Mediacom gets Excited@Home

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/1/2001

Mediacom has tapped Excite@Home to take over its broadband customers who were previously served by the ISP Channel, an ISP that is ceasing operations. According to Excite@Home, it will pick up 12,000 high-speed data customers in the deal.

"Mediacom is a great MSO and a great partner," says Dan Donnelly, vice president for affiliate operations for @Home Solutions. "The deal is really a result of the fallout of ISP Channel more or less going out of business on Jan. 31."

Donnelly says that all of the Mediacom systems are on DOCSIS so it will be a transparent switch to customers. @Home will lay in its own circuits and, on date of transition, point them over to @Home's network. There also may be similar opportunities ahead for Excite@Home, particularly if an ISP has a business model similar to that of the ISP Channel.

"Anybody who has a similar model to what ISP Channel has is going to have a difficult challenge sustaining potential for profitability," adds Donnelly. "They came out of the shoot with a full turnkey model where the majority of expenses were on their books while the revenue was split down the middle, and you can't do that and stay in this business. You need some sort of scalability to the business."