The proposed merger of Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House would create the second-largest cable company behind Comcast, at a time when it’s possible to access most of the content that was once exclusive to cable TV through streaming services. Yet the company that brings you HBO and CNN is concerned that a larger, stronger Charter might work to hold back progress in streaming video, the main competition for its cable service. Time Warner filed its concerns with the Federal Communications Commission. [More]
economics 101
13 Years Of DirecTV Loyalty Only Gets Me A Rate Hike
By 7.16.12
Steevo is frustrated with DirecTV. He’s been a customer for about thirteen years, and for twelve of those years, he was pretty happy with the price and service. That’s because the price never changed. Twelve years in, they raised his rate. After he called, complained, and mentioned that he’d rather leave than do business with a company that hikes the rates of loyal customers because they’re loyal customers. They lowered his rate… until this month. [More]
Adderall Maker Responds To Shortages With Price Hike
By 10.6.11
There’s less off the attention-deficit disorder drug Adderall available to the public than there used to be: some even call it a shortage. The company blames the FDA, which has limited the total amount of the drug manufactured: it is, after all, an amphetamine and a controlled substance. Manufacturer Shire has responded to these limits by… hiking the price and making fewer discounts available to consumers. [More]
Why So Sad? Consumer Confidence Is Down
By 6.27.07
The Conference Board, based in New York, said that the consumer confidence index fell almost five points, to 103.9, from a revised 108.5 in May, reaching the lowest level since August 2006, when the reading was 100.2. Analysts had expected a reading of 106.
