GIVE ME LIBERTY, FCC SAYS
April 24: May be required to divest programming investor Liberty Media Group to win FCC approval of $56.4 billion buy of MediaOne Group.
BOSTON DEAL AIN'T FOR BEANS
April 18: Agrees to pay $1.16 billion for Cablevision's 357,850 subscribers in Boston for $284 million cash and $878 million in stock; AT & T adds 125,000 customers in suburban NYC suburbs previously served by MediaOne. Cablevision is about 38% owned by AT & T.
FCC REBUFFED
April 6: Refuses FCC request for information about the number of customers of a combined AT & T and MediaOne. The new AT & T would far exceed the FCC's households limits with service to more than 50% of the country. On Jan. 18, AT & T asked for 18 months more to comply with the rules. On Oct. 8,'99, AT & T said no "significant divestitures" were due.
EXCITE-ING NEWS
March 29: Grants options to Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc. to sell their stakes in Excite@Home Corp. to AT & T for up to $3 billion next year. AT & T already owns 56% of the Internet-access provider. In return, Comcast and Cox agree to carry Excite on their cable lines through 2006.
IN A NEW YORK MINUTE
March 8: Agrees to market local and long-distance telephone service with Time Warner Cable in Albany and Syracuse, N.Y. On Feb. 23, Cablevision agreed to give AT & T access to its 2.8 million New York-area subs.
HINDERY HEADS OUT
Oct. 6, 1999: Cable icon and AT & T Broadband and Internet Services President Leo Hindery departs. Hindery, formerly president of Tele-Communications Inc., came to AT & T when the telephone company bought TCI in March 1999.
CHARTER DEAL
Oct. 1, 1999: In three-way trade, AT & T and Charter complete $2.4 billion deal for InterMedia Partners. Deal calls for Charter to exchange 400,000 subs in four states for 140,000 subs in three states, plus cash to InterMedia.
2. Time Warner
Time Warner Cable
290 Harbor Drive
Stamford, Conn. 06902
(203) 328-0600
Top executive: Joe Collins, chairman
Ownership: Time Warner Inc., publicly traded; major shareholders include Ted Turner, Liberty Media, Janus Capital; MediaOne Group separately owns 26% of TW cable operations.
Homes passed: 20,700,000
Basic subscribers: 12,700,000
Basic penetration: 61.3%
Digital-ready homes: 12,513,000
Digital subs: 613,000
Digital penetration: 4.9%
High-speed Internet-ready homes: 9,555,000
High-speed Internet subs: 447,000
Internet penetration: 4.7%
Major clusters: New York City; Los Angeles; Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Houston; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; Akron, Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Raleigh-Fayetteville, Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C.; and Columbia, S.C.
