Vulcan Ventures Buys Remaining Stake in ZDTV From Ziff-Davis

Ziff-Davis (ZD Quote) announced on Friday morning that it is selling 64% of its stake in ZDTV, a 24-hour cable TV channel that is integrated with the Internet, to Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Ventures for nearly $205 million.

The sale means Vulcan furthers its massive expansion effort into cable TV as it now owns nearly all of ZDTV -- Vulcan bought 33% of the company nine months ago. Under the direction of Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT Quote), Vulcan has made its name acquiring a wide variety of companies in multiple industries, but a strong focus has been cable TV businesses like Charter Communications (CHTR Quote), the fourth largest in the nation.

Vulcan's new purchase is offered through 88 cable operators and reaches more than 14 million U.S. homes and should hit 16 million by the end of the year. The cable TV channel and integrated Web site is focused on computing, technology and the Internet, encouraging interaction from viewers through e-mail, live chats and video mail. ...