By Daily Journal of Johnson County staff and wire reports
Central Indiana Insight customers will be writing their checks to a different cable company by year's end.
Comcast Corp. will take over cable, Internet and digital phone services from Insight Communications in Johnson County later this year, Insight spokeswoman Sandy Colony said.
The only change at first will be a new company name on the bill, Comcast spokesman Jerome Espy said. Eventually, subscribers could have additional channels, faster Internet speed and more on-demand channels, he said.
Customers will be notified in advance about any changes in service, channel selection, prices or billing when Comcast takes over, Espy said. Insight customers who subscribe to Internet service will get new e-mail addresses.
Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, will take over operation of cable systems it had operated jointly with Insight under the Insight Midwest partnership. Comcast inherited the partnership with its purchase of AT&T Broadband.
Insight and Comcast are dividing the partnership area in half, with Insight now owning the service rights to about 1.3 million households. Comcast bought out the stake it didn't inherit during the AT&T acquisition.
Under the deal, Comcast will own cable systems in Bloomington, Anderson, Lafayette and Kokomo and several in Illinois, and Insight will take sole ownership of cable systems that were previously operated by the partnership in Evansville, Columbus, Ohio, and several cities in Kentucky.
Federal regulations require Comcast to notify customers 30 days before it assumes control of the cable service.
"We're going to work to make the transition as seamless as possible for our customers," he said.
Insight has 79,000 customers in its central Indiana region, which includes most of Johnson County and parts of Morgan, Monroe, Putnam and Lawrence counties, regional Insight spokesman John Bobker said.
Charter Communications serves the southern part of the county, including Edinburgh and Prince's Lakes.
Comcast won't deal with any local governments when setting up in Johnson County.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission issues all franchises for video services after the General Assembly deregulated telecommunications last session.
All negotiations now go through the state, commission spokeswoman Mary Beth Fischer said.
Comcast, which also owns some sports teams and cable channels, serves customers in 39 states. It employs about 87,000 people nationwide.
Comcast likely will hire Insight's sales and technical staff, Colony said.