Verizon Wireless announced Friday that it plans to acquire 122 advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo, a joint venture formed by Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks, for $3.6 billion. The spectrum covers 259 million POPs. Comcast owns 63.6% of SpectrumCo and will take home $2.3 billion from the spectrum sale, Time Warner owns 31.2% of the company and expects to receive about $1.1 billion, and Bright House Networks will make roughly $189 million on the deal. As part of the agreement, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks will eventually have the option to sell Verizon Wireless service through wholesale channels. Read on for more.

“These agreements, together with our Wi-Fi plans, enable us to execute a comprehensive, long-term wireless strategy and expand our focus on providing mobility to our Xfinity services,” Comcast President Neil Smit said.

Verizon Wireless will use the added spectrum to build out its LTE network. “Spectrum is the raw material on which wireless networks are built, and buying the AWS spectrum now solidifies our network leadership into the future, and will enable us to bring even better 4G LTE products and services to our customers,” Verizon Wireless President and CEO Dan Mead said.

The deal is still subject to approval by the FCC, and the companies’ joint press release follows below.

Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks Sell Advanced Wireless Spectrum to Verizon Wireless for $3.6 Billion

The Companies Also Announce Commercial Agreements That Will Deliver Mobile Products to Consumers

PHILADELPHIA, BASKING RIDGE, N.J., NEW YORK and ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – SpectrumCo, LLC, a joint venture between Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks, today announced it has entered into an agreement pursuant to which Verizon Wireless will acquire its 122 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses covering 259 million POPs for $3.6 billion.  Comcast owns 63.6% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $2.3 billion from the sale.  Time Warner Cable owns 31.2% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $1.1 billion.  Bright House Networks owns 5.3% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $189 million.

The agreement comes at a time when consumer demand for wireless services and bandwidth is increasing rapidly.  This sale of spectrum is an important step toward ensuring that the needs and desires of consumers for additional mobile services will not be thwarted by the current spectrum shortage.  While government action to free more spectrum is expected, this transaction ensures that the spectrum which is already available for mobile services is used effectively to serve customers.

The companies also announced that they have entered into several agreements, providing for the sale of various products and services.  Through these agreements, the cable companies, on the one hand, and Verizon Wireless, on the other, will become agents to sell one another’s products and, over time, the cable companies will have the option of selling Verizon Wireless’ service on a wholesale basis.  Additionally, the cable companies and Verizon Wireless have formed an innovation technology joint venture for the development of technology to better integrate wireline and wireless products and services.

Neil Smit, President of Comcast Cable, said, “These agreements, together with our Wi-Fi plans, enable us to execute a comprehensive, long-term wireless strategy and expand our focus on providing mobility to our Xfinity services.  We’re excited about this partnership with Verizon Wireless and the future innovations we will bring to consumers.”

Dan Mead, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless, said, “Americans deserve excellence from a wireless service provider, and innovative wireless companies plan ahead in order to deliver on that expectation.  Spectrum is the raw material on which wireless networks are built, and buying the AWS spectrum now solidifies our network leadership into the future, and will enable us to bring even better 4G LTE products and services to our customers.  American businesses and consumers can have confidence that the best wireless network has the foundational resources to deliver on that promise.”

Time Warner Cable President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Marcus said, “We’re excited to be able to offer the nation’s best wireless services to our customers and to have Verizon Wireless as a sales channel for our superb wireline services.   We’re also pleased to have obtained an attractive price for the spectrum we’re selling.”

Bright House Networks CEO Steve Miron added, “We are always looking for ways to provide new and exciting product offerings for our customers.  We look forward to working with our partners through these agreements toward achieving that end goal to add additional value for our customers.”

SpectrumCo’s sale and transfer of its advanced wireless spectrum to Verizon Wireless is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission and review under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act and other customary conditions.

4G is a hot topic here on BGR and as such, we’ve likely become more numb than we should when it comes to advertised data speeds. We’re so used to seeing “theoretical limits” that are so far from reality we just chuckle and move along. The wireline broadband industry, however, is a different beast. According to a study recently conducted by the Federal Communications Commission, major broadband Internet service provides in the U.S. deliver data speeds that are generally between 80% and 90% of the speeds they advertise. The Associated Press reports that the FCC’s study measured data speeds delivered to thousands of U.S. broadband subscribers this past March from 13 of the nation’s top ISPs including Time Warner, Comcast, AT&T and Verizon. The three most popular wired broadband technologies were covered by the study — DSL, cable and fiber — and data rates were said to have been close to the advertised speeds during both peak and off-peak times. The AP notes that the FCC’s study didn’t delve into speeds delivered by wireless data services, which is a study we would love to see.

