ATC

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Cornerstone MoveEquity Stakes for Distribution Leverage

Competitive AdvantageCableLabs Royalty-Free Standards Play

Cornerstone MoveStock Architecture to Lock Control

Competitive AdvantageBlackout as Franchise Leverage

Capital StrategyTax-Sheltered Growing Annuity

Capital StrategyInsurance Company Capital Over Banks

Signature MoveNever Bet the Whole Farm

Strategic PatternWarrants as Industry Coordination Currency

Decision FrameworkEmpathy as Negotiation Architecture

Signature MoveThrow the Keys on the Table

Signature MoveOwn a Small Piece of a Winner You Can't Run

Operating PrincipleDecentralized Cowboys with Centralized Benchmarks

Risk DoctrineWhat If Not as Decision Filter

Strategic PatternScale Economics as Survival Doctrine

Signature MoveAsk One Sharp Question to Crack Open Intel

Signature MoveCash Flow Not Earnings as Currency

Cornerstone MoveBuy the System, Pay With Its Own Cash Flow

Identity & CultureIntrovert's Edge Through Listening

Primary Evidence

"By one tally, we had spent $3 billion by 1987 for more than 150 cable companies, giving TCI reach into nearly 20 percent of U.S. homes. We had a sufficient lead—nearly twice as large as the number two player, Time Inc.’s ATC. A year later, we had no earnings but posted cash flow of $850 million—more than the cash flow of ABC, CBS, and NBC combined."

Source:Born to Be Wired

"We knew the price could be close to $2 billion, but how to afford it? “Clusters” had become a buzzword in the industry, adding adjoining systems in a certain geographic area like pieces in a puzzle. It was the first time we began to think about the potential to buy or swap systems with other cable operators who owned systems near the markets we were newly acquiring, a tactic Tryg Myhren, the CEO at Time Inc.’s American Television and Communications Corporation (ATC), had popularized. Instead of fighting over it, why not buy it together and divvy it up?"

Source:Born to Be Wired

Appears In Volumes

Born to Be Wired