Client: Crown Castle International Corp.
Contacts: W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO
Jay Brown, VP Finance
Crown Castle International
713-570-3000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ken Dennard / kdennard@easterly.com
Lisa Elliott / lisae@easterly.com
Easterly Investor Relations
713-529-6600
CROWN CASTLE UPDATES POTENTIAL
IMPACT OF ITV DIGITAL LIQUIDATION
Expedited Re-issuance of Digital Terrestrial Television Licenses Expected
HOUSTON - MAY 1, 2002 - Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) announced
today further details regarding the potential impact on its UK subsidiary, Crown
Castle UK Limited (CCUK), of liquidation plans of ITV Digital (ITV).
As discussed in Crown Castle's 2001 Form 10-K and widely reported in the
press, ITV filed for administration on March 27, 2002, the UK equivalent of
Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After unsuccessful efforts by the administrator to sell
the ITV business as a going concern, ITV has announced plans to liquidate its
assets. ITV provided a digital terrestrial television (DTT) service on a
subscription basis to approximately 1.2 million subscribers in the UK. Since
1999, CCUK has been responsible for the transmission of the ITV signal through
the CCUK-owned DTT network. The DTT licenses previously owned by ITV are being
re-issued by the UK Independent Television Commission on an expedited basis.
CCUK is currently in discussions to offer transmission services over its network
to prospective broadcasters interested in obtaining the DTT licenses.
With the ITV liquidation and suspension of service, further on-going
collections under the ITV transmission contract are not expected. Additionally,
recovery of amounts due CCUK under the contract as a creditor in the
administration process are also uncertain. CCUK had gross revenues of
approximately $27.6 million annually under the transmission contact. If current
efforts to re-market the CCUK network prove unsuccessful, CCUK expects EBITDA to
be impacted negatively by approximately $16 million in 2002 and approximately
$23 million annually assuming no significant mitigation of costs. ITV
represented approximately 10 percent of the 2001 gross revenue of CCUK and
approximately 3 percent of the 2001 gross revenue of Crown Castle. As a result,
Crown Castle has lowered 2002 site rental and transmission revenues by $28
million to between $657 and $682 million, 2002 tower gross profit by $16 million
to between $389 and $434 million and 2002 total EBITDA by $16 million to between
$369 and $399 million. No further adjustments have been made to Crown Castle's
2002-2004 previously
announced projections. The ITV liquidation will require CCUK to seek a waiver or
amendment of certain covenants under its (pound)150 million revolving loan
agreement.
John P. Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "While we are
obviously disappointed with this loss of revenue and EBITDA, we are encouraged
by the discussions underway with prospective new licensees. We are also
optimistic that agreements can be reached with new licensees in our effort to
replace the revenue and EBITDA previously generated under the ITV contract. This
will have no impact on our ability to successfully execute our obligations under
our other broadcast contracts, most notably our agreements with the BBC."
Additionally, Crown Castle confirmed that the ITV liquidation has no impact
on its US credit lines and as of March 31, 2002, Crown Castle had approximately
$940 million in cash and marketable securities and full access to the undrawn
amounts on its US credit facilities of approximately $545 million, providing the
Company with approximately $1.49 billion in liquidity.
CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS
Crown Castle has scheduled a conference call for Thursday, May 2, 2002 at
9:00 a.m. eastern time to discuss this release. Please dial 303-262-2175 and ask
for the Crown Castle call at least 10 minutes prior to the start time. A
telephonic replay of the conference call will be available through May 9, 2002
and may be accessed by calling 303-590-3000 using passcode 469693. Investors,
analysts and the general public will also have the opportunity to listen to the
conference call over the Internet by visiting www.crowncastle.com. To listen to
the live call on the web, please visit the website at least fifteen minutes
early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. For those
who cannot listen to the live Webcast, an audio archive will also be available
on the company's website at www.crowncastle.com shortly after the call and will
be accessible for approximately 90 days. For more information, please contact
Karen Roan at Easterly Investor Relations at 1-713-529-6600 or email
karen@easterly.com.
Crown Castle's first quarter 2002 earnings call is currently scheduled for
May 9, 2002.
[CROWN CASTLE LOGO]
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 current beliefs and assumptions derived from information
currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, expectations, projections and estimates regarding (i) the
impact of the ITV liquidation on CCUK and Crown Castle, including the impact on
(a) gross revenue and EBITDA, (b) the CCUK loan agreement and (c) other
contracts and operations, (ii) the timing and outcome of the re-issuance of the
DTT licenses, (iii) collection of amounts due under the ITV contract, (iv)
CCUK's ability to obtain loan agreement waivers or amendments, and (v)
replacement of ITV transmission revenue and EBITDA, including revenue and EBITDA
relating to DTT transmission agreements with new DTT licensees. 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. Specifically, without limitation, there are no
assurances that (i) DTT licenses will be successfully re-issued, (ii) CCUK will
enter into transmission agreements with any new licensees, or (iii) any
transmission agreements with new licensees will be on economic terms similar to
or better than the ITV transmission contract. Such statements are subject to
certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should any of such risks
materialize, or should any underlying assumption prove incorrect, actual results
may vary materially from those expected. More information about potential
factors that could affect Crown Castle's financial results is included in Crown
Castle's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.