Cox Adds Las Vegas to its Line Up of Cable Systems.ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 1998--Cox Communications, Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :COX) today announced expansion of its cable television holdings to include the entire Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. , Nevada metropolitan area as part of a definitive agreement by Cox to acquire Prime South Diversified, Inc. (PSDI PSDI Presence-Sensing Device Initiation PSDI Public Service Directory Interactive PSDI Project Software Development Incorporated PSDI Pin Service Denial Indicator ) for a combination of Cox stock and cash. The transaction values all of the businesses of PSDI, comprised of 319,000 residential cable television customers, 105,000 hotel units, and interests in various other non-consolidated operations, at $1.325 billion. PSDI is a holding company whose interests include Community Cable TV (CCTV CCTV abbr. closed-circuit television CCTV closed-circuit television ), the cable television system serving Las Vegas; Hospitality Network, Inc., a provider of resort-hotel room video entertainment and interactive services in Las Vegas and other gaming cities domestically and internationally; PrimeTel of Nevada, a provider of video, voice and data to multiple dwelling units (MDUs) in Las Vegas; a 35% interest in NextLink Nevada, a facilities-based provider of commercial local and interexchange telecommunications services; a 33% interest in Las Vegas One, the market's only 24 hour television news operation; and various ownership positions in other diversified PSDI investments. The Greenspun family of Las Vegas, owner of the Las Vegas Sun The Las Vegas Sun is one of Las Vegas, Nevada's two daily newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper was published in the afternoons on weekdays from 1990-2005. , currently owns a majority interest in PSDI, together with Prime Cable of Austin, Texas and various institutional investors. The transaction is structured so that Cox and the Greenspun family will be partners in all of the PSD (tool) PSD - Portable Scheme Debugger. businesses and possible future businesses in Las Vegas. In making the announcement, Jim Robbins, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Cox said, "The Greenspun family has long enjoyed a highly regarded reputation in Las Vegas. We look forward to partnering with them going forward. Together with Prime's management expertise, they have created the most sought after cable property in the country. Cox is uniquely positioned to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. their combined success to take these businesses to the next level." Adding Las Vegas to the Cox portfolio of already well-clustered cable properties in the Southwest has created a Mega-Cluster, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Mr. Robbins. "Prior to this transaction, Cox had some 2.2 million homes passed in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and Arizona. This addition of another 506,000 residential homes passed in the fastest growing metropolitan area of the U.S. makes us the premiere provider of advanced video, voice and data services in the region -- an unparalleled opportunity afforded to us by this agreement with the Greenspun family and Prime," he added. "My family is delighted to partner with Cox," said Brian Greenspun, Vice President of CCTV. "We have been fortunate to have the right partners throughout the tremendous growth of cable television in Southern Nevada. Each of them has helped us keep our cable television company at the forefront of our industry. We could not have asked for better partners in 1986 when we teamed up with Prime Cable. Not only have they been outstanding operators, but they have become close and cherished friends," he continued. "By joining with Cox, which at its roots is a family business-albeit a large one, we will be able to continue the commitment that Hank Greenspun Herman "Hank" Milton Greenspun (August 27, 1909 - July 23, 1989) was the longtime, and often controversial, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. He purchased the Sun in 1949, and served as its editor and publisher until his death. first made when he started this business. And that is to provide the best and most advanced services at competitive prices to a community that not only demands but deserves the best," he said. "We are anxious to help make this transition as smooth as possible, and we look forward to joining Cox and Prime in working with the franchising authorities to complete this transaction as soon as possible," Mr. Greenspun said. The Las Vegas system serves the entire metropolitan area, and ranks among the 10 largest cable systems in the U.S. Operated from a single headend with some 4,000 miles of hybrid fiber-coax plant, a system upgrade is well under way to a 750MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. fiber rich platform and is expected to be two-thirds completed by year-end 1998, according to Mr. Robbins. "This will allow us to maintain our vision as a single provider of advanced video, voice and data services, just as we're already doing in existing Cox cluster markets throughout the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ," he said. Mr. Robbins said Hospitality Network is the largest provider of video entertainment and interactive services to gaming resorts and hotels in the U.S. Services currently provided include pay-per-view, on-demand movies, in-room cash advances, video checkout services, show reservations, customer surveys, keno and racing results. "With a total of 105,000 hotel rooms activated by this year end, including 77,000 in Las Vegas, this is a strong advantage for our local operations, and a key value-added business in the Las Vegas market," he said. NextLink Nevada provides a full array of facilities-based competitive local and inter-exchange telecommunications services to business and hotel customers in the Las Vegas area, including long distance access, switched services, long distance toll and private network connections. At year-end 1997, NextLink had more than 300 buildings connected to its network, counted over 3,500 access lines and 600 switched circuits. "Cox has already achieved terrific success in the commercial telephone business through Cox Fibernet. We're especially pleased to add this interest in NextLink Nevada to our existing commercial telecommunications business portfolio," Mr. Robbins said. Las Vegas One, a partnership with the Las Vegas Sun newspaper and Landmark Communications' local CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. affiliate, KLAS KLAS Keystone Library Automation System , is a 24 hour news channel with the market's only live prime time television news. "Cable is about local programming and local news is important, especially to all of Las Vegas' new residents," Mr. Robbins said. PrimeTel of Nevada will provide a bundled package of cable, local and long distance telephone, data and other telecommunications services MDUs in the Greater Las Vegas Area. "With our existing Cox MultiLink product, we've been a pioneer with this innovative concept to bundle various telecommunications products to MDUs," Mr. Robbins said. "Adding our experience and personnel will move this product forward in Las Vegas." Daniels & Associates represented the Sellers in this transaction. Salomon Smith Barney provided advisory services advisory services advisory services provided to the public, in their capacity as owners and managers of animals, are an important part of veterinary science. They may be provided by government bureaux, by commercial companies who deal in pharmaceuticals or animals or animal to Cox in connection with this transaction, and Goldman Sachs acted as advisor to the Greenspun Family. Closing of the transaction is subject to necessary government and regulatory approvals. Cox Communications, Inc. (NYSE:COX) is among the nation's largest broadband communications companies, presently serving some 3.3 million customers. As a full service provider of telecommunications products, Cox offers an array of services, including cable television under the Cox Cable brand; local and long distance telephone services under the Cox Digital Telephone brand; high speed Internet access via Cox@Home; commercial voice and data services under the Cox Fibernet and Cox@Work brands; and advanced digital video programming services under the Cox Digital TV brand. Cox is an equity partner in Sprint PCS (1) (Personal Communications Services) Refers to wireless services that emerged after the U.S. government auctioned commercial licenses in 1994 and 1995. This radio spectrum in the 1. , the nation's first national wireless personal communications service CONTACT: Cox Communications, Inc. News Media: David Andersen, 404/843-5855 Analysts and Investors: Mark Major, 404/843-5447 or The Greenspun family Brian Greenspun, 702/259-4003 or Prime Cable Jerry Lindauer, 512/476-7888 |
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