AT&T - TCI MERGER A BIG DEAL.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer The $48 billion merger of AT&T Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. creates a powerhouse communications company Communications Company is a communications unit of the United States Marine Corps. They are part of Combat Logistics Regiment 37 , 3rd Marine Logistics Group (3MLG) and III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF). The unit is based out of the Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. that will put customers a click away from a vast array of entertainment and information products, plus telephone service around the world and around the neighborhood. When completed, the deal will give AT&T access to 13.5 million subscribers across the nation who get television programming via TCI (Trustworthy Computing Initiative) An umbrella term from Microsoft for its efforts to improve security in Windows. TCI was announced in 2002 after viruses such as Code Red and Nimda had succeeded in attacking numerous Windows computers. and its affiliates. AT&T can use that cable network to provide phone service and Internet access See how to access the Internet. . A new subsidiary, AT&T Consumer Service, will market the product lines, including TCI's cable service. AT&T said the new unit will accelerate improvements to TCI's cable infrastructure and begin offering digital telephone, video and data services to consumers by the end of 1999. Upgrading cable lines for two-way transmission of digital signals should be completed by 2000. The products, which could include up to 500 television channels, will be offered under the AT&T brand name. ``Consumers will pretty much get one-stop shopping for a wide range of services,'' said Timothy Horan, an analyst at BancAmerica Robertson Stephens. ``TCI has got a pretty substantial customer base and they have already laid the groundwork for an existing cable system to reach a lot more homes.'' TCI serves about 95,000 households in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. and 26,000 in Ventura County. All told, the company is in roughly 400,000 Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, homes and businesses. For consumers, however, change will come later rather than sooner. ``It's very early to speculate on what changes consumers will see and in what order,'' said Ellen Zundl, an AT&T spokeswoman. The deal weds the nation's top telecommunications company See telecom company. and one of the biggest cable providers. It benefits AT&T because the company will be able to circumvent local telephone lines to gain a foothold in the nation's $110 billion local phone market. ``Today we're beginning to answer a big part of the question about how we will provide local service to U.S. consumers,'' AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong C Michael Armstong (born 18 October, 1938, in Detroit, Michigan) is the former AT&T chairman and CEO, who tried to reestablish AT&T as an end-to-end carrier. Unfortunately, due to the dot.com bust and various other issues, he was forced to break the group up in 2001. said in announcing the deal. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 1999. Within three years, it will help the companies save about $2 billion annually through reduced costs, such as advertising, officials said. TCI will benefit because AT&T has the cash to upgrade the cable infrastructure more quickly than TCI could have done by itself. A critical component of the new unit's strategy is TCI's plan to distribute about 10 million advance cable boxes over the next three years. These devices will deliver hundreds of television channels and Internet access. AT&T could then sell telephone services via those cable lines. Prepping this kind of market will cost about $500 per home, but the cost to consumers for connection and usage fees has not been established. One of the biggest benefits for consumers would be speed. Cable lines can carry information more than 1,000 times faster than telephone companies' copper lines and 100 times faster than integrated services digital networks, or ISDN ISDN in full Integrated Services Digital Network Digital telecommunications network that operates over standard copper telephone wires or other media. lines. A file that would take five minutes to download over a standard computer-and-phone-line modem would take about one second via a cable modem cable modem Modem used to convert analog data signals to digital form and vise versa, for transmission or receipt over cable television lines, especially for connecting to the Internet. . ``It's going to be quite different (from) what people see today or are expecting,'' said Berge Ayvazian, an industry analyst with the Yankee Group (the Yankee Group, Boston, MA, www.yankeegroup.com) A major market research, analysis and consulting firm founded in 1970 by Howard Anderson. It provides general consulting and strategic planning in the computer and communications field. , a Boston-based research firm. They've got it covered Denver-based cable television provider TCI serves households in the following communities in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County: EAST VALLEY: North Hollywood, Panorama City, Pacoima, Lake View Terrace, Van Nuys, parts of Sherman Oaks, Sylmar. WEST VALLEY: Calabasas, Agoura. VENTURA COUNTY: Camarillo, Moorpark, Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. , Fillmore, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village. SOURCE: Daily News research CAPTION(S): Box BOX: They've got it covered (see text) |
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