Top Cable Cos May Be Close to Sprint Wireless Deal

This should be very interesting and great for content players (more choices to license content): Three top U.S. cable operators are close to landing a deal with Sprint Nextel to offer wireless service, the story says, quoting sources. These three are Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications..they would be offering cell phone service using Sprint Nextel’s network as part of their bundled services, which currently include cable TV, high speed Internet and digital home telephone services. The deal could be announced as early as November 1, ahead of Q3 earnings reports for two of the three cable companies…

This should also help cable cos in competing against telcos, which are coming in with all guns blazing.

Multichannel News, which broke the story, said that one such future service could allow a cable network to handle the handoff of a call from a network inside the home to the cellular network outside of the home, making it possible to use a home phone that uses Internet protocol to communicate to act simultaneously as a mobile phone.

Staci adds: This isn’t a bolt from the blue; the biggest question could be what took so long. Time Warner Cable has been trialing a variation with Sprint in Kansas City and the idea of handling wireless as a consortium has been around for a long time. Comcast was rumored back in June to be going out on its own. As for Sprint Nextel as the carrier, the options are pretty limited. Verizon and Cingular (SBC & Bell South) are competing directly with the MSOs, leaving Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile as the possible major carriers. Of those two, Sprint Nextel has the edge when it comes to MVNO.
As for the delay, the MSOs had some leeway given the trajectory of the IPTV plans for wireless carriers. Last December, Comcast’s EVP-Operations Dave Watson said Comcast wasn’t in a hurry — and wasn’t hearing demand from consumers for such a solution. At the time, Watson also pointed out a potential advantage for wireless carriers that could extend their own reach inside the home by working with MSOs.
The closer Verizon and SBC get to full rollouts, the greater the pressure even if consumers aren’t asking. The sweet spot for the MSOs is shrinking and it’s time to make a decision. Branded phone service delivered through a carrier — whether it’s called an MVNO or something else — makes the most sense.

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