Comcast flagged as new leading contender to buy out T-Mobile US
Deutsche Telekom now considers Comcast the leading candidate for a sale of T-Mobile U.S., reports said on Wednesday, potentially signalling a major shift in the American media landscape that could impact Apple.
Deutsche Telekom is still in talks with several companies, Reuters quoted Germany's Manager Magazin as saying, the latter citing multiple sources. Comcast however is thought to be strongest contender, since it would have the financial resources to buy out all of T-Mobile U.S.'s shares.
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Dish Network was exploring a T-Mobile merger, and that the companies were largely in sync about what a combined entity might look like, even if important issues such as price and stock percentages were up in the air. Dish is still in the running, according to Manager.
If Comcast were to successfully acquire T-Mobile, it would be adding phone service and sales to an already giant media conglomerate, spanning cable and Internet services as well as movies, TV networks, and theme parks. Too much market control could be a reason why U.S. regulators might block the deal, as they did when Comcast tried to buy Time Warner Cable in a deal worth $45 billion. Charter is now making its own TWC bid.
Dish operates Sling TV, a streaming TV service that could pose a threat to a rumored Apple service still in development. Comcast has no direct equivalent of Sling, but owns networks Apple will have to negotiate with for content.
Either Comcast or Dish could conceivably give T-Mobile subscribers cheap access to mobile TV as a way of bypassing Apple. Apple has been encountering stiff resistance from content providers, which may be one reason its service was not announced at WWDC on June 8.
Deutsche Telekom is still in talks with several companies, Reuters quoted Germany's Manager Magazin as saying, the latter citing multiple sources. Comcast however is thought to be strongest contender, since it would have the financial resources to buy out all of T-Mobile U.S.'s shares.
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Dish Network was exploring a T-Mobile merger, and that the companies were largely in sync about what a combined entity might look like, even if important issues such as price and stock percentages were up in the air. Dish is still in the running, according to Manager.
If Comcast were to successfully acquire T-Mobile, it would be adding phone service and sales to an already giant media conglomerate, spanning cable and Internet services as well as movies, TV networks, and theme parks. Too much market control could be a reason why U.S. regulators might block the deal, as they did when Comcast tried to buy Time Warner Cable in a deal worth $45 billion. Charter is now making its own TWC bid.
Dish operates Sling TV, a streaming TV service that could pose a threat to a rumored Apple service still in development. Comcast has no direct equivalent of Sling, but owns networks Apple will have to negotiate with for content.
Either Comcast or Dish could conceivably give T-Mobile subscribers cheap access to mobile TV as a way of bypassing Apple. Apple has been encountering stiff resistance from content providers, which may be one reason its service was not announced at WWDC on June 8.
Comments
NOOOOOoooooooooooooo! T-Mobile is wonderful and Comcast would just turn it into crap. You'd have to call every 6 months if you didn't want your bill to triple automatically.
And please, no merger with Dish either. They just sacked a quadriplegic employee for using medical MJ on his personal time in Colorado, where it's legal. I'm not doing business with a heartless, brainless company like that.
Apple has the money to buy it! Just a thought...
I had planned to switch over to T-Mobile for my next iPhone, but it looks like AT&T may continue to have me as a customer. Oh well.
Same here. Maybe this is just a play by AT&T for customer retention.
Oh no! Comcast vs AT&T which is the lesser of 2 evils?
Oh how I wish we could go back to the old Cingular days.
Time will tell.
NOOOOOoooooooooooooo! T-Mobile is wonderful and Comcast would just turn it into crap. You'd have to call every 6 months if you didn't want your bill to triple automatically.
And please, no merger with Dish either. They just sacked a quadriplegic employee for using medical MJ on his personal time in Colorado, where it's legal. I'm not doing business with a heartless, brainless company like that.
Pot is still illegal under federal law!
Pot is still illegal under federal law!
thankfully, the cops turn a blind eye when you smoke it here in sf. i'd like to think our police force has something better to do than bust people that smoke pot.NOPE.
Hard nope. Nope nope nope nope nope nope.
T-Mobile, don't you dare. Don't you dare sell out to Comcast.
I've loved you and defended you, but should this deal go through, I will disown you and take my mobile subscription somewhere else.
God please no.
If this happens I will bail so fast they won't know what happened.
screwed!
Comcast should not be allowed to acquire any more comunication companies or consumer will get
screwed!
They absolutely should be allowed. Several things should happen... any and all monopolies created by regulation or protective agreements need to end. That's the biggie. Then these absurd restrictions that prevent companies from acquiring other companies should also end. We cannot have it both ways. Either competition is allowed or it isn't.
Monopoly screws the consumer.
Balance is the best approach and monopolies are far from balanced !