Business

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.

Motorola connects Howard Community College with POL

April 15, 2013 12:41 pm | Products | Comments

Columbia, Maryland-based Howard Community College is using Motorola Mobility’s passive optical LAN (POL) platform to provide IP connectivity in its new Heath Sciences building. The fiber-optic network will serve more than 1,500 Ethernet ports, and was designed and deployed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

Comcast strikes Ethernet accord with Nationals

April 15, 2013 12:35 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast Business announced today that it has signed a multi-year deal with the Washington Nationals to provide its Ethernet services in the ballpark. The Ethernet Dedicated Internet (EDI) line from Comcast serves as the backbone for Wi-Fi and other data services at Nationals Park.

EU signs off on Liberty Global’s deal to buy Virgin Media

April 15, 2013 12:28 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The European Commission announced this morning that it had put its stamp of approval on Liberty Global’s $23 billion purchase of Virgin Media. The European Commission found that the deal, which was announced earlier this year, didn’t raise any competitive concerns.

From NAB: Broadcasters wary of spectrum plans

April 12, 2013 2:13 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Broadcasters lost access to spectrum in the transition to digital TV in 2009, and are worried they'll lose more under in a complicated reverse auction. The U.S. wants to clear 500 megaHertz of spectrum by 2020, with 120 mHz coming from TV stations.

NBC Sports democratizes streaming

April 12, 2013 1:51 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Cablevision, Comcast Xfinity TV, Suddenlink and Verizon FiOS customers are the first to receive NBC Sports Network content, with more to come. NBC, NBC Sports Network and Golf Channel plan to stream more than 4,000 hours and 1,000 events and programs in 2013.

DoJ signs off on Moto/Arris deal

April 12, 2013 12:29 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Arris announced this morning that the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) had signed off on its $2.235 billion deal to buy Motorola Mobility’s Home division from Google.With the DoJ stamp of approval in hand, Arris has cleared all of the regulatory hurdles and expects the transaction to close “on or about April 17.”