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Time Warner has been ordered by a U.S. District Court judge in Washington to identify hundreds of people accused of illegally downloading movies over its broadband network. The ISP had previously argued that identifying the accused parties would be “unfairly expensive and time-consuming,” and it asked that the judge reject the subpoenas for subscriber information. Of the three pending cases where subpoenas for subscriber data were issued, the judge agreed to quash one, as the plaintiff, Maverick Entertainment Group, failed to properly serve the subpoena in compliance with the law. The other two stand, however, and Time Warner will have to identify approximately 250 subscribers. Maverick, one of three movie companies currently seeking the identities of anonymous Internet users who are accused of illegally downloading their copyrighted materials, has 10 days to re-issue the subpoena or it may lose access to the identities of over 700 users.

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Following the crazy storm of tech news that rained down from Vegas yesterday, it’s hard to believe that today is actually the official start of the 2011 Consumer Electronics show. But today is the day, and things are set to pick up right where they left off last night. Verizon Wireless CEO Ivan Seidenberg has been called on to deliver the first big keynote today, and the focus will be LTE 4G. AT&T set the ber pretty high yesterday, but Big Red still has the jump with LTE already having been deployed in several markets. So what’s in store for today? 4G modems? 4G smartphones? 4G tablets? 4G iPhones? Ok, we probably won’t see any iPhones, but hit the jump to follow the action in our live-blog.

8:30AM: We’re in our seats and ready to rock. Data connectivity is a little iffy right now so please bear with us. We’re also working on getting images up soon.

8:37AM: An announcement just came on saying the show is set to start in 10 minutes.

8:45AM: The monitors all have Verizon logos on them now – should be kicking off any minute.

8:48AM: CEA Chief Executive Gary Shapiro is on stage making an introductory speech.

8:55AM: They’re showing us a little video on wireless innovation now. Seidenberg should be up soon.

8:59AM: Shapiro is pitching his book, The Comeback, now. Mmm hmm.

9:05AM: Now we’re hearing about how great CES is this year, and that almost every major player in consumer electronics is represented here.

9:07AM: Shapiro says Seidenberg is going to make history with his keynote this morning.

9:09AM: And now the Verizon CEO is getting a verbal massage from Shapiro. Looks like he’ll be out any minute!

9:10AM: Now we have an intro video playing and Seidenberg is making his way on stage.

9:11AM: Seidenberg is praising CES CEO Shapiro – and now he’s joking that keynote attendees should turn their wireless devices back on (Seidenberg has said to turn everything off).

9:13AM: There are 2 billion Internet users and 5 billion wireless users around the globe.

9:14AM: Smartphones are growing at 90% per year and the mobile app market is blowing up.

9:15AM: video now accounts for 50% of home Internet traffic. Average home broadband speeds are 7Mbps.

9:17AM: What will customers want over the next 10 years? 3D, holograms, smart homes. Verizon’s 4G network will help take us there.

9:18AM: Lowell McAdam is now on stage.

9:19AM: Verizon set out to build the fastest and most advanced wireless network in the country according to McAdam, and that vision is becoming a reality in 2011.

9:19AM: Verzion will double LTE coverage in the next 12 months, and blanket the country by the end of 2013.

9:20AM: LTE ecosystem is developing very rapidly. Motorola DROID Bionic and Motorola XOOM are examples of that.

9:20AM: “LTE is a game changer because it speeds up the development cycle.”

9:21AM: Verizon is more than capable of handling the huge growth of video and other traffic moving forward — gigabit home service isn’t far off.

9:23AM: It takes 4.5 hours to download a full length film at today’s average home broadband speeds. On Verizon’s top FiOS service, it takes 4.5 minutes to download that same movie.

9:25AM: The real magic happens when you bring all of this together.” LTE, home broadband, next-gen smartphones, etc.

9:26AM: Now we’re going to see how Verizon’s partners are going to help push Verizon’s vision forward. Seidenberg is back do make some intros.

