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Time Warner Sells Telecom Business to Level 3

Posted by Unknown on from the lose-an-arm-gain-nationwide-monopoly dept.

gavron (1300111) writes "We all know about TW Cable being acquired by Comcast (subject to regulatory approval) but news from today is that their non-cable business is being purchased by Level3 for almost 6 billion dollars.

What used to be the 'largest media and distribution company ever' (AOL Time Warner) is now nothing more than a garage of pieces being parceled off to the first available bidder. This might be good for consumers, but recently Time Warner (and Comcast) won awards for consumer hatred."

38 comments

  1. "Media Distribution" is now telecom? by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    I was expecting a story about them setting some obscure voip service or something. With AOL split off I'm curious these remaining properties are that something thinks qualify as a "telecom" business.

    1. Re:"Media Distribution" is now telecom? by jbolden · · Score: 2

      They have to move a lot of data to those local cable providers. They need a substantial backend to do it, tons of bandwidth running between cities. That's what Level 3 (http://www.level3.com) would be interested in. Bandwidth, access points, colos / generators. That is the core of a telecom business.

    2. Re:"Media Distribution" is now telecom? by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      They have to move a lot of data to those local cable providers. They need a substantial backend to do it, tons of bandwidth running between cities. That's what Level 3 (http://www.level3.com) would be interested in. Bandwidth, access points, colos / generators. That is the core of a telecom business.

      You're talking about a tier1 network, and as far as I know, Time Warner doesn't have one. They likely pay Level3 for that kind of service because that's what Level3 does. According to the article this is Time Warners business lines. So these are T1s, T3s, Managed services like VOIP, etc...

    3. Re:"Media Distribution" is now telecom? by Bengie · · Score: 3, Informative

      According to Level 3's write-up on the subject, TW Telcom has a very large metro fiber network that spans many key cities. They offer some fairly high end services up to 100g: http://www.twtelecom.com/telec...

    4. Re:"Media Distribution" is now telecom? by jbolden · · Score: 1

      The original poster got TWcable and twtelecom mixed up. But they have that: http://www.twtelecom.com/

    5. Re:"Media Distribution" is now telecom? by morgauxo · · Score: 1

      Maybe they are buying a warehouse full of old AOL dialin modems.

    6. Re:"Media Distribution" is now telecom? by ewieling · · Score: 1

      Because TW Telecom has "more than 27,000 route miles of fiber and over 16,000 "on-net" commercial buildings connected. "

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      I really shouldn't have used someone else's email address for this account.
    7. Re:"Media Distribution" is now telecom? by Shatrat · · Score: 1

      The Tier concept is a silly one mis-applied by layer 3 guys to telecom. TWT owns fiber, has a large transport and IP network, and has large enterprise and wholesale accounts worth many millions of dollars per year. They aren't a pure re-seller, as you seem to believe.

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  2. You sure its Time Waner? by Comen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You need to change the subject, no where does it state that Time Warner sold anything.
    TW Telecom was not a part of Time Warner anymore, it was broken off years ago, the name changed from Time Warner Telecom to TW Telecom so they could keep some brand recognition, but they could no longer use the Time Warner name. The news announcement states that TW Telecom was bought by Level3, so stating that Time Warner sold its telecom business seems wrong to me. Unless maybe Time Warner still owned some of the company, since Time Warner itself no longer is part of Time Warner Cable either, they were broke apart years ago also, so that Time Warner is mostly all just media holdings, like movies and magazines.
    Either way, I am pretty sure your title for the article is WRONG.

    1. Re: You sure its Time Waner? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Agreed. A little application of common sense could have prevented this nothing-to-do-with-the-price-of-tea-in-China posting travesty. Does anyone really think that Time Warner Cable would be allowed to sell off a $6 billion asset in the middle of the Comcast acquisition unless it had been agreed upon up front? All of the discussed spin-offs (e.g. to Charter) are scheduled to take place after the acquisition is complete.

      And Time Warner != Time Warner Cable. They are two completely separate companies.

    2. Re:You sure its Time Waner? by Yebyen · · Score: 2

      Yes, agreed, we are TW Telecom customers and my boss, who has been around long enough to know, reminds me every time I say "Time Warner" that "It's Not Time Warner". The name of the company is TW Telecom or TWTC. It has nothing to do with Time Warner or Time Warner Cable these days. Submitter.Insert(foot,mouth), Editor.Shame()

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      Restating the obvious since nineteen aught five.
    3. Re:You sure its Time Waner? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Would be cool if the editors even had a basic tech subject matter understanding, that is probably asking too much from folks who can't write coherent sentences though. They're focused on breathing and now swallowing their tongues.

    4. Re:You sure its Time Waner? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      " the name changed from Time Warner Telecom to TW Telecom so they could keep some brand recognition"

      Well then theres no room to bitch when people think its the same brand now is there?

    5. Re: You sure its Time Waner? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whats even more convoluting is the fact that TW Telecom buys tons of fiber circuits form TWCable Business Class...
      -Time Warner Cable Business Class - Network Engineer
      P.S. Im sorry if you hate TWCable home internet and tv. We have separate networks for our business fiber and basically have independent management structure.

  3. net neutrality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What does this have to do with the verizon-comcast-level3-netflix shakedown? Seems shady...

