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A major Central Kentucky cable provider could see a change in its ownership and future direction by the end of the month.
Time Warner Cable, which serves 80,000 homes in the counties around Lexington and in other Kentucky cities including Ashland and Owensboro, could soon be spun off by majority shareholder Time Warner. The latter owns 84 percent of the company's stock.
The move would not have an immediate effect on customers, an area company official said.
"I've been through similar internal spinoffs, and it's never had any impact on customers," said Robert Trott, general manager of Time Warner Cable Central Kentucky.
Earlier this year, executives at conglomerate Time Warner, which also owns Warner Bros., Time and AOL, said they didn't think Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable company, fit with the overall company.
"So we're initiating direct discussions with their management and their separate board of directors, regarding our ownership in Time Warner Cable ..." said Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, adding that the company expected to make a decision on its ownership stake by its April 30 first-quarter earnings report.
On its own, Time Warner Cable could be better positioned to make acquisitions and could attempt to take another look at Lexington cable provider Insight Communications, which itself explored a potential sale last year.
"It would make sense for Time Warner Cable because they're in tangential geographical areas," said David Joyce, media analyst with Miller Tabak. Time Warner Cable gained its strong foothold in Kentucky after buying up the assets of the bankrupt Adelphia Communications along with cable giant Comcast. It also operates in Cincinnati.
Insight, meanwhile, has more than 650,000 customers in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. It operates in both Lexington and Louisville.
Joyce said potential purchase prices are also at historic lows, another encouraging factor if Time Warner Cable hoped to make some acquisitions.
But that would also mean that Insight owner The Carlyle Group would probably be less likely to sell. The private equity group pulled Insight from the auction block last year after bids reportedly came in lower than expected because of the credit market crunch. Time Warner Cable's chief executive had said at the time that the company was looking into Insight.
