Case Study: An MSO Buys a Competitor

A large public cable operator (MSO) in the United States is the dominant service provider in several specific pockets of a particular state.  The company agreed to acquire a primary competitor serving nine contiguous cities, with a combined population of more than 100,000.  No incumbent had ever acquired a private sector overbuilder on this scale, federal law allows the local franchise authorities (LFA's) to deny consent to transfer in order to preserve competition and state law grants the LFA a right to purchase the system.  Bremer Law, P.C., working together with buyer and seller,  was responsible for securing the necessary LFA consents while simultaneously preparing well-researched political and legal responses to arguments that the transaction should be denied. 

Objective

• Help the MSO gain the approval of necessary regulatory bodies to complete the acquisition.

Strategies

• Before announcing the transaction publicly, the team conducted thorough preparatory work:
• We outlined the benefits of the transaction in as much detail as possible.
• We developed a comprehensive overview of all competitors in the market for voice, video and data services to respond to the argument that we were eliminating competition.
• We identified key decision makers and influencers and created a clear transition plan.

• After this work was done, our team met with elected officials, city attorneys, city managers and key community leaders to answer questions and address concerns.
• Multiple public hearings and meetings were held in each of the nine affected cities; our team actively participated in all public forums arguing the benefits of the transaction.
• We also assembled a press packet and conducted editorial board meetings with local press.

Results

The acquisition closed successfully, on time, with all LFA’s consenting.