SBC To Take AT&T Name, after merger approval
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Jimbos said:
My mom still remembers phone company Illinois Bell long before it was called Ameritech in illinois
SBC does kind of suck though honestly...Don't ever call tech support...
So far they're using the "SBC...Now Merged with AT&T" motto around ohio...Do they really think calling themselves AT&T again will remove some of the negative SBC Stigma? This isn't the 70's where you can trick people into thinking something has changed, nobody is falling for it now...
So far they're using the "SBC...Now Merged with AT&T" motto around ohio...Do they really think calling themselves AT&T again will remove some of the negative SBC Stigma? This isn't the 70's where you can trick people into thinking something has changed, nobody is falling for it now...
All true.chaddux said:
But all I know is my wireless carrier used to be ATT Wireless, then Cingular bought in and they spent a small fortune changing the signs. Now that SBC has bought ATT and is taking the ATT name, and since SBC owns 60% of Cingular, they are changing the name back to ATT.
Wouldn't it have been easier to just skip Cingular's acquisition of ATT Wireless?
It was a legally required event.
The decision marks another confusing twist in the recent lineage of the AT&T and AT&T Wireless names. The two brands went separate ways in 2001 when AT&T Corp. spun off AT&T Wireless Communications Inc. as an independent company.
But the branding arrangement between the two companies called for the rights to the AT&T Wireless name to revert to AT&T Corp. if the cell phone company was ever acquired. And that provision was triggered about a year ago when AT&T Wireless agreed to be acquired by Atlanta-based Cingular.
With that, AT&T announced plans to return to the cellular business with its own brand of mobile phone service -- until the long-distance company agreed to be acquired earlier this year by its former subsidiary, SBC.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/13226411.htm
The decision marks another confusing twist in the recent lineage of the AT&T and AT&T Wireless names. The two brands went separate ways in 2001 when AT&T Corp. spun off AT&T Wireless Communications Inc. as an independent company.
But the branding arrangement between the two companies called for the rights to the AT&T Wireless name to revert to AT&T Corp. if the cell phone company was ever acquired. And that provision was triggered about a year ago when AT&T Wireless agreed to be acquired by Atlanta-based Cingular.
With that, AT&T announced plans to return to the cellular business with its own brand of mobile phone service -- until the long-distance company agreed to be acquired earlier this year by its former subsidiary, SBC.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/13226411.htm
charper1 said:
You're misinterpreting that. The name change is NOT a legally required event.
The clause addresses only the RIGHTS to a brand without a MANDATE that those RIGHTS be used. That clause does not REQUIRE that Cingular be re-branded to AT&T Wireless. It just means that the RIGHTS to the brand "AT&T Wireless" revert to AT&T/SBC (and not Cingular). Cingular no longer owns those rights; AT&T/SBC does.
That means Cingular (and any other company) is legally forbidden from using the "AT&T Wireless" trademark without AT&T/SBC's approval. Cingular can continue under the "Cingular" brand. AT&T/SBC can choose to do nothing or choose to use it, which is the decision they've selected.
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I have to wonder how the name change will affect the #31 Cingular Chevy in the Nextel Cup series.
Nextel wrote some very specific clauses into the contract with NASCAR giving them exclusive rights to be the only cellular carrier. Cingular and Alltel were grandfathered in, but ATT was not allowed to convert the ATT Long Distance sponsorship to ATT Wireless.
So the big question is how the grandfather clause is written. Did it deal specifically with the Cingular name or will it allow sucessor names to be used?
Nextel wrote some very specific clauses into the contract with NASCAR giving them exclusive rights to be the only cellular carrier. Cingular and Alltel were grandfathered in, but ATT was not allowed to convert the ATT Long Distance sponsorship to ATT Wireless.
So the big question is how the grandfather clause is written. Did it deal specifically with the Cingular name or will it allow sucessor names to be used?
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