Sale of Valley Cable TV’s Parent Set

The bidding war for Standard Broadcasting, the corporate parent of Chatsworth-based Valley Cable TV, appeared Tuesday to have been won by the company that offered to buy the Toronto-based media firm before the takeover battle began.

The apparent winner, Slaight Communications, is expected to acquire the 49% controlling interest held in Standard Broadcasting by Hollinger Argus Ltd. for $22 (Canadian) a share. Hollinger Argus said it rejected a late competing bid of $24 (Canadian) a share from Selkirk Communications, the other Canadian suitor.

At current exchange rates, the Slaight Communications offer for all of Standard Broadcasting’s 5.9 million shares is worth $95 million in U.S. dollars.

Standard Broadcasting officials said they believe that Selkirk Communications has now run out of options for trying to block Slaight Communications’ acquisition of their company.

“That would appear to be the end of it,” said Larry Nichols, the president and chief operating officer of Standard Broadcasting.

Valley Cable officials said day-to-day operations at the company, which serves 56,800 subscribers in the western San Fernando Valley and the City of San Fernando, have not been affected by the competition to acquire their corporate parent.

Hollinger Argus executives said they accepted the lower tender offer from Slaight Communications because of a tentative agreement they reached with Slaight in May. They said the legal cost of pulling out of that agreement would more than offset the higher price of Selkirk Communications’ bid.

Hollinger Argus also said it wanted to end the uncertainty in the Canadian stock market and among Standard Broadcasting executives caused by the competing offers.

Approval of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission still is required before Slaight Communications’ acquisition of Standard Broadcasting can be completed. The commission is scheduled to vote on the issue in October.

Under Slaight Communications’ agreement with Hollinger Argus, it has the option to sever Valley Cable from the rest of Standard Broadcasting and sell the cable operation back.

Officials of Slaight Communications, which owns two radio stations and a billboard company, and Selkirk Communications, a much larger Toronto company with diverse broadcasting and cable-television interests, could not be reached for comment.