Is Comcast Mulling To Partially Acquire Icontrol Networks? (revised)

According to a recent report by Light Reading, leading cable MSO (multi service operator) and media company Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is seriously thinking of acquiring certain useful assets of Icontrol Networks Inc., a major developer of smart-home products.

The report stated that Comcast is eyeing Icontrol’s Zigbee-based smart home products and the majority of its patents. Moreover, Alarm.Com Inc., a competitor of Icontrol, also has an eye on a minor part of the Z-wave product portfolio together with a handful of patents and the Piper home monitoring assets that Icontrol acquired in 2014.

Icontrol’s smart-home product platform has a strong clientele in the North American cable MSO market. Comcast itself is a major customer of Icontrol. Apart from Comcast, other major customers include Time Warner cable, a division of Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) , Roger Communications Inc. (NYSE:RCI) and Cox Communications Inc. Small-sized cable TV operators are also gradually shifting to Icontrol’s platform.

However, in recent years, Icontrol has been facing a lack of demand for its products. There are two reasons for this setback. Firstly, competition in the market has intensified and, secondly, Comcast, its major customer, has decided to develop some of the smart-home products in-house. Hence, the acquisition of the core assets of Icontrol will boost the existing product portfolio of Comcast.

On the flip side, other large cable MSOs may not want to be a client of Comcast, their major competitor in the market. Charter Communications, Rogers Communications and Cox Communications might switch to a different platform and other vendors. In this situation Alarm.Com could prove to be a suitable alternative.

Alarm.Com also boasts a strong clientele consisting of Suddenlink Communications and Vivint Inc. Suddenlink is currently a division of Altice N.V. Notably, Altice is awaiting regulatory approval to acquire Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE:CVC) . If the deal materializes, it may further boost Alarm.Com’s business.

We are re-issuing this article to correct an error: the company Zonoff is not a customer of Alarm.com. The original version, published June 14, 2016, should no longer be relied upon.