News Roundup
By | August 25, 2011
Longhorn Luck. Just in time for the launch of ESPN’s University of Texas-branded Longhorn Network, Verizon FiOS has struck a national deal to carry the net. LHN’s execs weren’t too worried about carriage, and it appears they were right. More on this in CableFAX.
Apple’s New Era. Following Steve Jobs’ resignation announcement Wednesday afternoon, the speculation begins on how successor Tim Cook (formerly COO) will run the company. Wired seems to think Jobs’ right-hand man has all the ingredients to retain Apple’s success. Stocks fell more than 6% in after-hours trading when the news broke, but recovered some by mid-day trading Thursday, to around 2%.
Hulu Delays. Bids for Hulu were expected this week, but apparently we’ll have to wait until the end of next week. Reuters reports interested buyers want to further inspect Hulu’s financials. Yahoo, Google, DirectTV and Amazon.com are reported to be in the running. Bids are expected to be as high as $2 billion.
Telco Merger. The Washington Post reports that the FCC wants to take a closer look at AT&T’s move to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion, which AT&T says will allow the telco to bring its 4G LTE to 55 million more Americans. But when a request for data was made by the FCC, lawyers sent an unredacted letter by mistake. The letter included AT&T’s plans—which it had considered but rejected—to expand the network on its own for a fraction of AT&T’s acquisition price—just $3.8 billion. DSLReports says the FCC knew about these plans, however, and suggests this move is more for show.