BW cable

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Kabel BW GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding 2000
resolution 2015
Reason for dissolution Merger with Unitymedia
Seat Heidelberg , Germany
management Lutz Schüler (Chairman of the Management Board) (as of 2015)
Number of employees 798
sales 606.6 million euros
Branch Telecommunications , media
Website www.kabelbw.de
As of December 31, 2011

Kabel BW (originally Kabel Baden-Württemberg ) was a German cable network operator based in Heidelberg until its merger with Unitymedia on July 1, 2012 , which was created in 2000 with the sale of the Deutsche Telekom network in Baden-Württemberg . In 2011 the company was taken over by Liberty Global and merged with Unitymedia to Unitymedia KabelBW . Kabel BW has since continued as the new company's sales brand for Baden-Württemberg. The Kabel BW GmbH initially remained as a dependent subsidiary or internal organizational structure of the Unitymedia Kabel BW GmbH exist and was integrated into the Unity Media GmbH on April 1, 2015. Since April 2015 Unitymedia has been presenting itself under this name throughout the entire distribution area, the brand name Kabel BW is no longer used.

history

Headquarters in Heidelberg

At the end of the 1990s , Deutsche Telekom spun off its nationwide broadband cable network into Kabel Deutschland GmbH . The nine regional companies were to be sold to investors under pressure from the European Commission . In fact, the US operating company Callahan & Associates acquired 55 percent of Kabel Baden-Württemberg, and in 2003 Deutsche Telekom also parted with the remaining shares. As a result, a consortium of international banks and pension funds led by Blackstone became the new owners of the company. A year later wanted to cable Germany both ish from North Rhine-Westphalia and iesy in Hesse take over and Kabel BW, which large parts of the national cable network would be reunited. However, the takeover failed due to resistance from the cartel authorities .

In 2006 the company, together with the Association of German Cable Network Operators ANGA, successfully complained to the European Commission about the subsidization of DVB-T by some state media authorities . The company considered the financial support for the construction of the infrastructure to be inadmissible state aid. The EU Commission followed the argument and prohibited not only Berlin-Brandenburg but also North Rhine-Westphalia from funding DVB-T with public funds. Lawsuits by the federal government and the media outlets concerned against the decision were dismissed. They argued that in the interests of the competition , private broadcasting should also take part in the new TV broadcasting process. In addition, no triple-play offers could be implemented via DVB-T , which is why there is no competition for the cable network operators.

In 2006 the Blackstone Group sold Kabel BW to the Swedish company EQT . A purchase price was not mentioned, but in media reports it was estimated at 1.3 billion euros. At this point in time, Kabel BW had 2.3 million customers and 3.5 million households that could be connected . After the takeover, the company brought the modernization of the network, initially planned for 2010, forward two years in order to be able to provide customers with fast Internet connections. In addition, Kabel BW expanded its network through takeovers: The activities of Tele Columbus in Baden-Württemberg were taken over, whereby Kabel BW received 400,000 new customers. In particular, this ended the blockade of the modernization of the cable network in the state capital Stuttgart . Kabel BW bought other island networks and smaller providers, such as DiTRA from the energy company EnBW .

In 2007 the company lost a legal dispute against Deutsche Telekom , which meant that the cable network operator was no longer allowed to use the slogan “The number 1 in Baden-Württemberg”. At the end of 2007, the company replaced it with “Einfach clever”, which was deleted after the later merger with Unitymedia . In 2010 the owner EQT announced that Kabel BW would be sold. As a result, Liberty Global acquired the company for 3.16 billion euros, after having previously bought Unitymedia. Both cable network operators were merged in July 2012 in the umbrella company Unitymedia KabelBW and Kabel BW was initially retained as the second sales brand alongside Unitymedia. Since April 2015, the company has been operating in the entire sales area (North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg) under the corporate brand Unitymedia (temporarily there was also a corporate brand of the umbrella company Unitymedia Kabel BW ). The Kabel BW sales brand was discontinued at this time.

