Comcast: integrating AT&T is going well; MSO stemmed subscriber loss, saw cable system revenues rise. (Top of the Week).

Broadcasting & Cable, May, 2003 by Higgins, John M.

Comcast's turnaround of AT&T Broadband's ailing cable systems is going much better than expected, as evidenced by unexpectedly strong results for the first quarter.

When they took over AT&T's 11 million-subscriber cable systems, Comcast executives braced themselves for a three-year turnaround, a year longer than they have budgeted for past system acquisitions like Jones Intercable and Lenfest Communications. "Is it so screwed up that you can't fix it?" Comcast Cable President Steve Burke recalled his team asking. "Is it so big that you won't have enough people to do it?"

The answer, it seems, is no. "This acquisition seems to be conforming to Comcast standards at the same pace as any other acquisitions," Burke said in an interview. "I've never...

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