Loop dreams

FOR the venerable American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), the symbolism was as humiliating as the timing was audacious. On July 8th, the day before the battered telecoms group was to spin off its wireless arm as part of a four-way break-up, Comcast, America's third-biggest cable-TV operator, grabbed the headlines with a hostile bid worth $44.5 billion for the cable bit of those pieces, AT&T Broadband. If Comcast succeeds, it would create America's biggest cable company, reaching 22m customers, or over a third of the cable market, and dwarfing its nearest rival. It would also mark a turning point in the consolidation of the entire industry.