9:28AM: Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner is up first – he says the first golden era of TV was when it was invented and the second is now.

9:29AM: Bewkes said we’re in the midst of the best programming era in the history of television. Not just variety – quality, picture quality, 3D, etc.

9:30AM: Seidenberg: Verizon is now tasking with delivering all of this great content to homes, computers, smartphones, and so on.

9:31AM: They’re playing a video of Conan O’Brian, who is concerned with how and where he’s going to watch his own show.

9:33AM: Time Warner also enlisted the help of TNT’s NBA team, Wolf Blitzer, Ellen DeGeneres, Mary Mark – I mean, dramatic actor Mark Wahlberg – and others in this video.

9:36AM: So the basic idea is… Time Warner programming is awesome.

9:38AM: The video demo is over now. They’re discussing TV Everywhere now – getting programming on all devices over all types of connections. “If you have subscribed to a television service [...] you ought to have it on demand, on every device you want.” And, according to Seidenberg, you shouldn’t have to pay extra for it.

9:40AM: Verizon’s FlexView is a huge challenge to to all of the different providers and devices out there.

9:42AM: Seidenberg is saying thanks and goodbye to Bewkes now, and here comes Motorola Mobility boss Sanjay Jha.

9:44AM: The DROID franchise is a huge success, and it was the result of a collaboration between Motorola, Google and Verizon.

9:45AM: The DROID Bionic is the next step. Jha calls it the era of “no more waiting.” No more waiting for downloads, videos, etc.

9:46AM: Now he’s showing off the Motorola XOOM tablet that was introduced yesterday. Demo video time.

9:48AM: The Motorola XOOM will launch in February and it will be upgraded to 4G in the second quarter. The DROID Bionic will launch in the second quarter.

9:49AM: Now Google engineer Mike Clarin is on stage to demo Honeycomb!

9:50AM: With Honeycomb, Google focused on catering the OS for tablets and improving the tablet experience across the board.

9:52AM: Now we’re getting a demo of Android widgets on Honeycomb. Unlike the iPad, Honeycomb tablets will offer full widget support. Widgets can be customized, moved around, etc. Now we’re looking at the browser.

9:54AM: The Honeycomb browser offers a “desktop browsing” experience. We’ve heard that plenty of times before but truth be told, this looks pretty darn slick.

9:55AM: Great integration with Google Maps 5.0, of course. When you zoom in far enough, it automatically enables 3D view.

9:56AM: Non-intrusive notification system that carrier a lot more information than Android’s smartphone notifications. They can even include photos.

9:56AM: Task switching looks great in Honeycomb.

9:57AM: Google eBooks has also been redesigned for Honeycomb. It has automatic cloud sync for your book library and to hold your place across devices.

9:59AM: Now we’re seeing video chat via Google Talk. The demo went really well after a hiccup, and the quality is ok (all things considered).

10:00AM: Final predictions from Sanjay Jha: This year will create the biggest technology opportunities for consumer electronics companies.

10:01AM: Sanjay made sure to snag that XOOM as he hurried off stage.

10:02AM: McAdam is back and he’s talking about Verizon’s great programs for developer and entrepreneurs. Verizon is currently working with over 6,000 developers on LTE-friendly solutions.

10:05AM: Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is back to wrap things up.

10:07AM: Verizon is working with a variety of partners to utilize its networks in the best ways possible. Verizon is testing “connected home solutions” that will roll out in the first half of this year, for example.

10:09AM: “Our business has been driven by the belief that anything is possible. It still is.”

10:09AM: That’s it ladies and gents. Time to hit the show floor.

Kind of… Cablevision and Time Warner are spending $10 million to provide WiFi service to over 30 parks in NYC as part of a deal to renew the cable companies’ cable TV franchises. Here is the catch though: internet use over Wi-Fi is free, but it’s limited to up to (3) 10 minute sessions a month, a total of 30 minutes of usage a person. If you want to get your SlingBox on after that, it’s going to cost $0.99/day to access the internet. Not an exorbitant amount of money, but definitely not quite free, either.

