Time Warner And US WEST Forge
Cable Internet Partnership
MSOs Combining Road Runner and MediaOne
Express Operations to Create New Joint Venture
cabledatacomnews.com
Time Warner Cable and US WEST Media Group (USWMG) have joined forces to create a new broadband Internet venture that will rival @Home Network in scale. It is a logical move since USWMG holds a 25-percent stake in Time Warner Cable, and thus, already owns a small share of Road Runner Group, Time Warner's broadband Internet subsidiary.
Time Warner Cable and USWMG's MediaOne cable operation are North America's second and third-largest MSOs, respectively. Together, these cable operators pass 27 million U.S. homes and serve more than 17 million basic subscribers. More importantly, Time Warner and MediaOne are the two MSOs that have most aggressively deployed cable modem services to date. At the end of 1997, Time Warner Cable had captured an estimated 29,000 subscribers for its Road Runner online service, while MediaOne counted 20,000 customers for its MediaOne Express Internet offering.
Although Time Warner and MediaOne have been successful in their separate cable modem businesses, the companies say teaming up will help both players in the long run.
"Our visions for this business are incredibly compatible," said Doug Holmes, executive vice president, MediaOne. "Together, the resources we can put against this opportunity are greater and we can exploit it faster."
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