SureWest East

Two weeks ago I reported on SureWest Communications’ stated desire to scale its fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) business through acquisition.

At the time, I offered the only potential candidates I could think of, under time pressure, that might appear on SureWest’s short list. (At the time, the company emphasized it was looking far and wide for M&A, not just near its California network.) Financially struggling Eagle Broadband, with a video headend in Miami, was one possibility, I said, as was Optical Entertainment Network, a Texas-based triple-play provider that had acquired Eagle’s fiber network in the Houston area.

Since then, both those candidates have become more distressed and thus easier takeover targets. Eagle declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, operating as a “debtor in possession” firm. And OEN has suddenly discontinued all services, for reasons that remain a mystery.

SureWest has almost $32 million in cash and equivalents. Eagle, in its bankruptcy filing, claimed less than $3 million in assets and nearly $9 million in liabilities. But it’s not clear what shape the business is in, with declining broadband service revenue and a model that relies on a third party for sales. Details on privately held OEN are a lot more sketchy. This summer the company claimed its FTTP network passed 5,000 homes, with a penetration rate “between 18% and 32%.”

Whatever OEN’s issues are (the company’s not returning -- or even taking -- messages, and Thomas Wendt, its CEO before it began offering services earlier this year, told me this morning he doesn’t know what’s going on at his old outfit), it shares SureWest’s enthusiasm for HDTV. OEN claimed to offer 40 HD channels, and SureWest is reaching for at least 38 this month.

Of course, no matter how these recent events affect the potential buying price of these companies, it doesn’t necessarily mean either one is a good choice for SureWest. But the possibility of cheap expansion should lure SureWest to at least examine each one.

But which other candidates am I leaving out? If you were SureWest, what would YOU buy?

E-mail me at ed.gubbins@penton.com.