A PYMNTS Company

US: Comcast introduces spin-off unit to appease antitrust concerns

 |  September 3, 2014

Comcast has introduced a proposal to launch a spin-off company that would compete with Comcast following its planned takeover of Time Warner Cable as the cable giant reveals more details on how it plans to appease competition concerns of the deal.

The spin-off firm would be known as GreatLand Connections and hold a customer base of 2.5 million people in 11 states, reports say. The company would be urn by Michael Willner.

Reports say GreatLand will be pitched by Comcast to regulators in efforts to earn clearance for its $45 billion acquisition of TWC.

GreatLand would be the result of Comcast’s agreement with rival Charter to divest 3.9 million subscribers through the spin-off company. Comcast and Charter also agreed on a direct subscriber swap that Comcast said would lower its share of the market to 30 percent.

The agreement would make Charter the second-largest cable company in the nation, just behind the newly combined Comcast and TWC entity.

Full content: The Register

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