CommScope is moving forward with the broad-sweeping reorganization plan announced during its fourth quarter earnings report, announcing this week that it will spin off its Home Networks division, which makes pay TV set tops, routers and modems.

The Hickory, N.C.-based technology company expects the spinoff to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022. Joe Chow, who has led the Home Networks segment since late 2019 under a senior VP title, will be the CEO of the new publicly traded company. 

“We looked at the differences between Home Networks and the rest of our segments, and those differences were pretty stark,” said CommScope CEO Jeff Treadway, speaking during a conference call with investor analysts on Thursday. “You’re looking at 10%-plus margins vs. much higher margins on the other side. And in terms of manufacturing volume, you have tens of millions of units vs. hundreds of thousands.”

Treadway also noted that manufacturing is done in-house for most of CommScope’s other divisions, while Home Networks releases on contract manufacturing. 

Notably, Home Networks—which sells modems, gateways and pay TV set tops to both operator and retail channels—saw a 31% Q4 sales decline to $571 million. Cord-cutting continues to have an impact in the pay TV sales chain beyond the operator level. 

Home Networks was one of the pieces brought into the CommScope fold with the acquisition of Arris, which was announced in October 2018 and completed in 2019.

Home Networks accounted for 28% of CommScope’s $8.4 billion in revenue in 2020. It was the company’s second biggest unit behind Broadband Networks. 

With the spinoff, CommScope will retain not only its Broadband Networks division, which supplies technology infrastructure to telecom operators all over the globe and saw sales increase by 17% to $789 million in the fourth quarter, but also its Venue and Campus Networks division, and its Outdoor Wireless Networks unit. 

Treadway described the plan as being in the “early innings,” and it could be interrupted by a variety of factors, a sale among them. 

The spinoff is the first major move under the company’s CommScope NEXT initiative, which Treadway described as a “comprehensive set of company-wide actions designed to take CommScope to the next level of profitability.”

Also included in that initiative will be a series of “cost reductions actions,” which will be announced at a later date. 

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will develop a spinoff series from its drama show Greenleaf, the network said Wednesday.

Greenleaf, which follows the lives of the Greenleaf family and their megachurch empire, will premiere its fifth and final season on June 23, sand the network. OWN did not reveal details regarding the spinoff or whether any of Greenleaf’s current cast -- which includes Merle Dandridge, Keith David, Lynn Whitfield, Kim Hawthorne, Lamman Rucker and Deborah Joy Winans -- will be featured in the new series.

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Oprah Winfrey and Craig Wright serve as executive producers for Greenleaf, which during its September to November 2019 fourth season run was the most watched original scripted series on ad-supported cable for African American women, and was the fourth most-watched original scripted series on ad-supported cable for all women 25-54, according to Nielsen. 

Good Trouble is the official name of the spinoff to Freeform drama The Fosters, the network said.

The spinoff series, announced in January, follows Callie (played by Maia Mitchell) and Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) as they embark on the next chapter of their lives in Los Angeles.

Production starts this summer. Jon M. Chu will direct and executive produce the first episode.

Good Trouble is produced by Jennifer Lopez's Nuyorican Productions Inc. in association with Freeform.

Joanna Johnson, Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg are the Good Trouble creators and showrunners. Gregory Gugliotta, Christine Sacani, Maia Mitchell, Cierra Ramirez, Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina are executive producers.

“We’re seeing millennials in this country doing extraordinary things, making noise, taking action,” said Johnson, Paige and Bredeweg in a statement. “Stirring up Good Trouble as they grow, strive and struggle to make the mess of their early twenties into the message. As Callie and Mariana venture to Los Angeles to start their adult lives and embark on their separate but intertwined journeys to change the world, they’re going to have all the Good Trouble they can handle.”

The Fosters series finale event airs June 4-6 on Freeform. The show is about a multi-ethnic family of adopted and biological kids raised by two mothers. Stef Adams Foster (Teri Polo), a police officer, and her wife, Lena Adams Foster (Sherri Saum), a school vice principal, have built a family with Stef’s biological son from a previous marriage, Brandon (David Lambert); their adopted twins, Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Jesus (Noah Centineo); and adopted siblings Jude (Hayden Byerly) and his half-sister, Callie (Maia Mitchell).

Madison Square Garden Co. said Tuesday that it plans to transfer the listing of its Class A common stock to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the NASDAQ Global Market, beginning on July 27.

The stock will trade on the NYSE under its current symbol “MSG” and will continue to trade on the NASDAQ Exchange until the transfer is complete.

 “We are pleased to be joining the NYSE’s lineup of world-class companies as we continue to pursue opportunities to generate value for our shareholders,” said MSG chief financial officer Dnna Coleman in a statement. “This includes our proposed spin-off of our sports and entertainment businesses from our media business, which we expect to complete in 2015.”

MSG plans to spin off its sports businesses –including the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, the New York Liberty, Westchester Knicks (NBADL) and the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) – and its entertainment assets – including Madison Square Garden Arena, Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon Theater, The LA Forum and others – from its media assets MSG Networks and MSG-Plus. The spin is expected to be completed later this year.  

 “We look forward to a long-term relationship with The Madison Square Garden Company,” said NYSE president Tom Farley in a statement. “With a portfolio of legendary brands and a reputation for creating world-class experiences, MSG is a great addition to our community of leading companies and we welcome the opportunity to support MSG’s continued growth.”