* RCN closes sale of Megacable and MCM interests
RCN Corp. closed the previously-announced sale of its 48.93 percent interests in Megacable and Megacable Communicaciones de Mexico to Teleholding, a Mexican entity comprised of the current shareholders of Megacable and MCM.
The implied deal value at closing for these assets was approximately $350 million, according to RCN. RCN expects after-tax proceeds of $300 million, which it intends to use to repay debt as required under its various debt agreements.
After these repayments, and after adjusting for the previously-announced acquisition of Consolidated Edison Communications Holding Company, RCN’s total debt outstanding will be reduced to approximately $200 million, and net debt will be reduced to approximately $95 million. RCN said the debt reductions should realize nearly $30 million of annualized interest savings, and should lead to positive free cash flow in the second half of 2006.
* OEN expands IPTV lineup
Optical Entertainment Network has cut carriage deals with GSN, Lifetime, Oxygen, and Tennis Channel. The company will now be able to broadcast those channels on its Fision fiber-to-the-home IPTV service. With those four networks, OEN now has a stable of 400 channels it can offer.
OEN will initially provide its service to 1.6 million households in Houston, Texas, the 10th largest television market in the U.S., over an existing FTTH network covering the majority of the city.
In addition to IPTV, Fision also provides Internet access, voice, VOD and other broadband applications including home security, videoconferencing, gaming, and telemedicine.