Cable companies drop Pivot, break up with Sprint Nextel

Wow, it looks like someone was listening when we said that Pivot wasn't going anywhere just an hour ago -- Comcast, Time Warner (Engadget's parent company) and Cox have all confirmed to the AP that they've backed out of the quad-play partnership, leaving Sprint alone to awkwardly hang out with Advance / Newhouse, which declined to comment. That must be a fun party. Of course, this also means both of the partnerships Sprint and Big Cable got into have now failed, but that doesn't mean the competition in the space is over: both Time Warner and Cox say wireless is still in the cards for their companies, but Pivot was just too complicated a venture. Comcast hasn't said anything yet, but promised a comment tomorrow sometime between 7AM and 11PM.

[Brian @ Apr 23rd 2008 6:41PM]

I just left Sprint, on good terms, and I have to say... TimeWarner completely destroyed Pivot. TimeWarner employees that came to my store wouldn't even touch Pivot.

My store wouldn't sell, support, or promote the service.

I have to say, Sprint kept a comfortable distance from this train wreck.

[thehumanyawn @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:31PM]

I heard about this from my Grandpa, a Comcast employee, on Sunday, except he said that they HAD dropped it, not that they were GOING to drop it. I could have told you guys about this sooner if I had known, sorry.

[Korey @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:21PM]

I have a pivot pen I'm going to put it on ebay as a relic. My dad works for time warner as the media sales vp and gave it to me about a month ago. we both said the service was gunna bomb and it did

[michael m winburn @ Jul 5th 2008 12:36PM]

I'd be careful Korey to be sure what your Dad meant before posting such a comment, because a VP words mis quoted on an open forum could cost him his job ...

[Seth A @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:13PM]

It was a nice idea, it had potential. The idea of your cell phone working with your home phone, internet, recording shows on your DVR, ect. I think they were trying to compete with AT&T's Quad play plans. However, I rather see them partner with Sprint to make this a reality rather than starting their own service. Either way, Pivot never made it to my city, and wasnt all to excited for it. Like I said, partner, not own. However, as bad as Sprint appears to be doing, maybe the big three cable co's could buy out Sprint and make it work. :-)

[pete jun @ Apr 24th 2008 12:29AM]

Anyone know why it says comcast on the front?