Cable Merger to Mean Loss of Some Jobs

The Irvine headquarters of Times Mirror Cable Television will be relocated to Atlanta as a result of the company’s planned partnership with Cox Enterprises Inc., a move that is expected to lead to the loss of an unspecified number of the 200 total jobs here.

“I would suspect that (Times Mirror Cable’s) Irvine (headquarters) would be shrunken somewhat in size by virtue of duplication,” James O. Robbins, president of Cox Cable Communications Inc., Cox’s cable unit, said Monday in a news conference from Atlanta.

Atlanta-based Cox has announced a $2.3-billion plan to merge its cable interests with that of Times Mirror Co. to create the nation’s third-largest cable TV company. It said much of the work done at Times Mirror’s Orange County cable operation, Dimension Cable--which employs some 950 people--is likely to duplicate work performed by Cox employees in San Diego County.

Larry W. Wangberg, president of Times Mirror Cable, is expected to remain with Times Mirror in a new capacity.

Programming changes may also be in the works for a small number of Dimension’s 181,000 Orange County subscribers. The companies say they are exploring a test of interactive information and entertainment services to nearly 43,000 homes and businesses in an Irvine-based cable network later this year. The network includes parts of Tustin and the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.