A quartet of cable operators received approval from the U.S.
Department of Justice on its $3.9 billion sale of wireless spectrum to Verizon
Wireless, but not without a few concessions.
Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks agreed
in December
to sell their 122 Advanced Wireless Spectrum licenses -- held in a separate
entity called SpectrumCo -- to Verizon, a deal that also included a landmark
co-marketing agreement between the cable operators and the wireless giant, for
$3.6 billion.
Separately, Cox Communications also agreed to sell its AWS
spectrum to Verizon for $325 million.
The licenses, first purchased by SpectrumCo for $2.4 billion
in the federal AWS auctions in 2006, cover 259 million people across the
country.
That part of the deal was the source of some concern from
competitors many of whom filed objections to the deal after it was announced.
