Cablevision and @Home Network Announce Affiliate Relationship to Deliver High-Speed Internet Services
With Access to Cablevision's 5.5 Million Homes Passed, Alliance Extends @Home Network's Reach to 50 Million Homes
WOODBURY, NY and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., October 2, 1997 -- Cablevision Systems Corp. (ASE: CVC) and @Home Network (Nasdaq: ATHM) today announced a strategic alliance to deliver the @Home high speed Internet service to key East Coast markets including New York, Boston, and Cleveland. Under terms of the transaction, which is pending certain approvals, including Board consent, Cablevision will receive a warrant to purchase approximately 11 million shares of @Home's Series A common stock at $0.50 per share, and Cablevision will make its cable systems available to @Home on an exclusive basis on the same terms as @Home's founding partners Tele-Communications, Inc., Comcast Corporation, and Cox Communications.
Cablevision will serve approximately 5.5 million homes upon the completion of certain pending cable system acquisitions from Tele-Communications, Inc. Coupled with other pending partnerships and acquisitions of TCI and @Home's current partners, @Home Network will have access to more than 50 million homes in North America.
Cablevision is one of the nation's most tightly-clustered cable operators, operating primarily in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Ohio and Massachusetts. The Company is in the midst of an aggressive rebuild of its cable television systems to state-of-the-art hybrid fiber coaxial architecture that will mesh seamlessly with @Home's proprietary national broadband network infrastructure. Under the agreement, Cablevision's Optimum Online service will utilize @Home's distributed network infrastructure and unique broadband national content. The alliance will position Cablevision's customers at the forefront of a new generation of high-speed communications services.
"Our alliance with @Home solidifies Cablevision's belief that cable is the superior infrastructure for the new digital age," said Cablevision Chief Executive Officer James L. Dolan. "Our customers will have the advantage of both our robust local content including news, sports, and weather as well as @Home's powerful national multimedia content."
The @Home Network is more than a simple connection to the Internet. @Home has developed a distributed, intelligent network that utilizes sophisticated caching and replication technologies to create a high-performance "parallel" Internet and brings the data closer to the user. These technologies, combined with @Home's focus on end-to-end network management, greatly reduce the need for users to traverse the global Internet for information, reducing Internet "traffic jams" and dramatically improving network speed and reliability.
"By joining forces with Cablevision, @Home Network gains access to a significant concentration of homes in key major metropolitan markets in the Northeast corridor ñ enhancing our potential service footprint," said Tom Jermoluk, Chairman, President and CEO of @Home Network. "Together, we will provide a comprehensive multimedia rich solution that meets the increasing demand for high speed data services."
Based in Redwood City, California, @Home Network (http://www.home.net) distributes high-speed interactive services to residences and businesses using its own network architecture and a variety of transport options including the cable industry's hybrid-fiber coaxial infrastructure. The cable connection provides users significant increases in speed over conventional Internet services, and @Home's network allows for unique multimedia content and applications that go beyond current Web experiences.
Since its founding in May 1995, @Home Network has reached affiliate agreements with seven leading cable companies in North America, including Tele-Communications Inc., Comcast Corporation, Cox Communications, InterMedia Partners, Marcus Cable, Rogers Cablesystems Limited, and Shaw Communications. @Home Network and its cable partners are marketing high-speed Internet services in Arlington Heights, Illinois; Seattle, Washington; Fremont, California; San Diego, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Baltimore, Maryland; Hartford, Connecticut; Sarasota, Florida; Northern and Central New Jersey; Orange County, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska and Nashville, Tennessee.
Cablevision Systems Corp. (http://www.cablevision.com) is the nation's sixth largest operator of cable television systems, serving 2.9 million customers (prior to the completion of certain cable system acquisitions from TCI) in 19 states with major operations in Boston, Cleveland and the New York metropolitan area, where Cablevision has 1.7 million customers. Its subsidiary, Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. manages entertainment, news and sports programming services. Cablevision Lightpath, a wholly owned subsidiary, provides telephone service to more than 600 business customers on Long Island.
@Home Network, @Home Network, and the @ logo are trademarks of @Home Network and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other brands and products are trademarks of their respective companies.
Some of the information presented in this announcement constitutes forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Although the Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from its expectations. Factors which could cause actual results to differ from expectations include the completion of certain partnerships and acquisitions of TCI and @Home's current cable partner; the cable operators' ability to deploy and maintain high-speed two-way hybrid fiber coaxial cable infrastructure; customer acceptance of the @Home residential service; the failure to receive necessary Board and regulatory approvals; the success of competitive offerings; the Company's ability to manage any future periods of rapid growth; the Company's dependence on a limited number of key technology suppliers; and general economic and business conditions. For additional information concerning these and other important factors which may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from expectations and underlying assumptions, please refer to the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. @Home assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this press release.