    1. Re:net neutrality by Shatrat · · Score: 1

      Not much, its a wholesale/transit/large enterprise carrier buying a smaller wholesale/transit/large enterprise carrier. Both of these guys are going to come down on the side of being pro-neutral, because they don't have residential customers to exploit.

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    2. Re:net neutrality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was referring to the timing of it. It makes it suspicious that either TW included in the terms (even if with a wink and a nod), that they would get special help in this fight, OR TW sold off a piece that they needed in order to wiggle through some legal loophole (claim they no longer have a conflict for whatever regulatory rule). The whole thing reeks of quid pro quo.

  4. Why the poor ratings? by msmonroe · · Score: 1

    Same idea that big companies seem to be pulling lately; let's stifle innovation, ignore what the client wants, the internet doesn't exist, we deserve to charge the client more money because we are doing a great job, it's 1988.

  5. Fact Check by LordThyGod · · Score: 1

    TWTelecom, despite the name, has zero to do with Time Warner. Once owned partly by Time Warner, they were split off years ago, like 2003, and have been independent since then.

    1. Re:Fact Check by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2

      Editing

      "The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, and many other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate and complete work."

      I've not got access to the contract terms or job descriptions at /. HQ, but I'm pretty sure at least one of those words will be included in the details for an "Editor" position.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    2. Re:Fact Check by wbr1 · · Score: 1

      Editing "The editing process can involve ... work."

      Edited to show what the /. eds avoid.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    3. Re:Fact Check by TemporalBeing · · Score: 1

      Editing "The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, and many other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate and complete work." I've not got access to the contract terms or job descriptions at /. HQ, but I'm pretty sure at least one of those words will be included in the details for an "Editor" position.

      News Editors haven't been doing that for a long time. Just look at the farse news on ABC, CBS, NYTimes, NBC, and all the other big media outlets.

      --
      Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
  6. Free market always wins by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 1, Insightful

    No matter how much government tries to regulate something, no matter how much money is poured into lobbying, the free market forces always win.

    Good riddance, I say.

    Friedman, Hayek, and Mises were right all along!! :-)

    1. Re:Free market always wins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Free Market says you've been fired and blacklisted from your industry for life for posting at work. Have fun starving, faggot. :D

    2. Re:Free market always wins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad you are one of the bitches of free market.

    3. Re:Free market always wins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol

  7. TW Telecom is not part of Time Warner by rearden · · Score: 4, Interesting

    TW Telecom is not part of Time Warner and has not been since it was spun off in 1998. In fact in 1999 it was floated on the exchange (NASDAQ: TWTC) and so is its own entity. This headline and story in general is very misleading as Time Warner/ Time Warner Cable and TW Telecom are no longer related.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TW_Telecom

    http://www.twtelecom.com/about-us/history/

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    Huh?
  8. Re: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TW owns mostly endpoint and last mile infrastructure. $6 billion worth? Hard to tell. They didn't live up to the value last time they were bought out.

  9. well of course by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 1

    This might be good for consumers, but recently Time Warner (and Comcast) won awards for consumer hatred."

    and thus...the sell-off-slash-rebranding.

    that's all this is, of course...when a brand as big as Time-Warner start being reviled by its customers, it's simply "time" to hit the ctrl-alt-delete and reboot things.

    --
    never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
    1. Re:well of course by mbeckman · · Score: 1

      You've been misled by the completely bogus headline to this piece, not to mention the pathetically inflammatory prose. TWTelecom has nothing at all to do with TimeWarner Cable. It's a completely separate publicly traded corporation with no staff, management or facilities in common with the "hated" TimeWarner Cable. This is like saying "Hated British Monarchy sells American Colonies to Canada" in the 20th century.

      Hopefully some sleepy-headed slashdot editor will pick her head up off the table long enough to use the "hated" Google search engine, learn about the true history, value and structure of the "hated" telecom industry and correct the article headline and completely misleading content.

      Or not. Slashdot might continue its slide to sloppiness and become one of the most "hated" pretend-nonprofits in history.

  10. NOT THE SAME COMPANY by Mycroft-X · · Score: 1

    Do a little checking -- TW Telecom (TWTC) is a completely separate, publicly traded company from Time Warner Cable (TWC) which is a completely separate (though historically linked) company from Time Warner Inc. (TWX).

  11. HeadlineFail by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 2

    TWTelecom is independent from TimeWarner, and has been for at least 8 years. That makes for a huge consolidation in the metro fiber business.

  12. Read "The Billionaire Shell Game"... by studpuppy · · Score: 1

    If you really want to get a sense of how machavellian the Cable industry can be, read the book The Billionaire Shell Game [,A href="http://www.amazon.com/Billionaire-Shell-Game-Assorted-Corporate/dp/0385479271">Amazon]. Written before the Internet Bubble of 2000, it speaks to the early days of TCI and Bell Atlantic, but loops in a lot of other major industry players at the time.
    I had the (dis)fortune to observe firsthand how some of these cable giants played the game in late 1999/early 2000, and wished I had read that book before taking the consulting gig.

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    The last time I wrote code, it was Morse
  13. tw telecom is NOT RELATED to Time Warner! by STRICQ · · Score: 1

    Wow people, do a little fact checking once in a while.