Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/media-july-dec01-excite_12-04 Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Cable Companies Cut Deal With Excite@Home Nation Dec 4, 2001 12:00 PM EDT Comcast and Cox Communications, two of Excite@Home’s largest cable partners, agreed yesterday to pay $160 million each to ensure their cable Internet subscribers will retain access to Excite@Home’s network. In the meantime, both companies plan to create their own replacement broadband networks. An estimated 570,000 Cox subscribers and 792,000 Comcast customers use the Excite@Home network. Rogers Communications, with 425,000 Excite@Home users, and Insight Communications, with 75,000, struck similar deals, although they didn’t disclose details. The spate of new agreements comes after Excite@Home’s creditors won approval from a federal bankruptcy judge last week to dissolve contracts with the company’s various cable partners. Judge Thomas Carlson said the contracts, which executives said cost some $6 million a week, were “clearly burdensome” to the company. Hours after that decision, Excite@Home cut off access to 850,000 subscribers from partnering AT&T Broadband “after determining that it would not be able to reach agreement with AT&T,” the company said. Excite@Home did not interrupt service to partners like Cox and Comcast, however, while negotiations continued. An AT&T statement said company officials continued negotiations with Excite@Home into early Saturday morning “only to see the … service cut off.” AT&T owns a controlling interest in Excite@Home and had offered to buy the bankrupt company’s assets for $307 million. The New York Times reports that purchase now seems very unlikely. As of this morning, AT&T said it had moved 500,000 of its customers — more than half of those who subscribe to their broadband service — to the company’s new high-speed network. AT&T expects to have switched 80 percent of its customers to the new network by the end of the day Tuesday.
Comcast and Cox Communications, two of Excite@Home’s largest cable partners, agreed yesterday to pay $160 million each to ensure their cable Internet subscribers will retain access to Excite@Home’s network. In the meantime, both companies plan to create their own replacement broadband networks. An estimated 570,000 Cox subscribers and 792,000 Comcast customers use the Excite@Home network. Rogers Communications, with 425,000 Excite@Home users, and Insight Communications, with 75,000, struck similar deals, although they didn’t disclose details. The spate of new agreements comes after Excite@Home’s creditors won approval from a federal bankruptcy judge last week to dissolve contracts with the company’s various cable partners. Judge Thomas Carlson said the contracts, which executives said cost some $6 million a week, were “clearly burdensome” to the company. Hours after that decision, Excite@Home cut off access to 850,000 subscribers from partnering AT&T Broadband “after determining that it would not be able to reach agreement with AT&T,” the company said. Excite@Home did not interrupt service to partners like Cox and Comcast, however, while negotiations continued. An AT&T statement said company officials continued negotiations with Excite@Home into early Saturday morning “only to see the … service cut off.” AT&T owns a controlling interest in Excite@Home and had offered to buy the bankrupt company’s assets for $307 million. The New York Times reports that purchase now seems very unlikely. As of this morning, AT&T said it had moved 500,000 of its customers — more than half of those who subscribe to their broadband service — to the company’s new high-speed network. AT&T expects to have switched 80 percent of its customers to the new network by the end of the day Tuesday.