Malone on a Roll, Whither Comcast/TWC?, Release Title II Now!, Bodenheimer’s Emmy!, RIP Carr – Paul S. Maxwell

My book amp8220The Revolutionary Evolution of the Mediaamp8221 continues This is a work in progress Read the latest chapter here Comment Dr John resurfaced in a big way last week amp8230 and heamp8217s going to get even bigger see 2nd note below Starz which even under the former HBO guru has struggled a bit has a new hookup with Lionsgate After all good programming takes some time so this hookup which will probably turn into something more serious has Dr John Malone on Lionsgateamp8217s board and a nice bit of crossownership in place The good Dr has also been a bit busy in the online booking world as wellIn other happenings of note Whoa No Colbert Soon no Stewart No wonder Leslie Moonves wants to buy out Sumner Redstone and get CBS for himself But who would really want to be too close to the terrific talentrelations side of Phillipe Daumanamp8217s Viacom Undependence for real thatamp8217s a pun not spelling error makes sense And that might give Moonves the war chest to acquire Viacom Just think a couple more stars bailing and Viacomamp8217s stock might take even bigger hitsOK notwithstanding the shrugged shoulders as Comcast repeatedly disses its own subscribers the amp8220inevitableamp8221 air has gone out of the ComcastTime Warner Cable balloon It doesnamp8217t look good Never mind the fact the Federal Confusion Commission promises forbearance under Title II the almost fundamentally comical dissident from Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai Obama did it Really Even Congress is investigating rightly points out that the next Commission could enact all of the aspects Tom Wheeler promises to ignore Right Wall Street seems to trust Wheeler who does know a thing or two about cable broadband and mobile No one else does How else could you explain the rush of Republican Representatives and Senators to the side of big cable and broadband companiesBut thatamp8217s all a sideshow for the merger prospects Ainamp8217t gonna happen because even if approved the conditions will allow Comcast to just say amp8220Oh well it seemed like a good idea at the timeamp8221So what might come next Cue Dr John and Tom Rutledge of Charter amp8230 after all it was their idea in the first place They might even give Brian Roberts a chance to buy some of what he really wanted anyway amp8230 some major markets that could give him a more or less national presence At a bit higher per sub price of course And leave Charter a major No 2 in the broadband marketplaceSo the Democrats picked Philadelphia for their 2016 nominating convention Was that a booby prize for Comcastamp8217s David Cohen as the President helped let the air out of the merger prospectsOK Tom amp8230 time to release the Title II proposal amp8230 as former FCC Commissioner Michael Powell noted on CSPANamp8217s Communicators show although tradition dictates no release before the vote amp8230 nothing legal prevents it Something this serious belongs in what the President humorously calls transparency And for the record count me on ACAamp8217s side about special forbearance for the little guysReally nice to see the Sports Emmy guys awarding a lifetime achievement Emmy to the onetime King of Cable ESPNamp8217s George Bodenheimer Rare that someone actually deserves one of those things Gotta admit Iamp8217ve known George since he was peddling ESPN in Denver to cable MSOs Class guy all the way from the mailroom to the top And he pulled off one of the more audacious and meaningful deals in cableamp8217s history amp8230 automatic sub fee increases for adding NFL games to the schedulesOn a very serious note RIP David Carr The broader media universe lost one of its best commentators amp8230 funny in an ironic or satirical way Carr made too much sense Iamp8217ll miss his trenchant observationsIn an almost 50year career writing and reporting on media Paul S Maxwell started andor ran some 45plus publications ranging from CATV Newsweekly to Colorado Magazine to CableVision to Multichannel News to CableFAX and The BRIDGE Suite of daily newsletters and research publications In between publishing stints Maxwell served as an advisor andor consultant to a number of major media companies and media startups including running a unit of MCI and managing a partnership of TCI and McGrawHillSend any and all criticisms suggestions rants threats corrections etc to him at cablemaxmaccom He has a new Web site coming soonCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Malone on a Roll, Whither Comcast/TWC?, Release Title II Now!, Bodenheimer’s Emmy!, RIP Carr – Paul S. Maxwell

Author

Publish date

Channel

Paul S. Maxwell

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Malone on a Roll, Whither Comcast/TWC?, Release Title II Now!, Bodenheimer’s Emmy!, RIP Carr – Paul S. Maxwell

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Paul S. Maxwell

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

The payment was successful

Cookies