Cable companies drop Pivot, break up with Sprint Nextel
by Nilay Patel 
posted Apr 23rd 2008 at 6:23PM
Wow, it looks like someone was listening when we said that Pivot wasn't going anywhere just an hour ago -- Comcast, Time Warner (Engadget's parent company) and Cox have all confirmed to the AP that they've backed out of the quad-play partnership, leaving Sprint alone to awkwardly hang out with Advance / Newhouse, which declined to comment. That must be a fun party. Of course, this also means both of the partnerships Sprint and Big Cable got into have now failed, but that doesn't mean the competition in the space is over: both Time Warner and Cox say wireless is still in the cards for their companies, but Pivot was just too complicated a venture. Comcast hasn't said anything yet, but promised a comment tomorrow sometime between 7AM and 11PM.
Filed under: Sprint
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian @ Apr 23rd 2008 6:45PM
I just left Sprint, on good terms, and I have to say... TimeWarner completely destroyed Pivot. TimeWarner employees that came to my store wouldn't even touch Pivot.
My store wouldn't sell, support, or promote the service.
I have to say, Sprint kept a comfortable distance from this train wreck.
RmiXDflavoR @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:36PM
Well this is a surprise to me. But just before the haters post, this is just a closing chapter. We WILL SEE Sprint be part of a venture with the cable companies OR SPRINT will be bought by the cable companies, they WILL push WiMax. Now as I have mentioned before on this site, WiMax is key to bridging the cable companies and wireless. They are going to deploy WiMax set-top-boxes,Cable modems, and PHONES, with this they will expand the coverage pretty much everywhere(hundreds of fiber lines available, they will just change many of those "amplifiers"with ones that have a WiMax chip in them) And lets not forget all the spectrum Sprint OWNS. Now lets just give them time the Bell have been changing to a "Cable"network(fios) to keep up with the Cable companies but they lack the penetration rate Cable has. they are not sitting around with no plans on how to TAKE the market, execution will come soon.
badqat @ Apr 24th 2008 12:55PM
I'd put money on Sprint taking a dirt nap before I'd put money on them making a go with this crap.
bernardino @ Apr 23rd 2008 7:45PM
From what I understood with pivot, I had to sign a 2 year agreement which would tie me to both my phone AND my cable. If I cancelled either, I paid the lovely ~$175 termination fee. WTF?
loosely_coupled @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:40PM
I do NOT have anything against Sprint, except their completely worthless management. They really do have great prices, and I hope they survive for competitions sake.
However,
1) This is another blow to the sinking wireless giant. Sprint is hemorrhaging customers and money terribly.
2) I don't believe their Wimax network is going to go anywhere. First of all, It looks like their support from other major tech companies has all but dried up. Secondly, I don't know if they have enough leverage to be able to borrow enough money for a robust, nationwide roll-out. Another thing is that Wimax (4G) can hardly rival HSDPA/HSUPA (3G) in bandwidth, latency, etc. Verizon/AT&T/Europe/Asia's future LTE 4G technology will blow Wimax away.
badqat @ Apr 24th 2008 1:00PM
Even though T-Mobile hasn't publicly announced it's going to LTE, I can't see them NOT going with it, as it's going to dominate. Sprint will be all by it's lonesome, selling inferior WiMax, if Sprint still exists at all.
Paul @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:38PM
I just don't get why anyone would choose to buy something from their cable company that they don't have to. To me, it seems like ordering pizza from the IRS. Is that really where you'd want to get your pizza if they sold it? With a bazillion other options out there?
bhn @ Apr 24th 2008 12:51AM
I work for Advance/Newhouse and I will tell you that they backed out too completely.
It launched briefly in the Orlando region for Bright House Networks but was quickly pulled shortly after.
Virtuous @ Apr 24th 2008 12:35AM
Are the phone companies (AT&T, Verizon) much better than the cable companies (Comcast, Time Warner)? On the whole cable Internet seem to work much better than DSL Internet.
SRS Rep. @ Apr 24th 2008 9:04AM
There is TWO main reasons why PIVOT is no longer. As a SRS rep I can tell you that everyone, literally everyone was excited to sell PIVOT. Great idea, Great Product. The sexy PIVOT display came to the store, we all got a woody. Then PIVOT launched....
Issue One: (Footprint) Time Warner is definitely a huge Cable company but didn't have the Footprint in places like here in Columbus, Ohio. They lost numbers to Insight Communications (Big Nobody). When 97% of your customers out of 70% of your stores can not buy your product, how can you sell it? Who is your home cable provider? "Insight." Who is your home cable provider? "Insight." Who is your home cable provider? "Insight." Who is your home cable provider? "Insight."
Issue Two: (Set Up Time/Requirements) When you did come across an footprint eligible customer, the time it took on average account setup and phone activation would be 2+ HOURS. As a rep when it usually takes me 10-25 mins to get a customer in and out the store no matter what the customer needed, PIVOT was truly a pain in the ... You tell me what sales numbers looks better to you? 2 PIVOT activations in a day versus 6 regular activations? In Columbus our TWC reps told us that TWC's credit class policies are/were more linient (I think that's spelled right) than Sprint's. Deposits were supposed to be only up to $50. Then when we called in TWC, they're saying customer is approved for only 1 Line $300 deposit. (When ran through Sprint, customer gets approved for 3 Lines/$0 Deposit). If customer previously had TWC or has TWC is was even more of a hassle with any Past Due amounts they had on their TWC account. Only was to get done smoothly is if customer just moved into town and never had Sprint or TWC.
If PIVOT was COMPLETELY handled instore by reps the product would have sold strong. Instead of being handled partially through the store. So please don't place all the blame on Sprint. Maybe once straightened on for an actually POS setup you may see it again. Sorry if it's been a hassle to read. Just stating my own opinion facts.