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Granahan McCourt News
Granahan McCourt Amends Merger Agreement with Pro Brand International, Inc
September 3, 2008
BusinessWire
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Granahan McCourt Acquisition Corporation announced that it has entered into an amendment to the Merger Agreement with Pro Brand International. The amendment reduces the upfront consideration by 13%, provides a further reduction in the overall consideration via a revised and simplified earnout, and Granahan McCourt Management's shares are now tied to performance milestones.
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Pro Brand International, Inc Annouces Retail Marine
Package for XM Satellite Radio
July 24, 2008
BusinessWire
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Pro Brand International announced a complete marine kit for XM's satellite radio subscribers which is currently available through XM’s e-store (www.xmradio.com/marinekit), and will also be available in other retail outlets by August 2008. XM is the leading satellite radio provider in the US with more than 9.6 million subscribers. PBI is a leading designer and developer of advanced antenna and radio frequency systems for the satellite industry, primarily serving Direct Broadcast Satellite (“DBS”) operators.
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Granahan McCourt Acquisition Corporation to Merge with Pro Brands International, Inc
April 30, 2008
Business Wire
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In this Press Release, Granahan McCourt Acquisition Corporation announces merger with Pro Brands International, Inc, a leading designer and developer of advanced antenna and RF systems for the satellite industry primarily serving Direct Broadcast Satellite operators.
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Moguls feel the Pull of Web Television
April 17, 2007
The Financial Times
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In this Financial Times opinion piece, "Moguls feel the pull of web television", David C. McCourt, Chairman and CEO of Granahan McCourt Capital, LLC, and Chairman and CEO of Narrowstep, Inc., a tv-over-the-internet company, provides further clarity of how video-over-IP will affect the traditional Hollywood business model. McCourt further comments on how technology, once again, will fuel the rise of consumer power with new tools and services being developed around an industry which allows the convergence of all sorts of consumer entertainment and communication. |
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Talent Agency and Net Firm Partner
William Morris, Narrowstep plan free on-line shows
March 9, 2007
USA Today
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Narrowstep, Inc., a Granahan McCourt company enters into a strategic partnership with talent and brand powerhouse, William Morris. The partnership is designed to leverage William Morris clients, which include top Hollywood talent and Fortune 500 brands, to create and launch television-like programming using Narrowstep technology and solutions. The strategic partnership reinforces the opportunity to leverage traditional media assets to take advantage of the exponential growth that is forecasted in the online video space. The alliance also stands out as a validation of Narrowstep's strategy, technology and product offering. |
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Little Guys Could Take Hollywood out of the picture
July 21, 2006
The Financial Times
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In this Financial Times opinion piece, David C. McCourt, Chairman and CEO of Granahan McCourt Capital, LLC, share his views on the impact of video- over-the-Internet and how it impacts the traditional Hollywood business model. |
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Investing in the next big thing: Using the Internet for downloading and viewing video
April 18, 2006
The Princeton Business Journal
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The media and telecommunications industry is considered one of the most volatile business sectors there is. Yet David C. McCourt has spent most of the past 25 years identifying and successfully capitalizing on opportunities in the ever-shifting media and telecom realm. Recently, his private investment firm, Granahan McCourt Capital, LLC, was lead investor in a TV-over-the-Internet company, Narrowstep Inc., and Mr. McCourt shares his views on where the industry is headed.
