clearwire-timewarner=directtv / credit suisse handling sale how much more evidence needed!!!!!
direcTV appears to be signaling an interest in partnering in some fashion with Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR), based upon a recent filing it made with the FCC. In the filing, submitted in regard to Verizon Wireless' (NYSE:VZ) proposed $3.9 billion deal to acquire AWS spectrum from SpectrumCo (a joint venture of cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks) and Cox Communications, DirecTV urges the FCC to require that the cable companies with a minority interest in Clearwire divest their holdings.
Representatives from DirecTV met on July 18 with Paul Murray, legal adviser to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, and noted that the cable companies "neither intend to build their own wireless network nor view Clearwire as a 'viable' solution going forward." (The cable companies' deals with Verizon give the companies the option of reselling each other's services, and Comcast and Time Warner have already started to sell Verizon's wireless offerings).
"Allowing these MSOs to continue to hold minority ownership and management interests in Clearwire despite their new arrangement with Verizon Wireless would enable them to hamper further development of Clearwire's competing network and services, both by impeding new initiatives and by refusing to make additional investments," DirecTV wrote. "Third parties, in turn, will have less incentive to invest in or enter into strategic agreements with Clearwire, resulting in valuable spectrum remaining fallow." Therefore, DirecTV wrote, the FCC should require the cable companies to divest their minority holdings in Clearwire within six months.
Sentiment: Strong Buy