Crown Castle and BBC Awarded Digital Terrestrial Television Licenses
From 1999 to March of 2002, CCUK was responsible for the transmission of the ITVD signal through the CCUK-owned DTT network to approximately 1.2 million subscribers in the UK. On March 27, 2002, ITVD filed for administration, the UK equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After unsuccessful efforts by the administrator to sell the ITVD business as a going concern, ITVD announced plans to liquidate its assets and returned its DTT licenses to the ITC.
"We are pleased with the announcement that the ITC has awarded the licenses to the BBC and CCUK," stated John P. Kelly, President and CEO of Crown Castle. "We believe the ITC's expedited return of the DTT licenses is advantageous to the UK public, CCUK and our partners. We expect to once again be providing network transmission services relating to such licenses through our DTT network in the second half of 2002."
Terms and financial details of a new transmission services agreement and other definitive arrangements relating to the re-issuance of the DTT licenses, network deployment and transmission, and the consortium are currently being finalized, reviewed and documented. Crown Castle expects additional total capital investment of less than $5 million.
Crown Castle International Corp. engineers, deploys, owns and operates technologically advanced shared wireless infrastructure, including extensive networks of towers and rooftops as well as analog and digital audio and television broadcast transmission systems. The Company offers near-universal broadcast coverage in the United Kingdom and significant wireless communications coverage to 68 of the top 100 United States markets, to more than 95 percent of the UK population and to more than 92 percent of the Australian population. The Company owns, operates and manages over 15,000 wireless communication towers internationally. For more information on Crown Castle International Corp. visit: www.crowncastle.com .
This press release contains forward-looking statements and information that are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, expectations, projections and estimates regarding (i) additional capital expenditures for deployment of the DTT network relating to the re-issued DTT licenses and (ii) timing as to network deployment relating to the re-issued DTT licenses. Although Crown Castle believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to the success or failure of or involving (i) our efforts to implement our business strategy relating to DDT transmission, (ii) final negotiations and documentation of the arrangements relating to the re-deployment of the DDT network, (iii) any legal challenge to re-issuance of the DTT licenses, and (iv) DTT adoption in the UK. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. More information about potential factors which could affect the Company's financial results is included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contacts: W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO
Jay Brown, VP Finance
Crown Castle International
713-570-3000
Ken Dennard / kdennard@easterly.com
Lisa Elliott / lisae@easterly.com
Easterly Investor Relations
713-529-6600
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SOURCE Crown Castle International Corp.
CONTACT: W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO, or Jay Brown, VP Finance, both of
Crown Castle International Corp., +1-713-570-3000; or Ken Dennard,
kdennard@easterly.com , or Lisa Elliott, lisae@easterly.com , both of Easterly
Investor Relations, +1-713-529-6600, for Crown Castle International Corp.
URL: http://www.crowncastle.com
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