Word: merger
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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WASHINGTON: When AT&T and cable giant Telecommunications Inc.(TCI) announced merger plans last month, FCC chairman William Kennard jumped right in and gave his blessing. The merger promised new technologies and new conveniences for customers. So why has Congress been holding hearings on the merger when its members should be out campaigning or something? Two words: Ralph Nader...
...simple enough: hooking up AT&T and TCI (1997 revenues: $7.6 billion) "will enable us to offer a full portfolio of services with one connection from one company. And this is a big deal." So big, in fact, that there was a hint of desperation about the merger, which sped to a conclusion after just eight days of talks in the Manhattan offices of Wachtell, Lipton, AT&T's legal counsel. "Time was closing in on us," says Armstrong, who at 59 remains a man in a hurry who relaxes by roaring down roads on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Concurs...
...consumer-related businesses of the new AT&T. A similar tracking stock already exists for Liberty Media, TCI's cable-programming arm, whose holdings include the Discovery Channel and Black Entertainment Television. Malone, 57, who controls 86% of the Liberty stock, will continue to run that company after the merger but will leave...
However Wall Street may have viewed the deal, some regulators saw it as a welcome spur to local competition--even as the Baby Bells howled. William E. Kennard, chairman of the FCC, says the merger looks "eminently thinkable." That hardly heartened US West and Bell Atlantic--which last year gobbled up neighboring NYNEX--which demanded access to long-distance markets should the deal go through. So far, Washington has barred the Bells from offering long-distance service to their own local customers on ground that they have not yet opened their "loops" to such rivals...
...their deal is approved, Malone and Armstrong hope the merger will be a kind of business Viagra for AT&T's famously languid corporate culture. The two say their merged companies could start phasing in these hot new services swiftly. About 25% of TCI's systems will have the capacity to carry two-way traffic by the end of this year, with 95% scheduled to be ready by the end of 2000. At the same time, AT&T plans to spend some $400 per household to install the digital set-top boxes that will serve as portals to high-speed...