Liberty mulling OneLink acquisition
OneLink’s assets could find a new owner in Liberty Cable. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
Luquillo’s Liberty Cable is in talks to buy the assets of San Juan’s cable television provider OneLink Communications through a transaction that could be worth about $560 million, News is my Business learned.
If consummated, the deal would give Liberty Cablevision 145,000 new video subscribers, pushing that customer base to 223,000, and 88,000 new data customers, adding to its current base of 90,000 customers.
Liberty would become Puerto Rico’s largest cable carrier, with 400,000 customers, and would be better positioned to compete against Puerto Rico Telephone’s Internet protocol-based Claro TV service, which is expected to launch islandwide sometime this year, industry sources said.
The Luquillo-based company has a coverage area of 37 towns, where it offers interactive cable television services and Voice over Internet Protocol. Meanwhile, OneLink’s footprint covers eight towns in the San Juan metropolitan area.
Since June 2005, OneLink has been owned by private equity firms MidOcean Partners and Crestview Partners, which paid $250 million at the time to buy the property from the former Adelphia Communications Corp.
On Monday, Liberty Spokesman Gabriel Palerm said the “company does not comment on rumors.”
Please this be true….The present management of Onelink has buried the company…with no changes seen in the last 4 years except increase in my bill & change from analog to digital. I am still having the same data speed & limit as in 2007….& pay more for it now.
Liberty will have to invest $$$ to upgrade One Link infrastructure. Liberty uses Motorola systems wordwide in their cable systems. Choice Cable will be the next step for Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico.