Disney in AT&T Broadband bid?

[AKemel]

More Mergers and Acquisitions.

http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/07/25/deals/att_aol/

 

[Sarangel]

Keep in mind that Disney's only one in a whole field of bidders for this property.

Sarangel

 

[swinginevilmike]

I think AOL/Time Warner has a better shot at a merge with AT&T than Disney after the ingenious acquisition of Fox Family...Another contest between Eisner and Case....

 

[AKemel]

Why do you think AOL has a better chance? They will certainly have problems with regulators. And Disney want it more, I think....

 

[swinginevilmike]

Disney want it more, I think....

They may but they dropped 5 billion on Fox Family... Can they afford to spread themselves so thin....

 

[YoHo]

I don't think the FCC would ever let TW own AT&T Broadband. AOL/TW would dwarf all other Cable providers.

I'm surprised Comcast Fell through. Needless to say, I hope Disney Does NOT go through with this. AT&T Broadband is NOT PROFITABLE AT ALL!!! That's why AT&T spun it off and wants to get rid of it.

As A matter of fact, The only cable group that I know is profitable is RCN, and that's only their Chicago group. (The rest of RCN is in the red too) The only reason they are rpofitable is because they spent the right amount of money in the right way (they didn't by the Cisco crappola) AND they have Oprah and the like for Clients (they operate in all the high-rises in DT Chicago.)

In short as a Bit of an insider I would be very much against this purchase .

 

[larworth]

Gee, I thought it was only a couple of weeks ago that ME said they didn't feel the need to buy any more distribution channels. Something about them being a content company. We haven't forgot about that so soon have we now?

What is that fading off into the distance. Oh, it is just the theme parks.

 

[larworth]

Here I have been scratching my head trying to figure out how any good can come to the theme parks with the Fox deal and now the potential ATT purchase alliance. All I can see is more executive time and money flowing away from the parks and the company continuing to head is a different direction.

Than I was reading Janet2K's post and it hit me. Who provides the worst customer service in the industry....cable companies. What is Disney known for....customer service (I know at one time you could have thrown imagineering into the mix). Just think a cable company staffed by CM's.

Wow, someone who won't actually tell you to....errr....ummm...bug off when you call. A company that actually listens and reacts to complaints. Someone who will knock on your door with a smile and "I'm here to fix your cable" before you even have to call them. Now, I can finally see why this deal might make some sense.

 

[AKemel]

Needless to say, I hope Disney Does NOT go through with this. AT&T Broadband is NOT PROFITABLE AT ALL!!! That's why AT&T spun it off and wants to get rid of it.

From AT&T News Release http://www.att.com/press/item/0,1354,3919,00.html

"The revenue decrease is primarily due to a continued decline in long distance voice revenue, which was partially offset by strong results from AT&T’s Broadband unit and from Business data/Internet Protocol (IP) services. "

Sounds like they are making money.

 

[mikek]

From what I read on the web- Att does make money on cable- its just that they dont make nearly as much as anyone else does.

Apparently they make only in the neighborhoos of 20% whereas comcast makes around 40% with there assets and the rest of the companies are somplace in between. Att said the price comcast offered wasnt fair as they are doing better this past quarter - something like 23 as opposed to 18% the quarter before.

Also not so sure comcast is done- i've read in several places that they feel no need to up their bid unless someone else makes a serious offer. Att might just be trying to force comcast higher but getting other offers.

Also cant see any way that the feds permit aol/tw to buy att's stuff- if you remember when att acquired all the parts that it has now and also with aol + tw- both had to sell off peices to get below the magic threshold of housholds any one company is permitted to serve. So if they combined they would be like twice the legal limit.

 

[YoHo]

Gee, sounds like AT&T's spin machine is running full force.

Trust me, AT&T Broadband is not doing well. I deal with these people every day.

And because AT&T is not doing Well, Excite@Home is doing terrible.


Oh, and Cable companies don't have the worst customer service, Telephone companies do. At least cable companies care about there subscribers.

 

[AKemel]

AOL get serious about ATT cable

Read NY Times

 

[AKemel]

AOL posts loss. AP article

According to the article, the revenue growth came from on-line service and cable business. No wonder they want more cable.

 

[YoHo]

Akemel, that Website link doesn't work right. I don't think they let you link articles.
At any rate. I'll revise my staunch opinion of the cable industry to say that straight television services such as Basic cable, Hbo and the like are probably doing okay. the Broadband stuff like cable modems and VOB, Are not so hot right now. THAT is the really reason that profits are off. They are putting a lot of money into fiber and Modem and VOB services and taking a loss on it. Of course, its better then the phone companies and DSL.

 

[HorizonsFan]

Amen, YoHo!
I wish more people would give AT&T Broadband a try. I use them and AT&T runs circles around Verizon in both local telephone service and high-speed internet access.
It's a good product. I'm not sure if it's a product Disney needs to be involved in, but it's a good product.

 

[MickeyMoose15]

I heard on the radio this morning that AOL/Time Warner is most likely to win the bid with AT&T Broadband.

 

[HorizonsFan]

I would be VERY surprised if federal regulators let AOL/TW anywhere near AT&T, even if they bid the highest...

 

[mrgoofy]

I just wanted to shed some light on the profitability of cable providers at this point in time. Most analog cable systems are maxed out and cannot carry any more channels. Because of this the revenue the cable company gets from this has become static. The only thing keeping the cable companies afloat is cable modem service, and new digital cable services. It costs the cable company very little to set up a customer for cable modems, and at around $40 a month, each subscriber turns a profit for the company quite quickly. Digital cable allows the cable company to send out 400+ channels, so they bring in more $$ for advertising time (since there is now more of it to sell) and there is plenty of space for them to add new channels. Right now the companies are in a tough spot because there revenues are pretty static, and yet they need to invest in the infrastructure to supply subscribers with cable modems and digital cable so they can make more $$.

If Disney does get AT&T Broadband, it will be a while before any substantial return is seen on the investment. If you ask me the money would be much better spent building Disney's America and DisneySea here in the good old USA, these would deliver a much more substantial return far faster on their investment.

 

[Testtrack321]

I live in the AT&T Broadband district, though I would love seeing Disney buy them, this is TOTALY unrealistic. First, they have Fox Family, which will keep them busy for a while longer. Second, the cable componey that suplies us has changed 4-5 times in the past 5 years! We make AT&T cry. They loose so much money from us. Third, Disney has to be more financily secure to buy them because if they become part of the Cable business, they will have to deal with cable theft, and they should create new encoding technology to prevent this from happening.

 

[MickeyMoose15]

The weird thing about the situation is that Disney said in the first place that they weren't going to bid for AT&T Broadband because it was too expensive for them (40 billion or something like that) and it was a little too risky for them at that time. But anything to make hell for AOL/Time Warner.