Judge approves cable corporations' plan to sell spectrum

By IVCPOST Staff Reporter

Aug 16, 2013 03:01 AM EDT

On Thursday, a judge approved the deals big cable systems had agreed with the US Justice Department. Bright House Networks, Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner Cable all wanted to sell their spectrum to Verizon Wireless and cross sell their individual wireless and cable plans. The verdict came regardless of concerns of the Communications Workers of America and RCN, another cable provider.

The four cable corporations wanted to skip setting up their particular mobile services and sell their USD3.9 billion wireless spectrum to Verizon. This would allow the cable systems to be wholesalers for the cell phone services offered by Verizon. The services would be a part of the "quad play" bundles that involve cable, cell phone and telephone package.

The Justice Department was concerned that the corporations would illegally cede rivalry particularly in areas where the FiOS and DSL services of Verizon Communications pit against the cable systems. To tackle concerns, the cable corporations agreed to set several terms on what they could sell on the quad bundles. They also decided to ban the sale in regions where there is a competitive market for internet service business.

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