Gov Set to Approve Verizon-Cable Deal With Conditions - Phonescoop

[supert0nes]

http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=10900

 

"The Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice are prepared to approve Verizon Wireless's proposed acquisition of 122 AWS spectrum license from a consortium of cable companies, but only if those companies agree to major concessions. According to sources cited by Reuters, the FCC and DoJ will allow the spectrum purchase itself to proceed with minimal adjustments. However, the DoJ has grave concerns about the cross marketing agreements that are part of the proposal, especially those between Verizon and Comcast. Reuters' sources say the DoJ would force Verizon and the cable companies to modify the side deals heavily in order to gain approval. For example, the DoJ would not allow Verizon and Comcast to market one another's products in areas where Verizon offers its FiOS internet and television services. In other markets, the cross marketing agreement would only be allowed for a specific amount of time. The companies hope the proposal's review will be completed by the end of the month. Both the FCC and DoJ declined to comment on Reuters' story."

 

The DOJ specified that a lot of the cross marketing stuff would not be allowed or limited. The cable companies made it pretty clear the cross marketing stuff had to stay. It will be interesting to see if this deal still goes through.

[supert0nes]

Original Reuters link with more backstory http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/idINL2E8J2EE420120802

[ericdabbs]

http://www.phonescoo...cle.php?a=10900

 

 

 

The DOJ specified that a lot of the cross marketing stuff would not be allowed or limited. The cable companies made it pretty clear the cross marketing stuff had to stay. It will be interesting to see if this deal still goes through.

 

Well if that is the case then I hope the deal gets cancelled and screws up Verizon and Comcast. I have a feeling Verizon would somehow persuade Comcast to accept the deal even though they may not want to. Not to mention that AT&T and Tmobile wants this deal to approve so that Tmobile can get the AWS spectrum swap and AT&T can buy up the 700 MHz 'B' block spectrum.

 

I thought Sprint had some conditions it wanted to be included as part of the deal if it were to be approved to be something like fair access and reasonable backhaul rates from cable companies so that Verizon is not given favors. Maybe someone can chime in on this topic.

[pyroscott]

 

Well if that is the case then I hope the deal gets cancelled and screws up Verizon and Comcast. I have a feeling Verizon would somehow persuade Comcast to accept the deal even though they may not want to. Not to mention that AT&T and Tmobile wants this deal to approve so that Tmobile can get the AWS spectrum swap and AT&T can buy up the 700 MHz 'B' block spectrum.

 

I thought Sprint had some conditions it wanted to be included as part of the deal if it were to be approved to be something like fair access and reasonable backhaul rates from cable companies so that Verizon is not given favors. Maybe someone can chime in on this topic.

 

And sprint wants to make sure that fair access is given to everyone on the wifi networks that the cablecos run. They don't want to see Verizon have full access for their customers for free and all the other carriers would have to pay inflated amounts for the same access

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 (nakasi) using Forum Runner

[S4GRU]

And sprint wants to make sure that fair access is given to everyone on the wifi networks that the cablecos run. They don't want to see Verizon have full access for their customers for free and all the other carriers would have to pay inflated amounts for the same access

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 (nakasi) using Forum Runner

 

And when you consider WiFi is a free unlicensed public shared resource, that is a very bad deal for the American people.

 

Robert