Liberty Communications, a telephone, TV and broadband provider in Eastern Iowa, said it agreed to acquire the assets of Fairfield, Iowa-based Natel Broadband, expanding its operations.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

"We see Natel as an exceptional local provider with a growth minded leadership team and a company culture that aligns closely with Liberty's," said Justin Stinson, CEO of Liberty Communications. "We feel that the combination of our two companies will allow us to aggressively reach new customers, expand our product portfolio and grow as a unified organization focused on the best telecommunications services for residents and businesses in the communities we serve."

Natel Broadband launched in 1996 and maintains a high-end network that consists of both (fiber to the home as well as a robust fixed wireless network covering a broad rural area in Southeast Iowa. It offers internet service to rural communities in Southeast Iowa and have now grown to serve customers in five core communities across 12 counties.

"We are thrilled that Liberty Communications is aligned with our core focus of providing internet solutions to rural Iowans. Their dedication to a positive employee culture, great customer service, and to helping Iowa communities thrive make them an outstanding fit to continue Natel's mission," said Natel President Mike Schill. "For more than 26 years, Natel has endeavored to provide the best internet services in southeast Iowa. We are confident that Liberty Communications, combined with Natel, will become an even better company for both our customers and our dedicated employees."

Liberty Communications is a private family-owned company which has been in the Melick family since 1907. Starting out as an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), Liberty serves the communities of West Branch, West Liberty and their surrounding areas with phone, internet and digital TV service. ■

Groups backing music creators and opposing media concentration have asked the Justice Department to reject what they said is John Malone's proposed purchase of iHeartMedia, the nation's largest radio station owner.

Justice is reportedly vetting a Liberty Media's proposal to boost its current stake in the radio/online audio giant to a controlling interest or ownership. 

In a letter to Antitrust Division chief Makan Delrahim, the Center for Digital Democracy, American Economic Liberties Project, Artist Rights Alliance, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Open Markets Institute, and Public Citizen, said it should nix the deal.  

Related: Trump Talks to Telecom, Tech Execs About Re-Opening Economy 

They argue that the combination of iHeartMedia with Liberty's controlling stake in satellite radio service Sirius/XM (which now owns Pandora) and 33% stake in LiveNation/Ticketmaster would create a dominant non-streaming and streaming audio distribution giant with likely "catastrophic" consequences for competition. 

"For listeners, it will almost certainly mean fewer options, less diversity, and higher prices," they argued. And for artists, "[u]p and coming talent will face an even greater challenges cracking through shrinking nationalized playlists." 

"This merger will also be a setback in the struggle for fair economics for music distribution, as the new conglomerate uses its massive power to demand cut-rate, below-market royalty rates at the pain of being shut out across these major platforms altogether," they predicted, adding: "This unacceptable new proposal will put a broad array of music creators at a massive disadvantage in an arena that is already massively stacked against them. Please reject Liberty Media's bid to acquire any meaningful portion of iHeartMedia." 

Vivek Khemka has become the latest top executive at Dish Network to leave the company, with Liberty Latin America announcing Tuesday that he’s slated to become the company's new chief technology officer, starting next month.

The Carnegie Mellon-schooled engineer cut his teeth at Motorola before joining Dish in November 2011. Appointed to the CTO role in 2015, Khemka has been the public face for most of Dish's product rollouts recently, including all innovations tied to the Hopper video platform.

Related: Dish CFO Swain Steps Down

He joins former CFO Steve Swain, who announced last week that he was leaving Englewood, Colo.-based Dish to join retirement community operator Brookdale Senior Living.

A year ago, Roger Lynch, who headed Dish’s virtual MVPD, Sling TV, left to become CEO of Pandora.

Khemka also joins former TiVo CEO Enrique Rodriguez as the second high-profile U.S. pay TV executive in recent weeks to join Liberty—Rodriguez stepped down in July to become CTO of the broader Liberty Global empire.