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Granahan McCourt Congratulates Narrowstep
April 3, 2006
The Daily Deal
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Lead Investor Granahan McCourt congratulates Narrowstep in their successful $7.4M equity raise in the April 3rd issue of the Daily Deal. |
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Local firm invests in UK-based Narrowstep
February 24, 2006
The Trentonian
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Granahan McCourt Capital leads equity raise to invest in UK-based Narrowstep, the Television over the Internet
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Narrowstep Announces $7.4 Million Equity Financing
February 22, 2006
PR Newswire
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In a PIPE deal led by Granahan McCourt Capital, leading TV-over-the-Internet company Narrowstep, Inc., closes equity raise of $7.4 Million to fully fund business plan. |
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What's a Polite Word For 'Shakedown'?October 1, 2005
By David C. McCourt
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In a special opinion essay to the Wall Street Journal written by media and telecom investor, David C. McCourt offers a view on how regulatory change is important to ensure "net neutrality" and the consumer's right to choice for competing network, content and service providers. |
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Emmy Award for Irish Businessman
June 1, 2005
The Irish Voice
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Irish American telecom and media investor David C. McCourt was awarded an Emmy at the 33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony for his role as producer of the critically acclaimed Reading Rainbow children's series. McCourt started investing in media companies back in 1983 in the Caribbean where he built and owned the first independent television station on the island of Grenada and began producing a variety of family programming for the Caribbean market. McCourt continues to have a keen interest in media, " Ireland is a great place to work and is full of creative people, so we are looking into a series there. Winning an Emmy certainly gives you the freedom to look at ideas like that", said McCourt. |
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Emmy Award for TV producer with links to Newmarket
May 30, 2005
The Limerick Leader
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David C. McCourt, an Irish American businessman and television producer with strong ties to Newmarket-on-Fergus, has won an Emmy award. McCourt recently joined the North American Board of Smurfit School of Business, UCD. The Smurfit School North American Board is chaired by Jim Quinn, President, Tiffany & Co, who heads a thirty member board of prominent and influential Irish-American business and political figures. |
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Future looks bright for McCourt
May 29, 2005
The Trentonian
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According to veteran telecom and media investor, David C. McCourt, distribution of content over the Internet is changing the industry and leveling the playing field for independent producers of film and television. McCourt started investing in media companies back in 1983 in the Caribbean where he built and owned the first independent television station on the Island of Grenada. McCourt has always been committed to bringing the best products to consumers - whether it was integrated telecom services or the highest quality programming and he continues to believe that these businesses are not only built around the customers but they are also very rewarding financial investments. |
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Area man wins Emmy for producing children's TV series
May 27, 2005
The Trenton Times
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Telecom and media investor, David C. McCourt was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Children's series for his role as producer of the critically acclaimed series Reading Rainbow of which he has been a part of for over 10 years. McCourt is chairman and CEO of Granahan McCourt Capital and has started 10 media and telecom businesses during the past 25 years. |
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Smurfit School Board Member Awarded Emmy
May 20, 2005
University College Dublin
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Irish-American telecom and media investor, David C. McCourt, was awarded an Emmy at the 33rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Ceremony for his role as Producer of the critically acclaimed Reading Rainbow children's series. Commenting on the award, David McCourt said, "the TV Business is going to change more in the next 10 years than the telecom business has changed in the last 10 years, and we intend to play a role in that change." |
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The Telecom (Better Late Than Never) Revolution
January 4, 2005
By David C. McCourt
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Is it possible that, eight years after the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act was passed, federal regulators are finally understanding what the telecommunications revolution was supposed to be about? |
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McCourt looks to future, as his past his honored
November 4, 2004
The Trentonian
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Roots, tradition and family are very important to veteran media and telecom investor, David C. McCourt, who has traveled extensively around the world and is recognized as a transformational force in the telecommunications field. Based on his global credentials as a successful telecom and media investor as well as having received the 2004 American Irish Historical Society Gold Medal Award, an article recently published speculated that McCourt's name was on a short list to be considered as ambassador to Ireland if Democratic presidential challenge John Kerry had won Tuesday's election. |
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Who would Kerry pick?
October 19, 2004
The Irish Tribune
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David C. McCourt, veteran media and telecom investor, is speculated to be one of the individuals that Kerry might select as ambassador to Ireland should Kerry win the White House. |
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Why I'm Filing Chapter 11
May 21, 2004
The Wall Street Journal
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Veteran media and telecom investor, David C. McCourt articulated the reasons why one of his companies, RCN Corporation, was filing for a consensual pre-arranged Chapter 11 filing. McCourt believes that the prevailing wisdom on Wall Street is that the telecom bankruptcies and the whole telecom meltdown were the inevitable result of too much capacity chasing insufficient demand. However, having built, bought, or started 10 telecom companies in the last 25 years, McCourt thinks that both Wall Street and Washington overlook the most persistent problem: The cable industry remains in the grip of a monopoly mindset. Despite all the innovation, the surge in new players, and the billions of dollars lost since the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act, cable rates have soared 40% and the industry giants continue to think in terms of how to dominate markets rather than how to drive innovation. Fortunately, according to McCourt, the telecom story is not over. For many telecom companies including RCN Corporation bankruptcy is not the end, but a new lease on life. McCourt believes that as telecom companies emerge from bankruptcy, these may well be the companies that bring Voice-over-IP technology to the cable world, creating Video-over-IP competitors who change the way customers bring television into their homes. According to McCourt, that possibility should worry today's cable giants who have been ignoring the logic of economics, the possibilities of technology and the interests of consumers for far too long.
