Wednesday,  Nov. 27, 2013 • Vol. 16--No. 134 • 19 of 36

News from the

Midcontinent expanding into ND's largest city

• FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota-based cable company is expanding into North Dakota's largest city, at a cost of about $55 million.
• Sioux Falls-based Midcontinent Communications will begin offering cable TV, broadband Internet and telephone services in Fargo next year, giving residents of that city a second cable company option. Midcontinent hopes to begin the expansion in the spring, pending city approval, and sign up its first residential and business customers next fall, according to KFGO radio.
• Midcontinent President and CEO Pat McAdaragh said the company has delayed entering the Fargo market -- a city of about 110,000 people -- because of the cost and the fact that the company went through a management change three years ago.
• "Now is the right time," he said.
• Cable One is the only current cable provider in Fargo.
• General Manager Scott Geston told The Forum newspaper that the company welcomes the chance to compete with Midcontinent in Fargo -- just as it does in the neighboring cities of West Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn.
• "It (competition) makes businesses more sharp and in tune with customer demands and needs," he said.
• Midcontinent has more than 300,000 customers in 335 communities in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

SD casino to appeal unprecedented punishment

• DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) -- Owners of the Four Aces Casino in Deadwood say they plan to appeal to circuit court a $25,000 fine and a 15-day suspension of the business's gambling license.
• South Dakota's Commission on Gaming says the casino has repeatedly failed to provide accurate, complete and legible revenue reports, dating to 2008. The license suspension takes effect Monday.
• Commission Executive Secretary Larry Eliason has said it's the largest penalty he can remember in his nearly two decades with the commission.
• Casino General Manager Tony Sieber tells the Rapid City Journal that the penalties are "exceptionally harsh" and could threaten as many as 100 jobs as Christmas

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