Bellsouth Corp
19 December 2000
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Jeff Battcher
BellSouth Corporation
(404) 713-0274
BELLSOUTH UPDATES PLANS
FOR RESTRUCTURING ITS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT SERVICE
Company Reaches Agreement with DISH Network
ATLANTA - December 19, 2000 - BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) today announced that it will
focus its entertainment business on its fiber optic-based wireline video
operations. The company has reached agreement with DISH Network to offer a
special video service package, beginning in January, to BellSouth's current
single-family residential customers with wireless video service (video signal
received through an antenna).
Today's announcement affects only wireless video customers. Those customers who
receive video services through BellSouth's fiber-based operations will not be
affected.
'We intend to make the transition as simple as possible for customers,' said
Bill Smith, executive vice president - Network Services and chief technology
officer. 'It's important for our customers to understand that until the
transition to DISH Network is complete sometime next year, BellSouth will
continue to make its wireless video service available to current customers.'
This move was made to better align resources with BellSouth's strategic
priorities in broadband services, wireless and international operations.
BellSouth's broadband business priorities include the accelerated rollout of
DSL, e-center services, Web hosting, and Internet platform (IP) services
applications. Sales of BellSouth's DSL service and other high-speed access
products jumped more than 8 0 percent in the third quarter and the company
expects to triple its DSL customers from about 200,000 by year end to 600,000 by
end of year 2001.
BellSouth will recognize total after-tax restructuring charges of between $350
million and $375 million in connection with this announcement. It is expected
that a significant portion of the total cost will be recognized in the fourth
quarter of 2000, when the restructuring activities began, with the remainder
being recognized during 2001, as the wireless video operations undergo
transition.
Customers may find information about BellSouth's video entertainment service at
www.bellsouth.com.
About BellSouth Corporation
BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) is an integrated communications services
company headquartered in Atlanta, GA serving more than 41 million customers in
the United States and 16 other countries. BellSouth, consistently recognized for
customer satisfaction, provides residential, business and wholesale customers
with integrated voice, video and data services to meet their communications
needs. BellSouth is a Fortune 100 company with total revenues exceeding $26
billion.
About Cingular Wireless (a joint venture with SBC Communications)
Through Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company,
BellSouth provides innovative wireless voice and data services. Cingular
Wireless serves 19 million subscribers and reaches 190 million potential
customers with a full set of services, including interactive messaging in
addition to attractive national rate plans and bundles of other communications
services.
For more information about BellSouth Corporation, visit our Web site at
www.bellsouth.com.
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.