Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone.
The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Community Television, Inc., two firms with common ownership.
After graduating from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Bob Magness was a cotton seed salesman and cattle rancher.
Another cable pioneer, Bill Daniels, told him about a community antenna system in Bozeman, Montana.
[6][7] In 1982, Malone hired Peter Barton, who called himself the company's "Jimmy Olsen" because he just did whatever was needed, fresh from Harvard Business School.
Barton had a playful side and even kept toys in his Liberty Media office, and a gorilla costume to represent his status as "second banana" to Malone.
[11] A week later on June 8 the deal was finalized with TCI acquiring the remaining 46% of United Artists, to allow full control.
Under the original terms of the proposed deal, Flextech would acquire TCI's European programming business in exchange for shares.
Vice President Al Gore supported the idea of improving the nation's infrastructure, and the business community took his statement to mean administration approval of the merger.
[15] The $33 billion deal, based on a $54 per share price for Bell Atlantic stock, would have been the largest in American telecommunications history, the resulting company serving one in four cable TV customers.
[16] The Bell Atlantic deal also fell victim to new federal regulations that reduced cable bills up to 16 percent, costing TCI $300 million over two years.
Higher spending coupled with lower cash receipts made TCI less attractive to investors, and the stock price dropped to $17 a share, half what experts believed the company was worth.
Bill Nygren of Harris Associates, known for profiting from TCI's Liberty Media, said TCI could make a comeback, and Michael Mahoney of GT Capital expected the proposed deregulation of the cable and telephone industries to increase cable company revenues.
[17] In Fall 1995, Time Warner agreed to exchange $8 billion in stock for 82 percent of Turner Broadcasting System.
Malone ended the 15 percent discount on Turner programming that would have lasted 20 years, and Time Warner had to pay $67 million to cover TCI's taxes due.
At the same time, cost cutting had to take place, and many of the cable customers were in rural areas with old equipment and limited offerings.
The good news: satellite companies could not offer local channels or phone service, and individual dishes served only one TV.
[21] TCI improved its fortunes, hiring Leo Hindery as president and making Malone chairman and CEO.
In 1997 TCI merged with the Kearns-Tribune Corp., publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's largest newspaper.
The Federal Communications Commission did not require TCI to give other companies access to its cable lines, despite requests by America Online and others.
[23] AT&T completed its acquisition March 9, 1999, and TCI became AT&T Broadband and Internet Services, the company's largest unit, with Hindery its chief executive.