TUNE: Has A.T. and T. has taken over controling interest in TUNE? As I recall, A.T. and T. owns 54 percent of Liberty Media, which just bought more of TCI Music [TUNE]. . .giving them 94 percent. 54 of 94 is just over 50 percent.
So it could be that the hidden news behind today's swap is that A.T. and T. has just taken over controlling interest in TUNE, soon to be called LIBERTY DIGITAL.
Remember "A.T. and T. Consumer Services"? . . .that got ditched? TUNE now is made of most everything that was going into that company, except Liberty itself. Sportsline, Priceline and I-Village equity joined with the holdings of TUNE. TCI Music's interactive video services include The Box and Digital Music Express, which allow viewers to select videos on a pay-per-view basis. DMX is the leading distributor of direct-delivery music worldwide.
Today Liberty said they were buying 8 percent of NewsCorp. Yesterday General Instrument said they were buying back 5.3 mil shares and that Liberty was making a major equity stake in them too. TCI sold United Video Satellite to TV Guide. Liberty ownsed 49 pct of TV Guide and News Corp owned 44 pct. Now with Liberty buying News Corp, it makes A.T. and T. a major shareholder in TV Guide. . .second only to Fox Television.
So what is REALLY going on here. It appears to me that T is jockeying for position once again. And consistent with their prior actions, they are bypassing the current internet and focusing on companies and technology that will be big in the new NEXT GENERATION INTERNET, which will come into homes everywhere via fibre optics lines.
Movies, music, community, video communication etc. via the new internet. And once again, A.T. and T. is there behind the scenes holding all the cards.
LMGa, LMGb, TUNE, TUNEP, NWS, TVGIA, ATHM, XCIT, GIC, LU are all now owned to some degree by T. Not a bad line up. [And there are plenty more I missed.]
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