Ten Years Ago... Bells In Dispute Over a TV Venture

Pacific Telesis and 2 Other Bells In Dispute Over a TV Venture
[SOURCE: New York Times 1/16/1997, AUTHOR: Mark Landler]
Remember Pacific Telesis Group, Bell Atlantic and Nynex? Ten years ago, they were having a spate about -- what else? -- rolling out video services. The companies had a joint, "wireless cable" venture called Tele-TV. But Bell Atlantic and NYNEX decided not to offer wireless cable in the East: they wanted to shut down Tele-TV and didn't want to pay for PacTel to roll out the service in California. PacTel wanted to hold the other partners to the deal partly because it helped pay for market tests for Bell Atlantic's region. The fractures in the Tele-TV partnership still illustrate what can happen when major companies unite behind a high-tech vision -- only to diverge later when the technology or the economics shifts. Tele-TV's partners pledged to spend $100 million to create a digital television company. But after spiraling costs and doubts about the technology, only Pacific Telesis remained committed to entering television at the time. Like many telecom disputes, this one was solved by each company agreeing to merge and form a larger company.
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