Fall Out from the SpectrumCo./Verizon Wireless Deal
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, December 12, 2011 · 
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The industry continues to experience fall-out from Verizon’s recently announced spectrum purchase and joint sales, technology and marketing partnership with the cable industry.
Comcast is moving quickly. While the spectrum sale will likely take up to 12 months to receive regulatory approval, Comcast Cable President Neil Smit announced last week that the cable company will begin bundling Verizon Wireless services in four markets in early 2012. ”The teams are already engaged; they are great commercial arrangements and we think we’ve put together great packages that combine the best of the various bundles,” Smit said, while speaking at a UBS investor conference. Read more
Verizon to Acquire Large Chunk of AWS Spectrum via Cable Companies
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, December 5, 2011 · ·
Verizon Wireless announced last Friday that it has agreed to pay $3.6 billion to a consortium of cable providers for 122 advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum licenses covering approximately 259 million people, or more than 85% of the U.S. population.
As part of the purchase agreement with SpectrumCo LLC — a joint venture controlled by Comcast Corp. which includes Time Warner Cable, Inc. and Bright House Networks -– the cable companies will be able to re-sell Verizon Wireless services on a wholesale basis, adding wireless to their service bundles. For its part, Verizon Wireless also will be able to sell the cable companies’ services. It’s unclear at this time if Verizon will choose to market the cable companies’ wired services in areas where is also is the incumbent telco.
Additionally, the cable companies and Verizon Wireless said that they “have formed an innovation technology joint venture for the development of technology to better integrate wireline and wireless products and services.” Read more
Iowa Communications Network on the Block
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, November 28, 2011 · (1) ·
The Iowa Communications Network (ICN), a statewide fiber-optics network, is going up for sale or lease. A special committee authorized by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and the Iowa state legislature is outlining the parameters by which state officials will solicit offers for the ICN and its 8,661 miles of fiber optic cable by June 30, 2013. The bids will be solicited from private vendors.
The network, which was built in the 1990s with federal money using public transportation rights-of-way and is based in the Iowa National Guard’s command center, can be transferred into private hands only under specific circumstances. Of key importance, the local Gazette newspaper, which broke the news that ICN was on the block, states that a buyer or lessee would be allowed to use the network only to serve existing authorized users and must continue providing all products at a lower overall long-term cost. Read more
Update: Hulu Bids
Posted by Steve Fravel on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 · ·
If the list of bidders in the proposed sale of Hulu are Google, Yahoo, Dish Network and Amazon, which company would you likely pick to have made the highest bid? If you selected Google you’d be correct, although there is a “but” after the price pledged. Google has placed conditions on the bid that may make it less attractive than the next largest bid. Read more
Time Warner Cable to Buy Insight Communications
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, August 15, 2011 · ·
Time Warner Cable announced today that it has agreed to purchase Insight Communications for $3 billion in cash. The transaction, subject to customary closing conditions, will fortify Time Warner Cable’s mid-Eastern presence, adding more than 750,000 total subscribers in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
Insight serves some 537,000 high-speed data subscribers, 679,000 video subscribers and 297,000 voice subscribers. The company also operates cn|2, a news and information network, which it delivers to a subset of its customers. Insight has invested in substantial infrastructure improvements, including digital conversions and DOCSIS 3.0 deployment. Read more
Windstream to Acquire PAETEC
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, August 1, 2011 · ·
Windstream Corp. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PAETEC Holding Corp. in a transaction valued at approximately $2.3 billion.
To pay for the acquisition, Windstream expects to issue approximately 73 million shares of stock valued at approximately $891 million, based on the company’s closing stock price on July 29, 2011. Windstream also will assume or refinance PAETEC’s net debt of approximately $1.4 billion at the time of closing. PAETEC stockholders are expected to own approximately 13% of the combined company upon closing of the transaction.
With this acquisition, Windstream will gain access to seven new data centers and have improved capability to serve multi-location business customers in 46 states and the District of Columbia. The company will maintain approximately 100,000 fiber route miles across the country–36,700 miles courtesy of PAETEC’s holdings. Read more
Apple Considers Hulu
Posted by Steve Fravel on Friday, July 22, 2011 · ·
Although the company declined to publicly comment, Apple is said to be in discussions concerning a possible bid for online video site Hulu. Last week, the owners of Hulu — Walt Disney Co., News Corp., Comcast and NBC Universal — confirmed that the ownership of Hulu was definitely in play.
A possible Hulu acquisition would provide Apple with a new subscription service featuring more video. Currently Apple provides video for it’s popular iTunes customers on an on-demand rental basis rather than a subscription. Comcast, Disney and News Corp. have built a program rights extension of five years into the sale, creating a strong potential alternative to Netflix.
Estimates are that Hulu will command more than $2 billion.
For more, see this Bloomberg News article.