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People
Princeton Packet
May 7, 2004
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David McCourt will be honored with the 2004 Gold Medal from the American Irish Historical Society, an award previously bestowed on President Ronald Reagan, author Mary Higgins Clark and musician and human rights advocate Bono. |
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50th anniversary of the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors Program
The UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Program,
May 2004
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David C. McCourt, Executive Producer of the series "What's Going On?" attends the United Nations Screening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors Program. |
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Town Topics
May 5, 2004
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The American Irish Historical Society has awarded media and telecommunications entrepreneur and business leader David McCourt its 2004 Gold Medal for lifetime achievements. |
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United Nations, RCN Team for Irish Film
The Irish Voice
May 5, 2004
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The United Nations and RCN co-sponsor a Showtime series highlighting the need for understanding among differing groups in the most troubled areas of the world. |
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iTTV is a new approach in television viewing
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Amarriage of original, innovative television programming and the immediate and empowering nature of the Internet. Created by RCN for its customers in New York City and Queens, iTTVis a one-of-a-kind television network that gives you, the viewer, the power to directly shape the programming you see on a daily basis by providing your feedback (positive or negative) through the iTTV website. |
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Local stories, global pain: TV documentary profiles Troubles' young survivors
May 5, 2004
The Irish Echo
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The 10 th episode of "What's Going On", a documentary series produced by RCN Entertainment and the United Nations tells the harrowing story of Irish youth struggling with the violence and conflict in Northern Ireland. |
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McCourt President Gets White House Award
March 18, 1987
Multichannel News
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McCourt Cable Systems President and CEO receives the first ever White House "C-Flag" award from President Ronald Reagan. |
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American Irish Historical Society Names Entrepreneur David C. McCourt its 2004 Gold Medal Awards Recipient
April 7, 2004
The American Irish Historical Society
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American Irish Historical Society has named veteran telecommunications and media investors, David C. McCourt its 2004 Gold Medal Award recipient. Previous recipients of the Society's Gold Medal include President Ronald Reagan, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, business leader Donald Keough, author Mary Higgins Clark, and humanitarian / musician Bono. |
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Seizing the Phone Giants' Turf
April 9, 2001
The New York Times
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Five years after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which promised to open broad vistas of competition in formerly cloistered markets, David C. McCourt's RCN is the only company of significant size that is focused on giving consumers an alternative to the local telephone and cable television monopolies for a combination of local phone, cable TV and high-speed Internet services. AT&T, WorldCom and a few cable companies have made efforts to give consumers an alternative source of local phone service, but no other significant company is competing against local incumbents with RCN's breadth of services. One key reason many analysts expect RCN to survive the downturn is that Mr. McCourt raised billions of dollars when the getting was good. Having parlayed his cable ditch-digging skills into small communications companies - one in Boston, a second in London - that he nurtured and then sold, Mr. McCourt used his proceeds in 1993 to start a partnership with the Peter Kiewit construction empire, to take control of a small communications company in Pennsylvania called C-Tec. After a series of spinoffs, Mr. McCourt kept the company that is now called RCN - the name was derived from "residential communications network" - which he moved to Princeton.
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Going High Fiber
June 2000
Chief Executive Magazine
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For his latest venture, veteran media and telecom investor, David C. McCourt, has raised more than $3 billion last year alone (including $1.65 billion from Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures) and has the backing of construction/investment powerhouse Peter Kiewit Sons. McCourt's RCN had laid more than 3,646 miles of fiber, by the end of 1999, an increase of 156 percent over 1998. McCourt is keeping his focus keen on his business plan and views his latest venture as a once-a-century opportunity, akin to the days 100 years ago when telephone lines were being laid, or a generation ago when cable was. Usually, in a capital-intensive business, the first person in has a huge advantage, he says. But here, the technical, regulatory, and consumer environments are changing so rapidly that a new business like ours has the advantage of competing in a cost-effective way. Taking advantage of the cheaper movement of data over the Internet, McCourt says that by first quarter 2001 his long distance service will be delivered that way, followed, eventually by local telephone. McCourt is also clearly excited about the unknown and unknowable offerings of the future, claiming that when electricity was built, it was for lights. But today only 9 percent of electrical use is lights. That's how it will be for bandwidth.
