votingpower of the company, which provides pre- and post-production work for cable, broadcast and film. Ascent is headed by former Liberty...