It’s official. Pivot Wireless, the wireless joint venture between Sprint and the cable industry is dead. The three major cable partners, who included Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox, have decided to move on. Sprint announced back in October that it would stop marketing Pivot. All existing Pivot wireless subscribers will migrate over to Sprint. There are no firm numbers on exactly how many subscribers the venture had obtained. All joint venture participants had previously complained about Pivot’s provisioning and integration complexities. It almost seems that it was doomed from the start.

The real question is what’s next for the cable industry in regards to wireless? They are sitting on a “boatload” of spectrum obtained from recent AWS and 700 MHz (Cox is the lone national cable provider with 700 MHz) auctions. In some regards, Pivot was almost a distraction. With it removed from the equation, the cable industry may start moving more aggressively on a true facilities based wireless platform. Gigaom.com is reporting that Comcast has hired a seasoned wireless executive to start building the framework for their own wireless launch. There has also been speculation that the cable industry was interested in investing in Sprint’s WiMAX play, Xohm. That seems highly unlikely now, given the Pivot blow up. Whatever the case, the cable industry needs to move fast on their wireless strategy. If they don’t, they may arrive to the wireless party too late (which may already be the case), and spend billions on building a nationwide wireless network, only to find out that subscribers are quite content with their current wireless provider.

Cox announced the launch of Pivot wireless service in select Rhode Island markets including Providence. Cox joins Time Warner and Comcast in rolling out the cable industry’s answer to wireless service in select markets across the U.S. Like its Pivot wireless partners, Cox hopes to incorporate video/entertainment features into wireless service and offers content from Fox News, ABC News and the Weather Channel, among others. Pivot wireless users can also access the channel listings of their respective cable service channel line-up.

Pivot wireless launches are slow and steady. Cable MSO executives have stated that they are purposely taking their time, in the hopes of getting wireless right. Meanwhile, traditional wireless carriers are not wasting time in trying to leverage their wireless lead. AT&T seems to be the most aggressive by launching bundling plans tied to wireless services and capitalizing on the iPhone craze. Wireless service may be the wildcard in developing winning bundling strategies. Cable has done quite well with their triple play bundles, but AT&T and Verizon hope to storm back and perhaps leap frog their cable competitors by effectively inserting wireless into their triple play bundles for quad plays. As 4G applications begin to enter the market, expect to see significant innovation and marketing creativity, as wireless may become the next frontier for hyper competition between the cable and telecom industries.

Cable MSOs addressed their Pivot wireless plans at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2007, saying caution was a common approach. Multichannel News reports that executives from Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable all say they are taking their time with Pivot roll outs. All of the MSOs report ‘several thousand’ Pivot wireless subs in their limited market launches. They all shared similar challenges of integrating Pivot wireless customer support functions into their cable CRM functions. Advance/Newhouse has yet to deploy, but says it plans to soon. Smaller cable MSO’s, including Suddenlink, expressed interest in joining the Pivot wireless joint venture, which is partnered with Sprint.

You don’t have to look far to see evidence of this cautious approach. Cursory glances at all the MSO website homepages, reveals no reference to wireless service. You have to go to specific geographic targeted sites to find anything about wireless. Contrast that with Verizon and AT&T, who not only make wireless very prevalent on their homepage, but also make video a strong focus. Without question, wireless will be a determining factor among potential quad play bundle subscribers. Cable MSOs appear to be executing well on the triple play, but it remains to be seen if they will be able to translate that success to the potentially lucrative quad play. Telecom providers have a lead in wireless, but can they leverage it to take the quad play lead? Interesting debate, with huge implications for both telecom and cable.

In what should be a flurry of similar announcements over the next 6 – 12 months, Cox announced the launch of Pivot Wireless in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa markets. Pivot Wireless is a joint venture between Sprint Nextel, Cox, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Advance/Newhouse Communications. See our feature story on Pivot Wireless.

Verizon announced their intention to start bundling wireless service with their current triple play offerings. Cable heavyweights including Comcast, Time Warner, and Cox have all launched quad plays in limited markets through their Pivot Wireless brand (see our feature story on Pivot Wireless). Verizon thinks they have an advantage since they own (in partnership with Vodafone) and control their wireless network, unlike their cable rivals who are basically reselling Sprint wireless service.

Check out this Reuters summary.

The recent news from Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and Sprint is that Pivot is alive and kicking – welcome to the quad play of voice, video, data, and now wireless from the cable industry. Give the cable industry its credit – it has come a long way from its monopolistic ways of perceived poor customer service and lack of innovation to a well admired industry and a model for business opportunity execution. In a span of ten years, the cable industry has become the dominant provider of broadband in the U.S. and has probably executed on the triple play strategy better than any other industry. With its sights on wireless now, will it continue its impressive run? Read More ...

Sprint and its cable MSO partners have announced that Pivot will be the brand name of their joint wireless service offering. The phone handsets will have a Sprint logo, while a Pivot brand will be present on the handset screen. The cable MSO partners for this venture include Comcast Corp., Time Warner, Cox Communications, and Advance/Newhouse Communications. They intend to aggressively target the business community with bundled offerings. The implications here are huge. Check out our feature story on this development.