AT&T offers broadband for $10 a month
NEW YORK – Without any sort of fanfare, AT&T Inc. has started offering a broadband Internet service for $10 a month, cheaper than any advertised plan.
The DSL, or digital subscriber line, plan introduced Saturday is part of the concessions made by AT&T to the Federal Communications Commission to get its $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. approved last December.
The $10 offer is available to customers in the 22-state AT&T service region, which includes former BellSouth areas, who have never had AT&T or BellSouth broadband, spokesman Michael Coe confirmed Monday. Local phone service and a one-year contract are required. The modem is free.
The service provides download speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second and upload speeds of up to 128 kbps, matching the speeds of the cheapest advertised AT&T plan, which costs $19.95 a month in the nine-state former BellSouth area and $14.99 in the 13 states covered by AT&T before the acquisition.
•Theater chain AMC Entertainment Inc. on Monday reported its first annual profit in 10 years, thanks to its acquisition of rival Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. and an advertising partnership’s initial public offering.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AMC parent Marquee Holdings Inc. reported earning $134.1 million during the year ended March 29, compared with a $190.1 million loss during the same period a year ago.
While privately held, AMC still reports financial numbers because some of its debt is publicly traded. The company has $1.7 billion in outstanding debt.
AMC said admission revenue rose 46 percent to $1.66 billion, thanks to a 32.7 percent overall increase in attendance and a 6.2 percent increase in ticket prices. Looking just at theaters that had been open for at least a year – a key measure of retail health – AMC reported a 7.9 percent increase in revenue over the previous year, including a 5 percent increase in ticket prices and a 2.8 percent increase in tickets sold. Concession sales increased about 51 percent to $686.3 million, while other revenue, mostly in-theater advertising sales, rose 24 percent to $115.3 million.
•The Chandler family has sold its last remaining stock in Tribune Co., ending a fractious seven-year relationship in which it became the media conglomerate’s largest shareholder and ultimately forced its sale.
The Chandler Trusts’ sale of their last 20.3 million shares, representing a 17.2 percent stake in Chicago-based Tribune, took place June 7 and was disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday.
The stock sale, underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co., netted the Chandler Trusts $31.19 per share.