HSA agrees to Charter buyout

Charter Communications will buy out the portions of High Speed Access (HSA) used to serve Charter’s high-speed data customers for $81.1 million in cash. Additionally, all 75,000 shares of HSA’s stock held by Charter and its partner, Vulcan Ventures, will be canceled, as will all warrants held by Charter to purchase shares of HSA common stock.

Charter bid on HSA’s assets this summer after HSA announced its reorganization plan. HSA has shut down service to one-way cable TV markets and is planning an exit from all two-way cable systems with the exception of those with which it will continue to work with Charter.

HSA also has ceased working in the DSL market and is winding down its turnkey and Web-hosting businesses as part of a company-wide effort to reduce operating costs. The only assets the company is operating are related to provisioning international cable-based Internet services to Kabel Nordrhein-Wefalen in Germany as part of a three-year master services agreement.

Finally, HSA said it has reduced its work force to include only those employees that Charter will hire on the closing date later this year--those necessary to operate assets operated as a going concern after the closing and the wind-down of other assets.

--Jim Barthold, senior editor