Logos

  • 2001 to 2007

  • 2007 to 2010

  • 2010 to 2012

  • 2012 to 2015

criticism

In 2011, Stiftung Warentest carried out a test of the hotlines of large telephone providers, in which, in addition to Versatel , Kabel BW also achieved a particularly poor result. The testers criticized that the employees were not sufficiently trained. For example, callers were mistakenly guaranteed the maximum achievable speed of an Internet tariff, even though it was “up to” information.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annual Report for Year Ending December 31, 2011. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Kabel BW, p. 75 , archived from the original on April 28, 2014 ; accessed on March 26, 2014 (English, 432 KB). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.umkbw.de
  2. ↑ Annual Report for Year Ending December 31, 2011. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Kabel BW, p. 42 , archived from the original on April 28, 2014 ; accessed on March 26, 2014 (English, 432 KB). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.umkbw.de
  3. ↑ Telekom silvered cable network in Baden-Württemberg. In: heise online. May 18, 2000, accessed March 12, 2014 .
  4. ^ Rita Deutschbein: Merger completed: Unitymedia Kabel BW is created. In: teltarif. July 3, 2012, accessed March 10, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Thorsten Neuhetzki: After the takeover: Unitymedia and Kabel BW remain. In: teltarif. January 24, 2012, accessed March 11, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Corporate Structure. Unitymedia, accessed on April 24, 2014 (Mannheim District Court, HRB 702325).
  7. ↑ a b New name: Unitymedia removes Kabel BW from the brand . Verivox. March 31, 2015. Accessed April 1, 2015.
  8. ↑ Deutsche Telekom spins off cable business. In: Computerwoche. January 11, 1999, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Telekom: Cable sales still 1999. In: Spiegel Online. June 11, 1999, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Telekom silvered cable network in Baden-Württemberg. In: heise online. May 18, 2000, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Jürgen Kuri: Telekom sells remaining TV cable shares in Baden-Württemberg. In: heise online. July 16, 2003, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Telekom sells Kabel BW. In: n-tv. July 16, 2003, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  13. ↑ Andreas Donath: Kabel Deutschland takes over ish, iesy and Kabel BW. In: Golem. April 5, 2004, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Jürgen Kuri: Kabel Deutschland cancels cable network merger. In: heise online. September 22, 2004, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Kabel BW for the end of DVB-T funding. In: Digital television. May 17, 2006, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  16. ↑ EU prohibits DVB-T funding. In: Advertise & Sell. October 24, 2007, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  17. ↑ EU court decides against DVB-T funding in Berlin and Brandenburg. In: Digital television. October 6, 2009, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  18. ^ Jean-Paul Feidt: EU Commission prohibits DVB-T funding in North Rhine-Westphalia. In: Telemedicus. November 3, 2007, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  19. ↑ Blackstone sells Kabel BW to investor EQT. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine. April 25, 2006, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  20. ^ Jason Singer: Blackstone Agrees to Sell Deutsche Telekom Rival. In: The Wall Street Journal. April 26, 2006, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  21. ↑ Blackstone cuts the connection. In: manager magazin. April 26, 2006, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  22. ↑ Jürgen Kuri: Swedish investor EQT buys Kabel BW. In: heise online. April 26, 2006, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  23. ↑ Kabel BW buys Tele-Columbus networks. In: Digital television. August 7, 2006, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  24. ↑ Jürgen Kuri: Kabel BW is allowed to merge with Tele Columbus Baden-Württemberg. In: heise online. October 20, 2006, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  25. ^ Marie-Anne Winter: Kabel BW buys EnBW subsidiary DiTRA. In: teltarif. December 17, 2003, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  26. ↑ Ingo Rentz: Spot premiere: How Kabel BW appears after the merger with Unitymedia. In: horizon. September 28, 2012, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  27. ↑ EQT wants to separate from its daughter Kabel BW. In: horizon. November 30, 2010, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  28. ↑ US group wins the bidding war for Kabel BW. In: Handelsblatt. March 21, 2011, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  29. ↑ Björn Greif: Liberty Global buys Unitymedia for 3.5 billion euros. In: ZDNet. November 13, 2009, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  30. ^ Rita Deutschbein: Merger completed: Unitymedia Kabel BW is created. In: teltarif. July 3, 2012, accessed March 25, 2014 .
  31. ↑ Folker Lück: Unitymedia and KabelBW under one roof. In: CRN. Weka Fachmedien, July 9, 2012, accessed on March 24, 2014 .
  32. ↑ Hotlines from telephone providers. Because they don't know what they're doing. Stiftung Warentest, March 4, 2011, accessed on March 26, 2014 .