Khemka will now lead Liberty Latin America’s Technology & Innovation (T&I) team across Liberty Global’s operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The newly established global technology position was created to drive the IT, product development, and network platforms across more than 40 markets, serving more than 2.7 million customers.

“Vivek will play a key role in the continued development of Liberty Latin America’s future technology leadership, strategy, and vision,’ said Balan Nair, CEO of Liberty Latin America in a statement. “I am confident that Vivek will be successful in leading our technology function unlocking growth opportunities as we continue to invest in our customers through network expansion, new products, and enhanced experiences. This position is important to our business strategy with technology being one of the foundations to our success. He shares our ambitions for commitment in innovation and operational excellence, and we are thrilled to welcome him to our leadership team. Vivek will report to me and will work closely with our executive management team to drive innovation and explore new business and technologies.”

Added Khemka: “I am thrilled to be joining the team. Liberty Latin America presents one of the few growth opportunities in the industry and I am looking forward to working with an extremely passionate and talented team to build a best in class product portfolio and bring innovation and new products and services to our customers to grow the business.”

Dish, which signaled Khemka’s departure in an 8-K filing with the SEC, has yet to announce a replacement for its departing CTO.

The company has seen rapid erosion of its core satellite TV platform as it has acquired wireless spectrum and mulled plans to build a virtualized 5G network from scratch. 

The Justice Department is apparently OK with Liberty Interactive's proposed purchase of Alaska telecom GCI.

That came in an early termination notice released Thursday (June 8).

That means that Justice has found no reason to try and block or condition the deal, and put an early end to its Hart Scott Rodino antitrust review.

Related: Why John Malone Is Making Tracks to Alaska

The FCC must still weigh in on the deal. It goes beyond antitrust to look at the public interest impact of mergers in the communications space.

That review will not be concluded until at least next month. On May 19, the FCC created a pleading cycle for the deal, with comments due June 19 and reply comments due July 5.

The $1.1 billion deal was struck in April.

GCI has about 108,000 cable subscribers and is the state’s largest phone and wireless company. The deal was projected to close in early 2018.

The FCC has released the database for the bidders in the forward portion of the incentive auction -- the wireless providers and other companies that have applied to bid on reclaimed broadcast spectrum.

The FCC released the list, which allows the public to drill down and figure out who are the underlying bidders and what other holdings they have.

Being in the database does not carry an obligation to bid, or guarantee of obtaining any spectrum, but those not on the list cannot participate. The applicants will have until early April to correct any deficiencies in their applications.

Comcast and chairman Brian Roberts are listed in the ownership section under CC Wireless -- Comcast had signaled it was applying -- and Liberty Global and chairman John Malone are also applicants under Liberty Spectrum Inc., though The Wall Street Journal reports that Liberty has said it does not plan to bid. Dish and Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen are on the list under ParkerB.com Wireless.

Sinclair Broadcasting, its top exec, David Smith, and Mediacom's Rocco Commisso are among the other names to surface among the possible bidders for broadcast spectrum in the forward auction. Commisso applied to the auction under the monicker of Rolling Hills Entertainment and Sinclair and Smith as STG Wireless.

With Sinclair and Comcast/NBCU in the forward auction, that is at least two companies who are potentially on both sides of the process given that they have broadcast stations and thus could be putting spectrum in the incentive auction (the FCC is not revealing those applicants) while bidding on spectrum when it comes out the other side.

The list includes big companies and small, and various consortia comprising sometimes dozens of smaller companies.

The FCC was trying to encourage diverse bidders in an effort to spread the new spectrum wealth around, including by reserving some of the spectrum for nondominant spectrum holders in individual markets.

To check out the data, go here.

The Madison Squarer Garden Co. has named Jordan Solomon as executive vice president for MSG Sports, effective Feb. 11.

