Business

Charter announces $1B debt offer

April 19, 2013 1:09 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Charter Communications announced a series of financial moves, most designed to manage corporate debt. One action is designed to help finance the acquisition of Bresnan Communications from Cablevision. Some of the proceeds from some of the other maneuvers, notably an offer of $1 billion in notes, will also go to fund general corporate purposes.

Bright House Networks donates data services to non-profit

April 19, 2013 12:44 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

In order to help jumpstart new technology businesses, Bright House Networks Business Solutions announced that it has partnered with Tampa Bay WaVE, a non-profit organization that helps entrepreneurs. As part of the partnership, Bright House Networks donated a 200 Mbps high capacity, highly survivable fiber dedicated Internet Access connection to support the communication needs of the organization.

Provo next after Austin for Google Fiber

April 18, 2013 2:35 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Google will take over a troubled municipal fiber-optic system and make Provo, Utah, the third city to get its high-speed Internet service via fiber-optic cables. Google Fiber was rolled out in Kansas City, Mo., last year; company announced earlier this month it will make Austin, Texas, the second city to get ultra-fast Internet service.

8 finalists for Cable Show’s CIO.IT | competition

April 18, 2013 2:27 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Eight executives of vendor companies will offer presentations as they compete in the fourth annual CIO.IT | Competition 2013. The presentations focus on either cloud-based and service oriented architecture (SOA) technology that can enhance cable operations; or operational and business opportunities from “big data.”

Tech execs fill 2013 Vanguard slate

April 18, 2013 2:19 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The recipients of the 2013 Vanguard Awards include several high-profile technology leaders, including William Goetz of Time Warner Cable, and William Stemper and John Schanz, both of Comcast. Nancy Dubuc of A+E Networks and Patrick Esser of Cox Communications are the recipients of the Distinguished Leadership awards.

Verizon FiOS adds outweigh DSL losses in Q1

April 18, 2013 2:07 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Verizon added a total of 188,000 FiOS Internet and 169,000 FiOS video subscribers in its first quarter. Verizon ended the quarter with a total of 5.6 million FiOS Internet and 4.9 million FiOS video connections. It also migrated 83,000 homes from copper to fiber.

Arris names new executive leadership team

April 18, 2013 2:00 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Arris CEO Bob Stanzione has assembled his new leadership team now that the deal to buy Motorola’s Home division closed yesterday. Former Charter Communications CTO Marwan Fawaz, who joined Motorola last year, won’t be a part of the new executive team, but Stanzione said in a company memo that Fawaz would stay on board over the next few weeks to help with the transition.

Rogers buys data center subsidiary, strikes M2M deal with Raco

April 18, 2013 12:52 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

In order to better serve its business customers, Rogers Communications announced yesterday that had bought a data center subsidiary from Primus Telecommunications Group for $200 million. Rogers paid cash for Primus’ Blackiron Data and the acquisition closed yesterday.

Comcast doles out promotions

April 18, 2013 12:48 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast announced a slew of promotions this morning in its business services and communications and data service departments. On the communications and data services side, Susan Jin Davis was promoted to senior vice president, strategic services for communications and data services.

DirecTV sets up network with Mariners

April 17, 2013 1:54 pm | News | Comments

The Mariners and DirecTVSports Networks are partners in a new regional sports network where the franchise will be the majority stakeholder in the operation. The deal will run through the conclusion of the 2030 baseball season with DirecTVSports Networks taking a minority position but overseeing the daily management of the network.

Arris’ pickup of Moto a done deal

April 17, 2013 12:57 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Stick a fork in Arris’ acquisition of Motorola. Arris announced this morning that its $2.3 billion deal to buy Motorola Mobility’s Home division from Google was wrapped up. The completion of the acquisition, which was first announced Dec. 19, came after the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) signed off on the deal on Friday.

Comcast hires Adamson as VP of commercial business services in Mile High Region

April 17, 2013 12:47 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast has hired Shawn Adamson as its vice president of commercial business services for its Mile High Region. In her new job, Adamson will lead Comcast’s portfolio of business offerings and services, including the company’s Metro Ethernet suite of services that were launched two years ago.

Cable One’s Burge retires after 50 years in customer service

April 17, 2013 12:41 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

With more than 50 years in customer service, Barbara Burge has no doubt seen and heard it all in the cable industry, but she recently announced her retirement as Cable One’s general manager in Altus, Okla. Her career started out in 1962 at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company where she worked as a service representative

In the media: Verizon offers to buy Clearwire spectrum

April 15, 2013 2:00 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Verizon Wireless has reportedly offered to buy spectrum rights from Clearwire Corp. for up to $1.5 billion. Clearwire had earlier agreed to be bought out by majority shareholder Sprint Nextel Corp. Sprint has, in turn, agreed to sell 70 percent of itself to Japan's Softbank Corp.

Dish leapfrogs Softbank with $25.5B bid for Sprint

April 15, 2013 1:53 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | News | Comments

Dish Networks' $25.5 billion merger bid for Sprint represents a 13 percent premium over the value of Softbank’s current offer. Softbank’s bid, valued at approximately $20 billion, would put the Japanese cellular giant in control of 70 percent of Sprint.