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Cable and satellite television operators may be in talks with entertainment companies to develop new TV packages that offer fewer channels at a lower cost to consumers. With the average television bill hovering around $80, and the economy struggling, many subscribers are dropping this non-essential service and turing to cheaper, online alternatives like Hulu and Netflix for their home entertainment. This trend has, seemingly, not gone unnoticed by those in the media business. Time Warner CEO, Glenn Britt, confirmed that television operators are exploring ways of lowering the consumer’s monthly bill:

It would be a good thing if we could all figure out a way to have one or more smaller packages that would be attractive to people who can’t afford bigger ones, especially if we could do it in a way that the entertainment companies are still able to finance the product

Though the idea of smaller, cheaper TV packages are in the early stages of discussion, it is a big step forward for operators to even consider lowering the bar on the basic package. Hopefully, this trend continues and expands to include not only less channels but some a la carte features for which consumers are clamoring.

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Big news coming out of the NY/NJ/CT tri-state cable companies, and it’s downright exciting. Cablevision, Time Warner, and Comcast have all teamed up to announce a roaming agreement that will allow their subscribers to freely roam on any of the companies Wi-Fi networks. Think about that for a second… as long as you are a Cablevision, Time Warner, or Comcast customer, you can get free Wi-Fi access at practically limitless locations (thousands) all across the NY metro area from all three providers, and connect to any of their networks from your computer, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry — whatever. According to the press release, authentication for this to happen is already in place starting today, so if you were just sticking to your own cable provider’s magic hotspot, fell free to mosey on over to one of the partner networks. Just try not to make Verizon too jealous, ok?

According to Taiwanese WiMAX CPE makers, Clearwire is slowing its purchases of WiMAX equipment as it begins to ramp up its wholesale business. This expansion is not unexpected as Clearwire first offered wholesaler services in Q3 2009 and indicated that is looking to grow its wholesale business and add additional wholesale customers in the intervening quarters. Currently, Clearwire offers wholesale 4G services to Comcast, Sprint and Time Warner Cable, all three of which are strategic investors in Clearwire. Each reseller has the ability to sell 4G services with their own WiMAX CPE products, resell services in different geographic markets and offer individualized pricing schemes. Additional details on Clearwire’s wholesale business is expected during the company’s Q4 2009 earnings conference call on February 24th. Perhaps, Clearwire will slip in some info on that rumored Sprint Android 4G handset as well.

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Midway, maker of everyone’s favorite cute and cuddly franchise Mortal Kombat, has not had a smooth run of late. To recap Midway’s recent plight in one sentence: In December, Sumner Redstone sold his 87 percent stake in Midway for all of $100,000 and the company proceeded to file for bankruptcy in February. Yikes. The creator of a bazillion Mortal Kombat titles isn’t dead in the water just yet however, as several companies are reportedly preparing acquisition bids. One such company, according to Bloomberg, is Time Warner — maker of both Mortal Kombat motion pictures. Hey didn’t one of those win an Oscar? No? Time Warner seemingly won’t have much competition as Bloomberg reports Midway expects less than five bids. Regardless of the outcome of this debacle, the phrase “Finish Him” will hold a special place in our hearts forever.

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AT&T is taking cues from Time Warner Cable and Frontier Communications by implementing a tiered broadband service for customers in Reno, NV – whether they like it or not. Lucky them, eh? Broadband customers will be limited with certain caps depending on their tiered pricing plans and will be charged per gigabyte exceeding their plan. According to AT&T, this has been a long time coming and it has already begun ironing out details with the FCC. Per the filing:

In particular, AT&T plans to initiate a broadband Internet access usage trial in Reno, Nev., beginning in November. Consistent with AT&T’s belief that consumers should have clear information about the capabilities of their broadband Internet access services and any meaningful limitations on those service,  AT&T will be providing written notice to customers involved in the trial explaining that their broadband service will be subject to a certain monthly usage tier for the total amount of data they may send and receive, as well as a per gigabyte charge in the event they exceed the usage tier.

Meaningful limitations on services? Right. The tiers are going to range from 20 GB to 150 GB per month and exceeding those caps will cost $1 per gigabyte over the limit. While these caps are far greater than the ones offered by some competitors, AT&T customers might feel a little constrained despite the fact that hitting numbers like 150 GB per month can be pretty difficult (you’d have to do a lot of video, downloading and torrents). The consolation? If you don’t want to be part of the trial, you can get booted from AT&T’s services without having to pay an early termination fee.

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