Reporting to MSG president and CEO David O’Connor, Solomon will focus on the Garden’s professional sports teams – the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and New York Liberty – as well as its development league franchise the Westchester Knicks.

“Few companies anywhere have the breadth and depth of passion, loyalty and tradition that our sports teams have built,” O’Connor said in a statement. “As we look to the future, we need visionary and fearless leaders like Jordan who readily embrace all of the possibilities inherent in today’s frenetic environment – so we can ensure we’re using all available tools to maximize our relationships with fans, partners, leagues and athletes, and best position ourselves for long-term success. Jordan is a perfect fit and we look forward to his arrival at MSG, and his immediate impact on our operations.”

Solomon joins MSG from the National Basketball Association, where he served as vice president, Team Marketing and Business Operations since 2014. In this role, he led the organization’s strategy and analytics group, which provides NBA teams with financial, marketing and consumer analysis. He also advised teams on all elements of their business operations and strategy, including ticket sales and service, sponsorship, marketing, and analytics.

Among Solomon’s responsibilities at MSG will be developing the overall commercial strategy and goals for the franchises’ businesses; daily oversight of financial and operational matters; and identifying and building key strategic relationships. In addition he will be responsible for the in-game experience, as well as working with colleagues across the company to create marketing, sales, and sponsorship plans, along with fan development and community relations events and programs that strengthen the teams’ brands.

“I am thrilled and honored to become a part of The Madison Square Garden Company, and look forward to supporting Doc and my new colleagues in driving innovation and performance,” Solomon said in a statement. “There is no greater stage than Madison Square Garden and no bigger names in sports – I cannot wait to join the talented staff at MSG and collectively accomplish even greater success in the days to come.”

Prior to the NBA, Solomon was with McKinsey & Company for seven years, where he held a number of positions with increasing responsibility, including his last role as Associate Principal. During this time, he advised an extensive array of media and entertainment, gaming, and financial services clients in the areas of sales and marketing strategy, pricing, and customer experience. Mr. Solomon began his professional career at Silicon Valley Bank, where as part of the company’s Venture Capital Group, he led due diligence, recommended investments and advised senior management of early-stage technology companies.

Starz stock was up nearly 11% in after-hours trading Tuesday after a Bloomberg News report said that AMC Networks was in discussions to acquire the premium network.

According to Bloomberg , the two had talked about a merger a year ago but broke off discussions when they couldn't agree on a price. Apparently talks restarted recently, but Bloomberg added there were no guarantees a deal would be finalized.

Starz has been the subject of several deal rumors over the years – 21st Century Fox and Lionsgate were two potential suitors last year -- but hasn't been able to secure a deal. Starz’ largest individual shareholder – Liberty Media chairman John Malone – has said repeatedly that the premium network needed a “big brother” in the form of a acquirer.

Starz has struggled in the past to compete with other premium channels like Home Box Office and Showtime that are rich with original content, but has scored some recent hits like Outlander (pictured).

AMC Networks , which owns AMC (home of No.1 cable show The Walking Dead), IFC, Sundance and WeTV, is no stranger to deals. Last year it purchased international cable giant Liberty Global’s programming arm Chellomedia for $1 billion and bought a 49.9% stake in BBC America for $200 million. Liberty Global is also chaired by Malone.

Starz stock closed at $38.79 on Tuesday and rose as high as $42.97 per share (up $4.18 each or 10.8%) in after hours trading after the news broke. AMC shares, which closed at $74.14 each on Sept. 14, rose as high as $76 per share (up $1.86 each or 2.5%) in after-hours trading.

John Malone’s Liberty Interactive engineered a deal Wednesday to sell the floral and gifting business of its e-commerce unit Provide Commerce to FTD that will give Liberty a 35% stake in the combined company, but will put its plans to split into two tracking stocks on hold.

