Rogers Cable Sells Franchises for $28 Million

Rogers Cablesystems has agreed to sell its cable television franchises serving 21,800 customers in southeast Los Angeles County to Massachusetts-based American Cablesystems Corp.

Rogers and American signed the agreement last month, and the transfer is expected to take place in three or four months. The sale price was $28 million, said Linda Moulton, Rogers’ vice president of programming and government affairs.

The franchises serve Downey, Santa Fe Springs, Bell Gardens, Paramount, Lynwood and La Mirada. Rogers is based in Toronto, Ontario, with corporate offices in Garden Grove.

“It had not been financially profitable for some time,” Moulton said. The franchises had lost about $10 million during the 1985 and 1986 fiscal years.

Local governments must approve the franchise transfers, which is expected to take about three to four months, Moulton said.

Rogers increased its rates on Jan. 1 to $14.95 a month for basic cable service, which includes 79 channels, and $11 each for additional pay channels, she said.

A spokesman for American, which is based in Beverly, Mass., said the firm may add channels to the service but probably will not change the rate structure.

American currently has franchises serving about 87,000 customers in Inglewood, Carson, Pomona, Westchester and Playa del Rey, Douglas said.