Patriot Media & Communications CNJ, LLC was formed in 2002 by cable veteran Steven J. Simmons and Spectrum Equity Investors, a private equity firm specializing in media and communications investments. The company acquired RCN, an undermanaged cable system serving 31 franchise territories in Central New Jersey, in February 2003. The company's service area encompassed over 118,000 homes with 2,700 miles of plant and was managed by members of the Patriot Media Consulting team. Operational improvements and the build-out of a state-of-the-art network capable of supporting a triple-play customer offering led to a dramatic turnaround for the underperforming property and resulted in one of the most technologically-advanced cable television systems in the US.

In 2006 Patriot Media was presented with the "Independent Operator of the Year" award by CableWORLD Magazine, recognizing the system's technical excellence, advanced product deployment, superior customer service and outstanding financial performance.

Following a rebranding of the product and the relaunch of the system's offerings, the management team succeeded in developing one of the best performing cable systems in the country with industry-leading revenue and EBITDA per customer. This success was achieved by hiring a new, experienced management team; rebuild/upgrade completion seven months ahead of schedule; dramatic improvements in technical procedure and picture quality; office consolidation and the hiring of an additional 150 full-time employees; numerous channel additions with a restructured category-based lineup; overall rebranding of the company, packaging and pricing; development of local on-air programs highlighting local college and high school sports; launch of new products such as digital phone, DVRs, VOD, HDTV and commercial high-speed internet; and numerous internet speed increases.

These measures captured the industry's attention and led to the system's sale to Comcast four and one-half years after the original contract signing at a price of approximately $6,000 per subscriber, one of the highest prices ever paid for a cable system.