After Adelphia: The New Landscape of the Cable Industry By George Winslow MultiChannel News
7/31/2006 http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6357343 The U.S. cable map has just changed. After 15 months of delays and regulatory wrangling, the $17 billion deal through which Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable will acquire Adelphia Communications Corp. and, at the conclusion, swap a number of systems, is expected to close today. This is how the numbers now add up: Time Warner Cable systems pass 27 million homes, up from about 19.8 million. The operator counts 14.5 million basic subscribers, up from 11 million. About 85% of those subscribers will be located in just five regions, or "clusters": Southern California, where it will now serve 2.4 million households, up from 0.7 million; Texas, where it will serve 2.6 million, up from 2.0 million; the Carolinas, at 1.9 million, up from 1.7 million; Ohio, at 2.3 million, up from 1.5 million; and New York, at 3.1 million, up from 2.6 million. Comcast, meanwhile, will expand its total number of subscribers to 23.3 million, up from about 21.5 million in the first quarter of this year. It strengthens its presence in markets such as Washington, D.C.; Boston; Minneapolis-St. Paul.; major Florida cities and Pittsburgh. How will the industry now look, physically? The map on these pages shows how the deal will transform the cable landscape in the top 20 markets in the United States. The largest cable operator, Comcast, will continue to dominate the map with operations in 16 of the top 20 markets, serving nearly 14.4 million subscribers in them. Time Warner Cable, the second-largest operator and the third-largest multichannel television provider (after Comcast and DirecTV Inc.), will have systems in the top two markets and nine of the top 20 markets. It will now serve 5.7 million subscribers in those markets. How will this change how they operate? See "Analysis" on page 8. Seattle-Tacoma Comcast 1,031,000 Charter 44,000 Time Warner 1,000 Boston Comcast 1,938,000 Charter 161,000 Time Warner 16,000 Minneapolis-St. Paul Comcast 539,000 Time Warner 210,000 Charter 152,000 Mediacom 28,000 Detroit Comcast 982,000 Bright House 115,000 Charter 39,000 Denver Comcast 666,000 Charter 16,000 Time Warner 5,000 New York Cablevision 3,019,000 Time Warner 1,380,000 Comcast 721,000 Charter 70,000 Chicago Comcast 1,761,0,000 Mediacom 10,000 Cleveland-Akron Time Warner 855,000 Comcast 83,000 Cox 75,000 Philadelphia Comcast 1,907,000 Charter 8,000 Washington, D.C. Comcast 960,000 Cox 269,000 Charter 25,000 Atlanta Comcast 600,000 Charter 239,000 Orlando Bright House 550,000 Comcast 116,000 Sacramento Comcast 535,000 Charter 67,000 Phoenix Cox 607,000 Charter 1,000 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Comcast 740,000 Charter 50,000 Los Angeles Time Warner 1,920,000 Cox 482,000 Charter 443,000 Mediacom 21,000 San Francisco & Bay Area Comcast 1,609,000 Charter 17,000 Mediacom 17,000 Dallas-Ft. Worth Time Warner 580,000 Charter 173,000 Cox 20,000 Houston Time Warner 753,000 Charter 21,000 Cox 11,000 Tampa-St. Petersburg Bright House 740,000 Comcast 204,000 Source: Oppenheimer & Co. Figures reflect the completion of the Adelphia acquisition and system swaps between Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Starting counts of subscribers, as of 12/31/2005, are based on company documents and Oppenheimer estimates. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
