In the wake of Cablevision’s move to take its cable ops private, Peter Grant does a good job of charting why going private is the new black for cable companies: less pressure on short-term performance, less scrutiny, less visibility to competitors, chance to create more value. (It’s not a trend every MSO can afford — priced a la Cablevision, it would cost Comcast an estimated $90 billion.) Grant frames it as a response to the increasing competition with the phone companies.
I’ll add the ability to slough off the extra layers of regulations, the costs of being public, the time demands, the added spotlight and pressure on directors as reasons that make going private even more attractive to some companies.
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