Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Time Warner Cable May Add Cellphone Service to Bundle

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 11:52:51 -0500

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/040310/1251000775_2.html

Dow Jones Business News
Time Warner Cable May Add Cellphone Service to Bundle
Wednesday March 10, 12:51 pm ET
By Janet Whitman

NEW YORK -- Time Warner Cable will consider including wireless phone
service as part of the bundle of services it offers to consumers, said
Glenn Britt, chairman and chief executive of the Time Warner Inc.
(NYSE:TWX - News) unit.

Time Warner Cable, which is in the midst of rolling out local-telephone
service in all of its markets, "needs to look" at offering
wireless-phone service as well, Mr. Britt told investors and analysts at
a Bear Stearns conference.

He acknowledged SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC - News)'s recent
launch of such a bundle. The Baby Bell last year signed a pact with
satellite-television broadcaster EchoStar Communications Corp.
(NasdaqNM:DISH

- News) , enabling SBC to offer a " quadruple play" bundle of services.
The bundle, launched early this month, includes DISH Network satellite
programming, local and long-distance telephone service, high-speed
Internet access and cellphone service through Cingular Wireless, which
SBC owns in a joint venture with BellSouth Corp. (NYSE:BLS - News) .

At this stage, exactly how Time Warner Cable, the nation's No. 2 cable
provider behind Comcast Corp. (NasdaqNM:CMCSK

- News; CMCSA, CMCSK), would offer wireless telephone is unclear, said
Mr. Britt. "My inclination is to say we should do it. I don't anticipate
making a big investment in the business."

He acknowledged cellphone service is a threat to wireline service, with
people in college, for instance, often opting for wireless service over
a so-called land line. Nevertheless, he said plenty of consumers still
want wireline phone service. "I think we're going to have a good run in
that business," he added.

Mr. Britt went on to say phone service offered over voice-over Internet
protocol -- the technology Time Warner Cable employs -- should be
"lightly regulated." But he did say it would be appropriate for
consumers using VoIP to pay for 911 and universal service.

Separately, Mr. Britt said Time Warner Cable has been "working
aggressively" with movie studios, including those owned by its parent,
regarding movie- and video-on-demand services. But he noted the company
has to be careful not to cannibalize revenue from Time Warner's movie
studios, as half of a movie's revenue comes from home video, with the
lion's share coming from digital videodiscs.