TPG Capital Takeover of RCN, Grande Will Help DOCSIS 3.1 Rollout, They Say
Private equity firm TPG Capital taking over cable ISPs RCN and Grande Networks should lead to stronger independent competition in markets "served by some of the nation’s largest providers ... including Comcast, Charter, Verizon, and AT&T," said Radiate Holdings, Yankee…
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Cable and Grande Investment in a series of FCC International Bureau filings Thursday (for example, see here). The three asked for the transfer of RCN and Grande Networks Communications Act Section 214 authorizations to Radiate. Radiate is a holding company set up by TPG Capital, with minority partners in Radiate including Alphabet-owned Google Capital, an affiliate of Dragoneer Investment Group and some executives from Patriot Media Consulting. Patriot manages RCN and Grande for Yankee and Grande Investment, respectively, and will do the same for TPG after the close, said the filing. RCN has roughly 474,000 subscribers in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C., and Grande has more than 166,000 in Texas. The companies said RCN and Grande under one owner will bring "a single strategic focus," and Patriot "will be able to benefit from more favorable financing and programming arrangements and to achieve greater operational efficiencies." That eases such plans as a footprint-wide upgrade to DOCSIS 3.1, and makes them more competitive against larger rivals, it said. The RCN/Grande deals won't cut head-to-head competition in any market or give Radiant the incentive or ability to limit consumer access to online video distributor services, said the application. TPG's portfolio includes investments in Univision, Evolution Media and STX Filmworks, its website showed.