Sprint to 'One Up' the Competition

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Sprint (S) is reportedly ready to "one up" the competition and offer its customers an early upgrade plan of its own. But Sprint's "One-Up" plan carries an important distinction.According to a CNet report Sprint's new plan will be similar in many ways to T-Mobile's (TMUS), AT&T's  (T) and Verizon's (VZ) "easy payment" scheme. Sprint will ask for no money down and will allow customers to pay the balance of the phone's (or tablet's) cost in 24 monthly payments. After one year, One Up customers will be allowed to trade-in their phone for a new device. [Read: 10 Best Cars On The Market] For example a phone that costs $650 would be paid off in 23 payments of $27 ($621) and a final monthly payment of $56 ($27 plus the $29 balance). If customers leave the program completely they would be responsible for paying the balance of the phone cost in the next month.But here's how the Sprint plan differs from the others: when you agree to the deal you're also signed-up for a Sprint "Unlimited, My Way" or All-in-One" service plan which will be discounted $15 per month for One Up customers. These plans allow for unlimited voice calling, texting and data. Sprint shares were retreating 0.11% to $22.78 at 10:21 am in New York. [Read: Microsoft Fails In Mocking Apple] T- Mobile announced service plan discounts when it became the first carrier to offer device upgrade deals back in July. AT&T's and Verizon's plans followed but do not offer service discounts. Under Sprint's One Up plan unlimited everything drops from $80 to $65 each month. That's $5 less that T-Mobile charges in their "Jump" plan.Existing Sprint customers whose contracts are at least a year old could also be eligible to trade-in their phones for the One Up plan. Sprint pre-paid customers will not be offered this deal.Sprint will reportedly launching the One Up program this week.-- Written by Gary Krakow in New York.To submit a news tip, send an email to tips@thestreet.com.

The Deal: Vivendi's Activision Sale Stalled by Court

Paris - (TheDeal) - A Delaware court has slapped an injunction on Vivendi's   (VIV) plan to sell an $8.2 billion stake in Activision Blizzard (ATVI) back to the video game maker and its management.

The ruling follows a challenge to the deal, filed last week, by a minority shareholder who successfully argued that the transaction should be subject to approval by a majority of Activision's minority shareholders. [Read: Blackberry Fails at the 'Vision Thing']

Vivendi in July agreed to sell a 49.1% stake in Activision, leaving the Paris-based group with an about 3.9% holding. The deal involved the sale of 429 million shares in Activision to the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company, and 172 million shares to ASAC II LP, an investment consortium led by Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and co-chairman Brian Kelly.

"The Delaware Chancery Court, in Hayes v. Activision Blizzard, Inc., preliminarily enjoined the previously announced concurrent transactions between the Company [Activision] and ASAC II LP, on the one hand, and Vivendi SA, on the other hand, halting the closing of the transaction unless the injunction is modified on appeal or the transaction is approved by a stockholder vote of the non-Vivendi stockholders," Activision said after the market closed on Thursday, Sept. 18. The maker of World of Warcraft and Call of Duty video games said it remained committed to the deal and "is exploring the steps it will take to complete the transaction as expeditiously as possible." The injunction raises the prospect that the deal will not close by an Oct.15 deadline, after which any of Vivendi, Activision or ASAC II have the option to terminate their agreement. Unless Activision wins an appeal against the injunction it will have to call an extraordinary general meeting, a process that usually requires 60 days' notice. A vote amongst non-Vivendi shareholders is likely to approve a deal that was struck at $13.60 per share, about 5% below Activision's Wednesday closing share price of $17.15. "We see a modest risk that Vivendi sees it left money on the table from the original transaction and seeks to modify the purchase agreement," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts Justin Post and Ryan Gee wrote Thursday. "However, we still think Vivendi has few other options without a willing buyer." [Read: 5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar] Vivendi's agreement to sell its Activision stake is part of a disposal program that is repositioning the French conglomerate as a pure-play media group. Vivendi has also sold a majority stake in Maroc Telecom SA and last week announced that it will split its supervisory board in preparation for a spinoff of French telecommunications unit Soci�t� Francaise du Radiotelephone SA, or SFR. Shares in Vivendi traded Thursday morning in Paris at �17.59 ($23.83), up �0.14, or less than 1% on their Wednesday close. By Paul Whitfield In Paris