Re: AT&T/Comcast rates

["Sean Smyth" <ssmyth@suscom.net>]

Kevin Vahey said:
> biggest fib of all is Comcast has nothing to do with this rate
> hike....(according  to quotes in Globe)
>
> Comcast in Philly pulled this stunt and it should happen here soon as
> well...if  you have a movie package you must get a digital box......
>
> company 26B in the hole  only one way to get it back....

If they were $26 billion in debt, would they even have been able to get any
financing for this deal? Would a bank be nuts enough to let them leverage
that much? I'm no financial whiz, but I would doubt it. Besides, how
expensive can the purchase of AT&T Broadband be? They can't be too much in
the hole, I would think, since the Sixers and Flyers bring in some decent-
sized profits for them (and they own the cable channel that airs their
teams' games).

I lived in Comcast Country briefly and I know to get any of the premium
channels (even if just HBO or Showtime in their original incarnations) you
need a digital box. I know it's not that way in Boston on the former
Cablevision system but it was my understanding that's the way most cable
companies handle it. (SusCom here allows you to get access to a couple
premium channels without getting the digital box, though not many.)