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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (45385)	12/19/2001 7:37:34 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 65232

Comcast to Buy AT&T Cable Source: AT&T to Merge Its Cable Business With Comcast Corp. NEW YORK (AP) -- Comcast Corp. (NYSE:CCZ - news; NasdaqNM:CMCSK - news) will buy AT&T's (NYSE:T - news) broadband unit, winning a bidding contest to acquire the largest U.S. cable television operator, a source close to the deal said Tuesday night. AT&T's selection of Comcast came five months after it spurned a $41 million unsolicited bid by the nation's No. 3 cable operator for the cable division. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deal is valued at about $70 billion, including about $22 billion in AT&T debt. Further financial details were expected to be released in a formal announcement Wednesday night, the source said. An AT&T spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. The company's board met earlier this month to discuss bids for its broadband operations -- including the possibility of spinning it off as a standalone business -- but decided to have further discussions with bidders before making a decision. Other companies that submitted bids for Denver-based AT&T Broadband were AOL Time Warner Inc. [NYSE:AOL - news] and Cox Communications Inc [NYSE:COX - news]. Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) also considered increasing its stake in AT&T Broadband, or participating in a bid by Comcast or Cox in return for a stake. AT&T broadband has about 13.8 million cable subscribers, including more than 3 million who use its digital video services, according to the National Cable Television Association. The bidding process started after Comcast, the nation's No. 3 cable operator, made a $41 billion hostile bid in July for AT&T Broadband. Comcast's surprise offer came the day before the New York-based AT&T's spinoff of its wireless operation into an independent company, the first stage in a plan to break the communications conglomerate into five separate companies. The biggest of those AT&T units is the sprawling cable operation that AT&T cobbled together with a $100 billion acquisition spree that began three years ago. biz.yahoo.com