Comcast may be looking to buy SprintNextel

[Fire14]

Comcast May Buy Sprint for Mobile Phones, FTN Says (Update2)



March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable-television company, may acquire Sprint Nextel Corp. for its mobile-phone service to compete with AT&T Inc., according to an analyst at FTN Midwest Securities Corp.

Comcast's two-year-old joint venture with Sprint to sell wireless and TV service together has given the Philadelphia-based cable provider enough experience to pursue a purchase of its partner, analyst Doug Ashton wrote today in a research note. Sprint, based in Reston, Virginia, runs the third-largest U.S. wireless service.

Sprint and Comcast, along with Time Warner Cable Inc., Cox Communications Inc. and Advance/Newhouse Communications, are spending $200 million to develop a service called ``Pivot'' that allows customers to use their mobile phones to check e-mail and voicemail, among other features. The Sprint partnership is designed to help Comcast compete against AT&T, which owns the largest U.S. wireless service and is introducing a TV package.

Comcast spokeswoman D'Arcy Rudnay and Sprint spokeswoman Sara Krueger declined to comment.

At an investor conference on March 6, Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts said he didn't ``envision having to make a large wireless acquisition.''

Shares of Comcast fell 22 cents to $26.08 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Sprint shares rose 14 cents to $18.86 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

To contact the reporter on this story: Crayton Harrison in Dallas at tharrison5@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: March 27, 2007 16:46 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...=aCW9o6.krTbc#

[Andy]

Hmm....I guess it would make sense that Comcast would want to get into the wireless industry too. ALLTEL seems to be up for grabs(who knows where they will end up) and now Sprint NEXTEL may sell.

[larry]

The rumors and speculation are starting to fly again!

[Andy]

Originally Posted by larry

The rumors and speculation are starting to fly again!

So I assume you don't believe something like this will happen?

[larry]

Not really although I do think a cable company would be the most likely buyer of Sprint. But I still think it's a long shot.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by larry

Not really although I do think a cable company would be the most likely buyer of Sprint. But I still think it's a long shot.

So why did Sprint acquire NEXTEL in order to just be bought out now? Sprint now seems in a much better position to compete than before.

[agentHibby]

Comcast tried to buy Disney, but failed. They will try to buy Sprint, will it happen?? I don't think they can do it alone.

I think Comcast had done much better with cable than AT&T Broadband
I wish they were here in Iowa and not Mediacom

[Andy]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

Comcast tried to buy Disney, but failed. They will try to buy Sprint, will it happen don't think they can do it alone.

I think Comcast had done much better with cable than AT&T Broadband
I wish they were here in Iowa and not Mediacom

Funny how you wish Comcast to be there in Iowa. I have about had it with Comcast. My city has rejected Fiber Optics, which would be blazing fast compared to Comcast and much cheaper.

[larry]

We have Time Warner here. No Comcast.

[Fire14]

I still think the consortum is the best possible setup to buy Alltel & merge SprintNextel into them all vs just Comcast buying them.

I guess we will all see what happens & how much this rumor goes with Bloomberg saying it on their news show as well as the web site.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Andy

Funny how you wish Comcast to be there in Iowa. I have about had it with Comcast. My city has rejected Fiber Optics, which would be blazing fast compared to Comcast and much cheaper.

I am so/so about Comcast, they are expensive and I am hoping that the Fios suppose to be coming by June will help lower the rates. I would love to go to Fios even though it's owned by Verizon, but have yet to find out what the cost will be after the 1 year introductory rate of $94.99 for the tripleplay.

My service with Comcast hasn't been bad (guess with their call center & TV studio here in town, they need to keep their customers in town happy)

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Fire14

I am so/so about Comcast, they are expensive and I am hoping that the Fios suppose to be coming by June will help lower the rates. I would love to go to Fios even though it's owned by Verizon, but have yet to find out what the cost will be after the 1 year introductory rate of $94.99 for the tripleplay.

My service with Comcast hasn't been bad (guess with their call center & TV studio here in town, they need to keep their customers in town happy)

Verizon Fios in other markets really isn't that expensive from what I hear. It's not as much as Comcast, but faster.
The funny thing is: In areas here where you can get Fiber Optics, Comcast lowers their rates to match that of Fiber(even though Comcast's speeds are a lot slow than Fiber), but in areas with no Fiber (like my city) Comcast charges their ridiculous rates.
I have never had down-time or anything with my cable connection that I know off, so that I am happy about.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Andy

Verizon Fios in other markets really isn't that expensive from what I hear. It's not as much as Comcast, but faster.
The funny thing is: In areas here where you can get Fiber Optics, Comcast lowers their rates to match that of Fiber(even though Comcast's speeds are a lot slow than Fiber), but in areas with no Fiber (like my city) Comcast charges their ridiculous rates.
I have never had down-time or anything with my cable connection that I know off, so that I am happy about.

The speed part is what I like, along with what is suppose to be a better picture. I did notice their VoIP service includes an 8 hour battery back up system which is good.

Right now I am paying $170.00 a month for TV & Internet service & it's killing me.

[WumpusVA]

Originally Posted by Fire14

Right now I am paying $170.00 a month for TV & Internet service & it's killing me.

Wow!

Down here in DC with Cox I'm paying 80 per month for tv and internet. Please tell me that you have other premium subscriptions like HBO

[Gonz]

Originally Posted by Fire14

Right now I am paying $170.00 a month for TV & Internet service & it's killing me.

You gotta be kidding me. Time warner offers us their 8 Megabit cable internet (road runner), 200 Digital Channels with DVR, as well as unlimited Voip nationwide.

$99/mo

Plus, we kept our local phone number, as Time Warner was the only provider to claim they could port from a little stingy provider called centurytel. Centurytel was one of the first smaller regional wireline providers to ask the FCC to impose extra taxes on Voip.

[larry]

Price of cable TV has gone up at more than 3 times the rate of inflation over the past 10 years. Will they ever get enough of our money?

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by Andy

So why did Sprint acquire NEXTEL in order to just be bought out now? Sprint now seems in a much better position to compete than before.

On top of that, Comcast is still trying to digest their acquisition of Adelphia. Adelphia was very deep in debt when Comcast bought them out.

-Jay

[Jerro]

Originally Posted by larry

Price of cable TV has gone up at more than 3 times the rate of inflation over the past 10 years. Will they ever get enough of our money?

NO they won't. The "owners" the Roberts family needs the money, the CEO Robert was reported to have earned over 40 million last year. My cable bill increased again. I don't trust them to run a cell company with that type of ethics.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Wumpusva

Wow!

Down here in DC with Cox I'm paying 80 per month for tv and internet. Please tell me that you have other premium subscriptions like HBO

Originally Posted by Gonz

You gotta be kidding me. Time warner offers us their 8 Megabit cable internet (road runner), 200 Digital Channels with DVR, as well as unlimited Voip nationwide.

$99/mo

Plus, we kept our local phone number, as Time Warner was the only provider to claim they could port from a little stingy provider called centurytel. Centurytel was one of the first smaller regional wireline providers to ask the FCC to impose extra taxes on Voip.

I do have HBO, Cinemax, Showtime & TMC but no sports, no DVR and my VoIP is seperate with AT&T and my cable is 6Mbps but for an additional $10.00 a Month I can have that boosted up to 15Mbps download with 1Mbps upload.