According to the deal, Liberty will receive 10.2 million shares of FTD common stock (about 35% of shares outstanding) and $121 million in cash. In return Liberty will contribute its floral and gifting e-commerce brands ProFlowers, Shari’s Berries and Personal Creations. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

But the combination will delay Liberty Interactive plans to split into two separate tracking stocks –  QVC Group to house its interests in home shopping channels QVC and HSN, Inc., and Liberty Digital Commerce for its e-commerce businesses like Provide Commerce and Bodybuilding.com. That deal was expected to be completed sometime this year but in a statement, Liberty Interactive said while it expects to continue with plans for the QVC tracker, the FTD transaction is putting plans for Liberty Digital Commerce on hold.

“In light of the pending Provide Commerce transaction, and other factors, Liberty is reevaluating the optimal structure and best alignment of the Liberty Digital Commerce Group assets,” the company said in a statement.” As a result, the timing of the transition to the QVC Group has been delayed.”

The combined FTD/Provide Commerce will have more than $600 million in annual revenue and the addition of the Provide Commerce brands will enable FTD to provide greater support to its member florists by expanding their resources and helping them create new programs and services.

FTD provides floral, gift and related products and services to consumers, retail florists, and other retail locations primarily in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland. The business uses the highly-recognized FTD and Interflora brands, both supported by the iconic Mercury Man logo that is displayed in nearly 40,000 floral shops in 150 countries. FTD’s portfolio of brands also includes Flying Flowers, Flowers Direct, and Drake Algar in the U.K.

“This transaction provides the opportunity to create significant value for our stockholders and offers immediate benefits for consumers and our premier network of member florists, said FTD CEO Robert Apatoff in a statement. “The combination of these businesses will expand the breadth of our brands, provide opportunities to further diversify our revenue streams and open up additional avenues for growth and innovation.”

Moelis & Company is serving as financial advisor to FTD and Jones Day is acting as legal counsel. Baker Botts L.L.P. and Cooley LLP are acting as legal counsel for Liberty and Provide Commerce, respectively

FTD shares soared 14% ($4.31 per share) to $33.85 in early trading Wednesday. Liberty Interactive shares were down 1% (30 cents) to $28.23 per share.

“We are excited to become the largest shareholder in the complementary businesses of Provide Commerce and FTD,” said Liberty CEO Greg Maffei in a statement. “FTD has an extensive florist network while Provide Commerce has a proven ability to source their flowers directly from top growers. The combined company will be able to offer comprehensive and unique gifting services in the U.S. and around the world.”

About a month after they teamed up to purchase U.K. production company All3Media for nearly $1 billion, Liberty Global and Discovery Communications are reportedly in talks to purchase a 49% stake in international racing icon Formula One.

Liberty Global; its chairman, legendary dealmaker John Malone; and Discovery are talking to Formula One owners CVC Capital Partners and Lehman Brothers Holdings about buying out their stakes, according to reports.

CVC, which owns 35% of Formula One, and Lehman (15.3%) also are considering an initial public offering of their stakes, so there is no guarantee a deal will get done. Adding to the uncertainty is an apparent gap between the parties on valuing the racing circuit — Liberty and Discovery reportedly want to pay about $4 billion for a 49% stake, which would value the total company at about $8 billion. CVC and Lehman value Formula One at about $1 billion more.

Liberty Global has been an aggressive buyer of cable systems in the past few years. Last year, it bought Virgin Media’s U.K. cable operations for $23.3 billion and in January agreed to acquire Dutch cable operator Ziggo for $13.7 billion.

But Europe’s largest cable operator, with about 25 million subscribers, has lately been a seller of content. In February, it sold its international programming arm Chellomedia to AMC Networks for $1 billion.

Discovery declined comment. Liberty Global did not return a request for comment.

Liberty Global could be taking a page from rival 21st Century Fox’s British Sky Broadcasting, which has built a substantial satellite-TV subscriber base throughout Europe by snapping up sports rights. And the Formula One asset has two of the top attributes for an attractive Malone target: a large customer base and a distracted management team.

