Paragon Cable was a cable system based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was owned by Houston Industries.

Beginnings

Formed in the 1980s, Paragon Cable was the largest cable provider in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

with 177,100 subscribers in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

and South Central Minnesota. In the latter years, it has expanded to serve other states, such as

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and in the Borough of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

above west 79 Street and East 86 Streets (absorbing the former TelePrompter/Group W Cable franchise area).

Time Warner merger

In 1995, Houston Industries,

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

, and KBLCOM, Inc. inked an agreement, in which

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

would acquire all assets of Paragon Cable and the entire stock of KBLCOM.Parent company of Paragon Cable Minnesota announces strategic alliance with Time Warner Inc.
- AllBusiness.com (released January 27, 1995) The deal was finalized in 1999 and all of the Paragon assets were transferred into Time Warner's portfolio, however some headends (like one in Irving, Texas) kept Paragon Cable's verbal ident until late 2000. As for the assets in

, they were spun off in 2002 to a new company,

Bright House Networks Bright House Networks, LLC also simply known as Bright House, was an American telecom company. Prior to its purchase by Charter Communications, it was the tenth-largest multichannel video service provider and the 6th largest cable internet prov ...

. Some former Paragon systems, such as in Oregon and Texas, would later be sold or swapped to AT&T Broadband, who in turn sold it to Comcast in 2003. Coincidentally, the North Texas cluster formerly served by Comcast was swapped back to Time Warner Cable in August 2006; the Minnesota cluster was transferred to Comcast as part of this transaction. In 2016, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks were acquired by

Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribe ...

, and was absorbed into the

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

brand.

References

{{CATV USA Time Warner Cable Comcast Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States Technology companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct companies based in Minnesota Telecommunications companies established in 1980 American companies established in 1980 1980 establishments in Minnesota 2000 disestablishments in Minnesota