Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) picked up a key election season video deal at its Vyvx division. McNeil/Lehrer Productions, which produces the PBS NewsHour and handles convention coverage for the public broadcaster, has selected Level 3 to help produce and deliver video coverage for both party conventions this summer.
The Republican convention will be held down in Tampa this year on August 27-30, with Mitt Romney and his VP-to-be-named-soon obviously headlining things and Sarah Palin and Ron Paul no doubt making trouble. Then the Democratic convention will be held in Charlotte this year on September 3-6, where there are probably no new surprises but with the former President Bill Clinton apparently being tapped to bring in the viewers.
Level 3’s Vyvx will be providing broadcast services with digital connections in DC and at each venue, each with Vyvx encoding, decoding, transmission, and local access. Back in 2008, Level 3 did the streaming and broadcasting for the DNC, so this isn’t their first shot at this sort of thing.
No doubt we will be hearing from other service providers who will each be handling different aspects of the telecommunications demands of such an event. You have to figure the toughest one will be the wireless services though, as this will be the first time we have smartphones, tablets, and who knows what else in everyone’s hands. I mean these folks (on either side of the political spectrum) are some of the biggest data/gadget junkies out there. Last time they mostly had Blackberries, this time they probably have two iPhones and an iPad apiece on average.
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Hmm, I thought the more interesting Level 3 news this morning was the fact that their most daunting debt tranche in 2014 of $1.4B has been extended………..lather, rinse and repeat until you finish the game as a result of winning the game.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-30/level-3-communications-said-to-seek-1-dot-4-billion-in-loans
Wall Street and their minion are always yakking about Level 3 kicking the debt can down the road versus retiring it, but I have never seen such a massive mother load of debt that had been kicked down the road for more than a century with union, pension and healthcare obligations attached, by that useless monopolist holding back innovation and progress for way too long now than AT&T.
All TITANS in Telecom and Cable Land who have created an oligopoly against the best interests of their citizen base should die a cruel death. Ask Ron Paul about that, and maybe Sarah too!
Thanks CarlK, I hadn’t seen that article yet! But it’s not at all a surprise, as they always start early and the bond market isn’t anywhere near as, err, peeved with the company’s Q2 as the stock markets are.
Well, this certainly puts to rest some uncertainty, but I just hope that En_ron_hubbard, that sharp tool I have confronted here and in other cyberspace lands, dares the dubious SHORTS to keep messing with (3) the way he dared me to short his “little company,” those purveyors of porn and a pirated content X the globe, Cogent Communications. 🙂
Speaking of AT&T…. they just hit a 52 wk high today I believe. How is Level 3 doing these days btw?
You would be wise to check with David, “Cody” Klein on “Seeking Alpha” on that one, because made a most prescient call about the time that the “shift” took place.
Blame it on false belief systems surrounding fat dividends which aren’t guaranteed like when they blow up $3B plus in owners’ cash capital because they believed buying “CUPCAKES” for FCC officials would ensure their purchase of Tmobile.
Why didn’t they fire that buffoon yet!
In the long term, AT&T is DEAD! imo
At the same time, I would be very, very careful to not confuse a “stock price” with any semblance of corresponding “value,” most, if not all of the time!
One thing you can be both confident and reassured of according to today’s term refinancing news is that, TIME remains on Level 3’s side for delivering innovative, value added products to global consumers craving such necessary change away from, “The Status Quo.”
Out with the old, and in with the new!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=LVLT&t=2y&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=t
Of course. Been hearing it for how many years now…next quarter for LVLT! For real this time right?
I have made comments that there is something inherently wrong with Wrong Street, inclusive of the fact that their short term thinking for profits at any cost, along with degenerate nature will only breed fraud and crime to industry as a bi-product. This point should not be missed, as it remains a recurring theme perpetually and throughout history.
I see that you’re up to their same old tricks of demanding short term results. To your credit, most humans fall prey to this disease. Now daddy or mommy, I want it now!
Fear not, for more valuable products, services and solutions inside the “communications space” remains in front of us as part of the long term “investment cycle” counting from nearly $40B cost new PP&E to date!
These are the right products and services being delivered to needy customers demanding them at the right time compared to LEGACY products in the space!
Your logic really doesn’t hold up…Based on your comments all over this board, Wall Street controls the performance of all stocks, except, of course, if Level 3 goes up and then forces greater than the very same forces you allege nothing is greater than are at work? Or are we to assume that if Level 3 goes up, that Level 3 is crap?
It’s convenient to see the world as black and white. The World Wide Wrestling Federation has built a huge franchise on the idea that people desperately need villains and heros, white hats and black hats, good guys and bad guys, etc., etc.
Unfortunately, the world I live in has multiple shades of gray. I know good people that are sometimes bad and bad people that are sometimes good and I’m sure others see those same people just the opposite.
Can you please dial back the WWE caricaturization of everyone on Wall Street or of anyone who doesn’t necessarily agree with you?
Anonymous, you had me when you first said:
“Wall Street controls the performance of all stocks….”
Caveat: PUBLICLY HELD CORPORATIONS
Last note: You should have stopped there, and you would have kept me!
Carl, You are thinking ahead with great vision about how the Level 3 network will connect us all. Thank you – keep up the good work.
TV should switch to internet
TV, but not as we know it
With a little help from companies such as Apple and Google, the internet has changed music and publishing forever, and many believe that it is only a matter of time before television goes the same way. Switching off the terrestrial broadcast signal in the UK would mark the beginning of the end of TV as we know it.
America needs to follow the UK to learn how to be great again.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/31/digital-television-internet-revolution?cat=technology&type=article
Even Belgium is making America look like a third world country when it comes to the Internet. America stop supporting the likes of AT&T. Wake up America.
http://triple-it.pressdoc.com/33056-unique-ott-television-experience-rumble-in-the-app-store
Yes, Carl, please stick with us. You, Walter and the three of us will take on WS together. We have our white horses parked next to Jim’s private jet. The 5 of us can ride to Wall Street (on Jim’s private jet and at LVLT’s expense, of course) and set them crooks straight. We’ll let them know that we miss guidance regularly to prove the point that although we have great assets, disappoint investors regularly and can’t hit the targets we tell them to measure us by that they’re a bunch of liars and charlatans ruining this great country and our great company.
Grey, so sayeth Wall Street and their minion. Place your money on Grey! Have you not seen the color of the suits we oftentimes wear? From there, you might even join the DUMB ELEPHANT PARTY!
If you follow the gist of my message, you can be sure the following “GREY” will almost always cost you your money, and not theirs.
It’s no wonder that the greatest investor in the history of the game, removed himself from their CESSPOOL of lies, and deception predicated upon “NOISE.”
Black and white remains too difficult for any one person; therefore, confuse them with the grey matter resting in between their EARS. The masses are dumb enough to buy it from The Masters of the Universe who prey on a belief system that there is a sucker born every minute.
Why struggle to help them? They’re just rubes to be exploited compared to us anyway.
http://www.wwe.com/
This morning, Big (3) opens their voice floodgates to Hawaii and Sarah’s Alaska in order to enable the “bundle” of IP based features and benefits which will free their people from the bondage incorporated by “The Status Quo,” always being aided, abetted and “substantiated” by WRONG STREET and their MINION.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/level-3-extends-voice-services-to-alaska-and-hawaii-2012-07-31