BendBroadband has bought Chambers Cable System, which serves 3,500 subscribers in Sunriver and Crossriver, Ore., as well as surrounding areas.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but BendBroadband expects it to close by the end of this month.
Chambers Cable serves the Sunriver Owners Association and resort, and BendBroadband already has a plan in place to upgrade the system and services.
“We are pleased that we could put this deal together to bring Sunriver into BendBroadband’s larger central Oregon footprint. Once the technology is upgraded, homeowners and businesses can expect the same high-quality service we are known for in the region. The BendBroadband team looks forward to welcoming Sunriver-area customers to our company. We will work closely with the Sunriver Owners Association and the resort while we complete the improvements over the next 14 months. Chambers Cable employees will join us at BendBroadband,” said BendBroadband CEO Amy Tykeson.
BendBroadband has obtained a 10-year access agreement from the Sunriver Owners Association to provide cable services to the resort. BendBroadband will upgrade the entire system to 860 MHz, convert cable TV services to all-digital and migrate customers to its offerings as the upgrades are finished in each section of the service area.
Sunriver falls within BendBroadband’s BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) initiative that was awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to extend broadband access into rural communities. The132-mile fiber ring, which is almost completed, will serve up optical network infrastructure to rural cities in central Oregon once it’s completed.
Wade Holmes, BendBroadband’s vice president of technology, said construction on the project was set to begin as soon as possible.
“We have design and validation steps to perform before breaking ground, and we’ll start by targeting opportunities that can provide immediate benefit to the highest number of customers,” he said.
Holmes said that the construction would be divided into five phases over the 14-month span.
As the upgrades are finished, Chambers Cable residential and business customers will be moved to BendBroadband’s digital cable TV and Internet offerings, which include data tiers up to 100 Mbps, Alpha whole-home DVR – which uses Arris’ gateways – VOD programming, 107 HD channels and BendBroadband2Go TV Everywhere.
Residents and businesses will also have access to BendBroadband’s phone service. Business services include hosted PBX, T-1/PRI and 1 Gbps optical Ethernet.
BendBroadband also noted that Evolution Digital’s high-definition universal digital terminal adapters (HD uDTAs) that it’s deploying are a good fit for Sunriver’s rental homes and overnight lodging facilities.