PacTel to Acquire Wireless Cable Firms : Telecom: Purchase will allow company to compete with cable concerns in offering TV service in a number of states.

Pacific Telesis Group on Wednesday announced an agreement to acquire two wireless cable companies so it can provide TV services in California and other states by late next year or early 1997.

The company will buy Wireless Holdings Inc. and Videotron Bay Area Inc. in a stock swap valued at between $160 million and $175 million, depending on future adjustment. The deal, which depends on regulators’ approval, includes the acquisition of $55 million in debt by PacTel.

Pacific Telesis plans to offer the service to 9 million homes in California, Washington, South Carolina and Florida.

Wireless cable companies rely on microwave transmissions to deliver a range of program choices as varied as those on cable TV. Such companies have relatively few subscribers compared to ordinary cable, but they are viewed with interest by phone companies as a fast and relatively inexpensive way to enter the TV business.

PacTel’s purchase will allow it to compete with cable concerns in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Victorville, Calif., as well as Seattle and Spokane, Wash., Tampa, Fla., and Greenville, S.C., by offering a video alternative, said Michael Fitzpatrick, PacTel Enterprise Group president.

“We see the general disgruntlement of cable customers in the area with their providers,” he said.

The purchases will complement the company’s recently announced plan to provide wireless digital TV service in Southern California.

The telephone company hopes to offer more than 100 channels of programming, including premium services such as HBO, pay-per-view movies and events, as well as video on demand and educational programming.

Wireless service will also provide a better picture and sound, Fitzpatrick said.