Cable Plays Clearwire Card

Short of buying their own spectrum, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks have no choice but to join the Sprint initiative. If the cable companies believe in the triple play, than the new Clearwire is a lifesaver because without it they won’t have the quadruple play. The partnership is necessary.

1. The commercial success of the new Clearwire consortium is very questionable. 2. A future distress sale for cents on the dollar cannot be ruled out, with intriguing competitive implications, depending on the buyer

While several of its peers all but cemented their long-term wireless and mobile service plans last week, Charter Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR - message board) is still weighing a range of possible partnership options.Neil Smit, Charter's president and CEO, addressed the wireless question this morning during the company's first-quarter conference call. Wireless has become a hot topic in cable...

1.      In the long term, the MSOs will need to find a way to offer their video services on wireless. 2.      The biggest sure thing that the cable TV companies got out of the Clearwire deal was 3G wholesale.   3.      Moving WiMAX from 2.5 GHz to a lower frequency band, as some analysts are suggesting, would eliminate...