Cablevision Systems Corp. agreed Monday to buy Tele-Communications Inc.’s cable TV units in the New York area for almost $1.09 billion in stock and assumed debt.
The purchase of systems with 820,000 subscribers furthers Woodbury, N.Y.-based Cablevision’s strategy of building systems in large media markets.
It gives Tele-Communications a 33 percent stake in the nation’s sixth-largest cable company and lets Englewood, Colo.-based TCI trim a $14 billion debt that has sapped earnings and hurt its stock price.
Cablevision shares, which had fallen 24 percent in the last year, jumped $9.75, to $44.37. TCI investors also approved the move, sending shares up $1, to $16.06.
More than half of the systems–in New Jersey, Long Island and New York suburbs–have been upgraded to allow for high-speed Internet access, digital TV and other services, Cablevision said.
