• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 14, 2010

Cablevision, which spent years building its lucrative footprint in the New York area, is now operating in the Rockies. The company has completed its acquisition of cable operator Bresnan Communications, which has about 300,000 TV customers in four Western states.

The operator has a potential customer base of 629,000 homes in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, giving Cablevision expansion opportunities. Cablevision serves 3 million TV customers in the New York region.

The acquisition price is $1.37 billion, from a group of owners led by Providence Equity Partners. Cablevision's share price has soared recently, as it has spun off Madison Square Garden and likely will do so with the Rainbow programming unit. The rise continued Tuesday, as the stock price was up slightly to $34.70.

Bresnan offers TV, Internet and phone service and sells them as a triple-play with a starter offer of about $100 a month.

Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge stated that his company has "tremendous respect for the Bresnan management team and employees" and plans to continue a "strong commitment to localism and local operations."

The 26-year-old Bresnan displayed some of the technological bent Cablevision is known for. Last year, it entered into a trial of dynamic ad insertion into VOD programming in four Montana markets. It has also been in a similar trial with Cablevision's Rainbow unit as it seeks to allow networks to insert updated creative into VOD streams, even as the same programming sits on a menu for months at a time.