When I arrived for yesterday’s State of New York Public Service Commission hearing in Albany on the Comcast-Time Warner merger, there were about twenty people sitting along the aisles in a theatre that holds 500. While most Americans are against the merger, not many feel strongly enough to scale the vast poured-concrete fortress of the state university campus to speak out about it. That’s okay, though. Anyone can still make their opinion known to the PSC. [More]
time warner cable
Survey: Over Half The Country Thinks The Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger Is A Terrible Idea
By 6.19.14
We here at Consumerist are skeptical at best about Comcast’s bid to merge with Time Warner Cable. From where we sit, the deal looks distinctly anticompetitive and likely to harm consumers. Plenty of other folks agree, but not just lawmakers and advocacy organizations. It turns out, over half the country thinks this is a bad idea. [More]
John Oliver Suggests Renaming “Net Neutrality” To “Cable Company F*ckery”
By 6.2.14
In spite of the fact that the current debate over net neutrality is one of the most important issues facing America right now, it’s not easy to get people to give a damn about the topic because it involves incredibly dull, complicated regulatory minutiae. Perhaps this calls for a rebranding. [More]
Federal Appeals Court Tells Porn Copyright Trolls To Just Stop It Already
By 5.28.14
While you may — and probably do — hate your cable and Internet provider, a number of these companies have been doing one thing right over the last few years, by refusing to hand over user information to copyright troll lawyers looking to extort money out of people for allegedly sharing porn over the Internet. Yesterday, a federal appeals court handed down a ruling that could send a number of these trolls back under the bridges whence they came. [More]
FCC Could Use Mergers To Force Net Neutrality, But Shouldn’t
By 5.23.14
It’s a big year for the FCC. It’s got two huge mergers to review — Comcast/Time Warner Cable, AT&T/DirecTV — while also trying to reinstate the recently gutted net neutrality laws without ticking off the entire Internet. These related issues put the FCC in a position to force some cable operators to accept stricter net neutrality, but that’s really just kicking the can down the road. [More]
Comcast Spending Big On Legion Of Lobbyists To Try To Win Approval For TWC Merger
By 5.23.14
Mergers are an expensive business. Not only is Comcast spending $45 billion just to buy Time Warner Cable, but also there are the costs of getting the deal approved. Trying to convince regulators and lawmakers that this arrangement is not only not harmful, but potentially beneficial, is a hefty undertaking. That means a legion of lobbyists. [More]
Latest Data Says TWC-Comcast Merger Bringing Broadband Caps To Nearly 80% Of Users
By 5.21.14
The future just keeps looking brighter for those who make money from data caps, and more limited for everyone else. The latest data out on home broadband caps now shows that if the Comcast and TWC merger goes through, 79% of internet subscribers — four in every five Americans with a broadband connection — will face a monthly data cap on their plans. [More]
Americans Dissatisfied With Their Cable Companies, Especially Comcast And Time Warner
By 5.20.14
In news that will not surprise Consumerist readers, a massive annual survey of American consumers shows that we are all generally dissatisfied with our cable and Internet service providers, and that we find Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Charter, and Cox just a little bit less satisfying than average. [More]
Groups Protest Time Warner Cable Merger Outside Comcast Meeting
By 5.20.14
On Thursday, Comcast’s investors will be meeting here in Philadelphia, but they’ll be doing so over the din of protestors from numerous local and national organizations who are coming out to oppose the cable company’s planned merger with Time Warner Cable. [More]
Here’s Why the Justice Dept. Should Block the Comcast and Time Warner Cable Merger
By 5.18.14
Comcast and Time Warner Cable have done their parade in front of the House and Senate to state their case publicly for why they should be allowed to merger into a truly massive mega-company. But now, it’s time for the investigation that really matters, as regulators at the FCC and the Department of Justice start looking into whether or not this deal is good for the public interest… or violates antitrust law. [More]
Comcast Brags About Net Neutrality Commitment, Fails To Mention Legal Obligation To Neutrality
By 5.13.14
Dear Comcast: Please stop bragging about how your company is dedicated to net neutrality. You’re not. As a condition of your merger with NBC, you are legally obligated to follow the recently gutted net neutrality guidelines through 2018. This is like a prisoner saying she’s a supporter of wearing orange uniforms, or someone sentenced to community service saying he really believes in keeping our highways clean. Yet this hasn’t stopped Comcast from taking out ads trying to turn this obligation into a positive. [More]
Why Starting A Competitor To Comcast Is Basically Impossible
By 5.10.14
The mega-rich can dabble in pretty much any business they want to. Warren Buffet owns everything from furniture stores to ice cream chains. Richard Branson started a commercial spaceflight company, for crying out loud. And yet with demand for high-speed, affordable internet access going only up, up, and up, no new business or venture capitalist seems to be stepping into the fray to provide it. People passionately hate their current cable companies — so what’s stopping an enterprising entrepreneur from making a giant wad of cash entering the telecom game? [More]
Media Companies’ Silence On Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger Speaks Volumes
By 5.2.14
While numerous advocacy and public interest groups have publicly come out to declare their opposition to the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, those companies whose business will most directly be affected by the tie-up — broadcasters, streaming services, production studios, advertisers — have remained relatively silent. But it’s not because they don’t have an opinion on the matter. [More]
Internal Comcast Memo Says Consumerist Is All About “Headlines,” So Here’s One For Them
By 4.30.14
Earlier this month, Consumerist readers voted to hand Comcast its second Worst Company In America title, the results undoubtedly tied to the cable company’s ill-advised decision to acquire equally cruddy pay-TV provider Time Warner Cable. But rather than own up to — or even ignore — its WCIA tournament victory, the company chose to send out a memo to thousands of employees name-checking Consumerist and accusing us of being all about making headlines. [More]
Regional Sports Channels Highlight Problem With Comcast/TWC Merger
By 4.29.14
When Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal questioned Comcast and Time Warner Cable execs about how the merger of these companies would impact regional sports programming, the two cable operators shrugged it off as a silly question. But it’s not, and here’s why. [More]
Comcast Deal With Charter Isn’t About Improving Competition; It’s About Carving Up Marketplace
By 4.28.14
Earlier today, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications finally confirmed reports that the three would be playing swap-the-subscribers in an effort to make the unappetizing Comcast/TWC merger slightly less sickening. But while Comcast wants consumers and regulators to believe this sacrificial offering is about keeping the marketplace competitive, it’s really just an easy way for the players to rearrange their customers for better regional monopolies. [More]
Comcast/TWC Reveal Plan To Hand Over 4 Million Customers To Charter
By 4.28.14
As expected, Comcast and Time Warner Cable confirmed this morning that, through a combination of customer swaps and spin-off, shed themselves of around 4 million customers who will land, at least in part, in the lap of Charter Communications. [More]
Time Warner Cable’s Newest Bundle: Unexplained Rate Increases And Pro-Merger Mail
By 4.25.14
Last month, the CEO of Time Warner Cable called his company’s upcoming merger with Comcast a “dream combination” — and in the same speech, he delivered some decidedly less-dreamy news. There would indeed be rate increases coming for TWC customers in 2014, he confirmed. Now, those increases are starting to appear. [More]
