A couple of weeks ago, the FCC collected everyone’s comments about why Charter should or should not be allowed to go through with buying Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in one massive merger. The next step in the process is for Charter to get to respond as to why they think the yea-sayers are right and the nay-sayers are wrong, and they submitted that response this week. [More]
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Former Starz VP Says Network Manipulated Comcast Merger, Asked Him To Inflate Subscriber Numbers
By 10.30.15
As the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a former senior vice president of sales and affiliate marketing at a premium cable TV network. A recently dismissed Starz exec is now alleging that his former employer had been up to no good, manipulating the (since-failed) swap of markets between Comcast and Charter, and asking executives to inflate the network’s subscriber numbers. [More]
What Key Players Are Telling The FCC About The Charter / Time Warner Cable Merger
By 10.14.15
The three-way Charter/Time Warner Cable/Bright House merger hit one of its major milestones this week, as the first deadline for filing comments with the FCC has come and gone. As one might expect, consumer advocates and competing businesses are less than thrilled with the major merger plan. [More]
Broadcasters Ask FCC To Halt Merger Of Time Warner Cable & Charter
By 10.12.15
While Time Warner Cable’s current merger à trois with Charter and Bright House is getting significantly less attention than TWC’s recent failed fling with Comcast, but these nuptials aren’t without their detractors. [More]
Charter Wants To Follow FiOS Into Offering “Skinny Bundles” For Cable Customers
By 8.4.15
Last spring, Verizon FiOS rejiggered its pay-TV slate into so-called “skinny bundles,” where customers pay for a small core base of channels and then add on smaller, niche-targeted bundles of channels as they please. The change resulted in a very public spat Disney, but the folks at Charter think it’s a good enough idea to consider. [More]
Netflix Is Totally In Favor Of Charter’s Plan To Buy TWC Because It Will Save Them Some Money
By 7.15.15
Netflix is almost 37% of all prime-time internet traffic. ISPs have been known to degrade that traffic until Netflix pays for peering. Netflix really hates having to make (and pay for) those agreements. And so Charter has quickly learned that the quickest way to Netflix’s heart is to promise not to do that. [More]
Charter Promises TWC, Bright House Merger Will Not Include Data Caps… For A Few Years, Anyway
By 6.29.15
Nobody likes home data caps. And nobody really likes their cable companies. So how can Charter and TWC look like good guys and maybe gain a little favor while planning out their merger? By promising to skip the data caps once they’re joined. At least, for a while. [More]
Net Neutrality Hasn’t Stopped Charter From Investing
By 6.8.15
In the heated lead-up to the FCC’s vote on new net neutrality rules, the cable and telecom industry repeatedly made claims that the new regulations would harm investment and curb innovation. But yet another top cable CEO is now saying that no, net neutrality isn’t having a negative effect on its network investments. [More]
Baseball-Loving Charter Subscribers in L.A. Can Finally Watch The Dodgers Next Week
By 6.4.15
The official paperwork for Charter’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable isn’t even in yet, let alone approved, but the two companies are already making good on one promise to play nice: as of Tuesday, Charter subscribers in Los Angeles who are also baseball fans will finally be able to watch their own home team on TV. [More]
Time Warner Cable Has Lowest Customer Satisfaction Score Of All U.S. Companies, Not Just Cable Providers
By 6.2.15
In news that backs up the results of a recent Consumer Reports survey, Time Warner Cable’s pay-TV service is not just dead last on the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s rankings of cable companies, but of all companies in the entire Index. [More]
A Few More Dodgers Fans Will Finally Get To Watch Them On TV Thanks To Charter/TWC Merger
By 5.26.15
The Los Angeles Dodgers currently hold a narrow lead in the National League West over the San Francisco Giants, but many Dodgers fans can’t watch their favorite team play because Time Warner Cable hates everyone who doesn’t have Time Warner Cable and has been unwilling to share the SportsNet LA network it co-owns with the team. That is until today, when Charter and its well-heeled backers lobbed $55 billion their way. [More]
Why Charter Thinks Their Plan To Buy TWC Is Different Enough To Succeed Where Comcast Failed
By 5.26.15
After months of rumors, this morning it became official: Charter plans to step in where Comcast failed, with a $55 billion plan to acquire Time Warner Cable. Regulators looked unfavorably on Comcast’s bid, finding it would have too many negative effects on consumers and on competition. But Charter clearly would not be trying its own takeover, with such a huge price tag, if they didn’t think they stood a good chance of success. So what makes the second offer so different from the first — and is it any more likely to succeed? [More]
Charter To Acquire Time Warner Cable In $55B Deal
By 5.26.15
Almost immediately after the failure of the Comcast acquisition of Time Warner Cable came news that TWC’s original suitor, Charter Communications, was already knocking at the door looking to rekindle their romance. Today, the couple made it official with the news that Charter and TWC will walk down the aisle in a deal worth around $55 billion. [More]
Time Warner Cable Also Being Wooed By French Suitor
By 5.22.15
It’s like something out of a romantic comedy that stars a couple of mid-level TV actors and gets dumped into theaters in mid-March: Fresh on the heels of being left at the altar by big-bucks beau Comcast, Time Warner Cable apparently finds itself being courted by a pair of very different suitors — a nice guy from Connecticut with rich friends and a mysterious French billionaire currently on a stateside shopping spree. [More]
FCC Chair: Relax, Cable Companies, Not All Mergers Are Necessarily Doomed Forever
By 5.22.15
The collapse of the much-discussed, absolutely enormous Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger earlier this year might have been an occasion for consumers and consumer advocates to cheer — but for businesses, it was much less good news. Cable companies that want to buy other cable companies are kind of freaked out: what if the FCC is hostile to their plans, too? [More]
Why Everyone Is Suddenly Dying To Buy A Cable Company You May Never Even Have Heard Of
By 5.1.15
Odds are (unless you live in central Florida) that you probably don’t know much about Bright House Networks. The cable company serves about 2 million TV and internet customers, mostly in Florida and also in Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, and California. But in the many eddies rippling through the cable world after the sinking of the Comcast/TWC merger, this one regional provider may be poised to make or break some pretty big deals. [More]
Time Warner Cable Says It’s Not Seeking Rebound Romance With Cox
By 4.27.15
It’s only been a few days since Comcast and Time Warner Cable got tired of waiting for the inevitable regulatory objections to their wedding and called off the whole $45 billion marriage. While Comcast can enjoy the single life for a bit before deciding what to do next, TWC is already being linked to multiple suitors. First there was news that Charter, who was originally rejected in favor of Comcast’s bigger, sexier proposal, was once again standing outside TWC’s window with a boombox over its head. Now come rumors that TWC may be trying to make some merger magic happen with Cox. [More]
That Was Fast: Charter Reportedly Already Reaching Out To TWC About Possible Merger
By 4.24.15
Today’s headlines are all about Comcast failing to buy Time Warner Cable, but there weren’t just two players in the game. Another company is losing out: Charter would have been the lucky recipient of all the mega-merger’s spun-off customers, giving them greater consolidation over markets mainly in the midwest. But with the failure of the mega-merger, TWC is now minus one new owner, and Charter is minus all those new paying customers. So if a new deal i already in the works, well, color us unsurprised. [More]
