T-Mobile just announced plans to launch a disruptive new integrated mobile and home video service in 2018 via the acquisition of Layer3 TV. Layer3 TV is a service that integrates TV, streaming online video content, and social media. Amir Rozwadowski, Telecom Analyst at Barclays, joined us to discuss the implications of the deal.
Rozwadowski believes the Layer3 TV acquisition seems to be a low cost move to into the evolving distribution game. Management expressed Layer3 TV is being purchased mainly for its team and technology. Due to this outlook, the Barclays analyst thinks the video service will take time to scale. Since Layer3 TV is still in such early stages of integration, Rozwadowski says it's tough to predict the complete impact on the overall telecom sector.
The race to 5G is another hot topic for telecom companies. The analyst says the technology will be able to deliver "dynamic capacity on a real-time basis." He says it's still early, but Verizon is emerging as the leader in 5G.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