Formula One racing is one of the most popular sports in Europe — its TV audiences regularly top 50 million viewers for its top races — but the company has been under pressure as its CEO, Bernie Ecclestone, is under investigation for bribing a German banker.

Ecclestone, who resigned from Formula One’s board of directors in January, has been accused of paying former BayernLB chief risk officer Gerhard Gribowsky $44 million to steer the sale of the bank’s interest in Formula 1 to CVC back in 2006. Ecclestone allegedly received a $41 million kickback from a sham contract that was connected to the sale.

Formula One also has been under pressure as one of its top racing teams — Ferrari — has threatened to switch its allegiance to another racing circuit. The Italian car maker is particularly miff ed over Formula One rules that forbid engine development during the racing year as well as its moves to make cars more “green” by emphasizing fuel and emissions efficiency over speed.

The result has been sluggish financial results — net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from TV rights and race-hosting fees were down about 8% to $1.1 billion in 2013, according to Bloomberg.

Discovery has been beefing up its sports presence internationally and earlier this year bought a 51% interest in sports channel Eurosport from French content company TF1. Eurosport, which has about six pay TV brands across Europe and Asia, currently focuses on niche sports like tennis, cycling and winter sports, but could expand its scope.

While Discovery would not comment for this story, the company has said it will be aggressive in seeking out sports rights internationally. Discovery CEO David Zaslav hasn’t ruled out big-ticket items, either. Earlier this year, he said that even English Premier League soccer rights are not out of the question.

In an April interview with Multichannel News, Discovery Networks International president Jean-Briac Perrette said the programmer would look to strengthen its sports portfolio.

“We think there is a lot more opportunity to play a role with the strong brand that Eurosport has and compliment it with additional sports rights over time,” Perrette said in the April interview.

Liberty Media said Thursday that it will go ahead with plans to spin-off its cable interests – mainly its 27% interest in Charter Communications – into a separately traded public company named Liberty Broadband.

Liberty first announced its intention to spin off the assets in a tracking stock in March. But the company said the transaction will be a hard-spin, similar to the one it made with former subsidiary Starz last year.

"We believe a separate Liberty Broadband will offer investors greater choice and transparency, and is well-timed with Charter's agreements with Comcast, which will result in Charter owning or serving over eight million video customers," Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said in a statement.

The move comes days after Charter agreed to a deal with Comcast that would involve the sale, swap and spin of about 3.9 million subscribers valued at about $20 billion.

With that deal, Charter would acquire 1.4 million customers from Time Warner Cable, would receive a 33% interest in a spin-off company with about 2.5 million customers. In addition, Comcast and Charter would swap systems with about 1.6 million customers.

Liberty Broadband would include Liberty’s Charter interest as well as its global positioning satellite subsidiary TruePosition, its minority equity investment in Time Warner Cable and certain deferred tax and deferred revenue liabilities, as well as liabilities related to the Time Warner call option.

Liberty Broadband could go off on its own to acquire cable assets, but Maffei said on a conference call with analysts to discuss first quarter results that Liberty’s respect for the Charter management team, the benefits of scale and the synergies inherent in the Charter assets “make it unlikely that we will go outside of them [Charter] inside the U.S.”

In the spin, Liberty shareholders would receive one-fourth of a share of Liberty Broadband common stock for each share of Liberty Media they own. In addition, stockholders will also receive a subscription right to acquire one share of Series C Liberty Broadband common stock for every five shares of Liberty Broadband common stock they receive in the spin-off.

Liberty said the subscription rights are being issued to raise capital for general corporate purposes of Liberty Broadband and will enable the holders to acquire shares of Series C Liberty Broadband common stock at a 20% discount to the 20-trading day volume weighted average trading price of the Series C Liberty Broadband common stock following the completion of the spin-off.

Liberty expects to complete the Liberty Broadband spin by the end of the year.