FCC options of scaling back program access rules drew no support from telcos, DBS providers and small cable operators, while operators that also own programming want the ban on exclusive deals for such content fully sunset. That’s according to initial comments on a rulemaking notice (CD March 22 p8). The document sought comment on whether to sunset the rules -- last extended for five years and expiring Oct. 5. Options the commission sought comment on other than keeping the rules or removing them in their entirety drew no support in docket 12-68. USTelecom and some others linked broadband service to keeping the rules, as cable rivals have in the past on video competition, saying subscription-video provider access to channels affiliated with operators helps them sell video and broadband.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and key FCC staff still have not decided whether to allow AT&T to withdraw its application to buy T-Mobile (CD Nov 28 p1), agency and industry officials said Monday. Genachowski would like to make the staff memo on the deal public, regardless of whether the application is allowed be withdrawn “without prejudice,” officials said. If the staff report is released, it could become part of an upcoming trial of the government’s case against the deal in U.S. District Court in Washington. Commissioners have yet to approve through electronic voting either an order sending the application to an administrative law judge for hearing or an order Genachowski circulated the same day approving AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm (CD Nov 23 p1), officials said.
Cablevision’s spinoff of Madison Square Garden Inc. is complete, the cable operator said. That leaves Cablevision with “best in class cable assets and free cash flow generation,” Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote investors. “While we think the possibility of consolidation at some point could be a long term catalyst for the company, as speculated in the media, we do not believe this is a near term opportunity.” Potential buyers such as Comcast are focused on other deals and returning cash to shareholders, she said, and founder Charles Dolan doesn’t appear to be interested in giving up his stake in the company he tried at least three times to take private.
Time Warner Cable converted about 5 percent of the over- the-air TV viewers in Wilmington, N.C., to new cable customers as a result of the Sept. 8 DTV switch there (CD Sept 19 p4), CEO Glenn Britt told a UBS conference in New York Monday.
Time Warner Cable converted about 5 percent of the over- the-air TV viewers in Wilmington, N.C., to new cable customers as a result of the Sept. 8 DTV switch there (CED Sept 19 p1), CEO Glenn Britt told a UBS conference in New York Monday.
State regulators in Me., N.H. and Vt. -- whose approval is needed for the $2.7 billion spinoff to FairPoint Communications of local Verizon landline operations in northern New England -- expect capital investment, service quality and rates to be major issues. FairPoint is known to regulators in those states as the 2nd-largest incumbent telco in Me., with 6 operating companies and 50,000 lines. It has a company with 5,000 lines in Vt. and one with 500 lines in N.H.
Time Warner executives were cagey in a Wed. earnings call with investors about how profitable newly acquired Adelphia cable systems will be this year and what the firm will have to spend upgrading the network to provide VoIP, broadband, VoD and other advanced services. The company updated its outlook for the year, saying it expects to convert 35%-45% of its adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization into free cash flow. Beyond that, executives declined to speculate on how the Adelphia takeover would affect the operations’ profit margins.
After a Q1 telecom “rally,” steady growth should continue in the upcoming quarter, experts said this week. Slow, rather than explosive, growth will characterize Q2, analysts said. They term the market in a renewal phase, though some cautioned investors might be overvaluing carriers’ worth and growth potential after several years of undervaluing them.
Time Warner, taking a cue from Carl Icahn, will boost its cable spinoff later this year to reduce business conflicts among the firm’s divisions and spark more content deals with other companies, said investors and analysts. The company plans to give 16% of Time Warner Cable to investors when it completes the $17.6 billion purchase of Adelphia systems with Comcast by June 30 (CD Feb 2 p13). Observers we spoke with agreed that figure likely will reach at least 20% now that the firm has said it’s studying other options for the cable unit in a settlement with the financier (CD Feb 21 p10). Icahn had pushed for Time Warner to completely separate itself from the cable unit, an option one investor said he supports.
LAS VEGAS -- American consumers have adopted wireless technologies faster the past 3 years than experts had anticipated, prompting Hollywood studios and networks to make mobile a top priority, speakers said at the NATPEMobile++ conference here Mon. Alex Bloom, Verizon Wireless assoc. dir.-programming, said “the Internet taught us [that] speed kills,” and “the consumer experience has improved. There is also real revenue now in mobile deliver content.”