The Regulatory Commission of Alaska approved GCI Cable's purchase of Eyecom's Girdwood television facilities. The closing date will be June 1, GCI spokesman David Morris said.
The purchase clears the way for GCI to begin upgrades and expand into the telecommunications business in Girdwood, offering telephone and high-speed Internet services. Currently only ACS offers these services.
GCI agreed to buy Eyecom's facilities in Girdwood for $500,000. The company expects to spend at least three times that amount to convert the cable television analog signal to a digital signal and offer high definition television channels.
The upgrades will not happen immediately and cable subscribers will not see any improvements for about a year, said Morris.
There are approximately 500 cable subscribers in Girdwood, which has about 1,300 year-round residents.
Eyecom is a subsidiary of TelAlaska Inc., which is a group of companies—including Interior Telephone, Mukluk Telephone, TelAlaska Long Distance, and TelAlaska NetWorks—that provides telecommunications services throughout Alaska.
Eyecom also provides cable service to the communities of Galena and Unalaska and Dutch Harbor.
American Broadband Communications purchased TelAlaska in July 2008. After the purchase, the company approached GCI about buying its Girdwood cable facilities, and a purchasing agreement was finally reached last year.
General Communications, Inc., through various wholly owned subsidiaries, is the sole owner of GCI Cable, an Anchorage-based company providing cable TV, phone and internet services throughout the state.
