U.S. cable service provider Cable One Inc. is spinning off from Graham Holding Co. (GHC). As part of the transaction, Cable One will issue a $200 million revolving credit facility and $550 million of new debt, of which $450 million will be used to fund a dividend to GHC. We are assigning a 'BB' corporate credit rating to Cable One. We are also assigning a 'BBB-' issue-level rating to the company's proposed $200 million senior secured revolver and $100 million term loan A and a 'BB' issue-level rating to its $450 million of senior unsecured notes. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that leverage will gradually increase to the mid-2x area from 1.8x because of debt-financed acquisitions or share repurchases,
