Top Cisco acquisition Scientific Atlanta set-top business 'challenged'

The value of Cisco's (Nasdaq: CSCO) Scientific Atlanta acquisition--tops among the 140 that the company has made in the last 20 years--appears to be losing some luster as set top boxes, Scientific Atlanta's bread-and-butter product line, face challenging times.

Of course the Scientific Atlanta product line (which hasn't gone by that name since 2007) is not nearly as troubled as the consumer-facing Flip video camera, which Cisco is shutting down.

But then again, Cisco  paid only $590 million for Flip's parent company Pure Networks; it shelled out a massive $6.9 billion for Scientific Atlanta, which, along with Motorola, has been targeted as part of a U.S. set top box duopoly. The acquisition was Cisco's largest ever and, like Flip the product line is is floundering on changing consumer and service provider buying habits.

According to Cisco, shipments of set top boxes "continued to be challenged" and sales were down 15 percent over the previous year to about $1.6 billion.

For more:
- Business Insider has this story

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