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House-to-House in telecom war
August 5, 1998
The Star Ledger
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Veteran media and telecom investor, David C. McCourt, has his RCN executives travel in Hummers, not limos. Guerilla insurrection is their business as they sell phone, Internet and cable TV service to residential customers of the big guys. That's right: individual customers. While others target the business crowd, RCN fights house to house. McCourt spun RCN Corp. out of C-Tec Corp. in 1997. C-Tec Corp. split itself last September into three publicly traded companies. The spin-offs are RCN Corp., Cable Michigan Inc., consisting of C-Tec's Michigan cable operations, and Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises Inc. Spinning into three companies helped former C-Tec shareholders, whose stock was worth about three times its price as of last October. RCN had a 2-for-1 stock split in April |
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Resist the Urge to Merge
August 27, 1998
The New York Times
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In response to the recent wave of mega-mergers sweeping the telecommunications industry, David McCourt writes an editorial for the New York Times explaining why the mergers of the nation's telecommunications monopolies are unlikely to create great companies. |
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Stand and Deliver
April 18, 1998
The Economist
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Veteran media and telecom investor, David C. McCourt, tries hard to make sure his startup company's New York office look more like a guerrilla hideout than the headquarters of a telecoms firm. With its modest overheads, RCN's prices are typically about 5-10% lower a discount that can rise to 30% if customers choose all three services. Mr. McCourt is targeting mainly the lower-middle classes who tend to watch more TV and care more about its cost. Harlem, reports Mr. McCourt, is a better market for RCN than the Upper East Side. Mr. McCourt knows that one of the enemy's weakest spots is marketing: No empire lasts forever, proclaims a poster of Lenin, especially one that keeps you waiting five hours for a repairman. The result of Mr. McCourt's 25-years of successful investing in telecom and media is that they have given him impeccable credentials as a telecoms revolutionary.
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RCN's High Wire Act
December 27, 1997
Forbes
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Veteran media and telecom investor, David C. McCourt, claims his company RCN Corporation can beat the entrenched phone and cable monopolies because, among other things, the executives of these companies have spent their entire careers as monopolists and have no clue what it takes to market to every-day consumers. McCourt also knows that his customer service and operations are better than that of the incumbent phone and cable providers - when customers order a second phone line, RCN's installers will call you, wherever you are, half an hour before they need you at home for the installation. The best incumbent operators like Bell Atlantic can offer customers in markets like New York is a four-hour window.
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WorldCom Director Uses Exotic Play to Hedge Stake
October 15, 1997
The Wall Street Journal
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Outside WorldCom director, David C. McCourt, uses a sophisticated financial instrument to protect his investment in WorldCom. McCourt swapped his MFS/McCourt stock for WorldCom shares and received portfolio insurance in the form of a "zero-cost collar" which protects Mr. McCourt's investment against any downdraft in WorldCom's stock below $28 over the next five years |
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CTEC Surges ahead in phone, cable markets
USA TODAY
September 15, 1997
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CTEC of Princeton, N.J., will spin off Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises, Cable Michigan and RCN Communications on Sept. 30. McCourt will run the newly independent RCN, which had $60 million in fiscal 1997 revenue and is building a $7 billion fiber-optic network that will carry voice, cable television and high-speed Internet access over the same wires to residential customers in 24 cities from Washington to Boston. |
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Excerpt from Forbes - An unchronicled success story on a simple principle: "Cover your downside and the upside will take care of itself"
October 24, 1994
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Walter Scott Jr., of Peter Kiewit Sons', Inc. and David C. McCourt use C-TEC as the foundation to offer competitive telecommunication services to residential customers. |
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Grenadians grab Discovery TV
EC News
October 6, 1989
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Grenada Prime Minister Herbert Blaize confirms that the Grenada government will acquire American-owned Discovery Television.
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TV Free Caribe
Boston Business Journal,
January 30, 1989
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Cable systems czar discusses how his television system in Grenada helps to bring free-thinking to the Caribbean.
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Cable chief boosts Networking Sunday March 20, 1988
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David McCourt, discusses how his TV station in Grenada meshes with his interests in politics and business.
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Alternative to High Cable TV Construction Costs offered
October, 1983
VideoAge International
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McCourt Cable Systems offer innovative techniques and new technologies along with advanced planning to overcome the cost obstacles associated with complex urban builds. |
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