Back in 2012, Time Warner Cable unveiled an optional metered broadband plan: the current iteration gives customers a $5 monthly discount, but caps their usage at 30 GB. It’s not really surprising that customers aren’t exactly throwing themselves at such limited broadband access. What might be a little more surprising is that even the TWC CEO admits it’s a total dud. [More]
time warner cable
Comcast Goes On Capitol Hill Spending Spree In Advance Of Merger Hearings
By 3.11.14
It may be a coincidence that Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable is occurring during the lead-up to a midterm election season where candidates from both parties need cash to hold on to their seats in the Congress and Senate, but that very need for funds is giving the Kabletown Krew a good opportunity to grease the wheels on Capitol Hill. [More]
Comcast/TWC Netflix Speeds Improve After Payoff; Verizon Still Hasn’t Bottomed Out
By 3.10.14
After months of slowed-down data speeds for Netflix users on Comcast and Time Warner Cable’s network, speeds rebounded the very same month that Netflix agreed to pay Comcast money for more direct access to its network. [More]
Here’s What the Lack of Broadband Competition Looks Like on a Map
By 3.7.14
When announcing Comcast’s intention to buy Time Warner Cable, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts called cable a “highly competitive and dynamic marketplace.” Dynamic it might be, but competitive it isn’t. Most of us live a local monopoly, cable-wise: it might be a Comcast city or a Time Warner town, but we don’t have that much choice with our providers. And those companies also, hugely, provide our broadband access. So what does 75% reach or a 15% market share really look like, to a city and the people in it? [More]
Thought Of Comcast Merger Scares AT&T Into Expanding Gigabit Fiber Service
By 3.7.14
Dallas is AT&T’s home turf. It’s cable market is also dominated by Time Warner Cable. But the thought of that cable/Internet business being swallowed up by Comcast if its merger with TWC goes through was apparently enough to get AT&T to decide to roll out gigabit fiber service to the Texas town. [More]
Franken: Comcast’s Previous Behavior Doesn’t Bode Well For Time Warner Cable Deal
By 3.3.14
When Comcast finally goes before lawmakers and regulators to make its case for a merger with Time Warner Cable, it will likely promise a pile of concessions and policy changes in order to paint a rosier picture of the future. But Senator Al Franken of Minnesota is looking to the past, pointing out concerns with the cable company’s spotty track record. [More]
Time Warner Cable Will “Educate” Us All By Charging $2.25 Broadcast Fee
By 2.28.14
Come sit in a circle, cable customers! Time Warner Cable has something that they want to teach us all. Will they do this bit of customer education by including a shiny brochure in our cable bills, or airing ad spots for subscribers only during our favorite shows? No, no, they have other ways. They’re going to teach us all about how pricey retransmission fees are by imposing extra fees on us. [More]
Everyone At The FCC & DOJ Should Be Forced To Watch This “Comcast Doesn’t Give A F#!k” Video
By 2.28.14
In the debate over whether or not to approve the merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, there has been a lot of in-depth discussion of market share, divestments, fiber competition, and all sorts of other things the average cable subscriber doesn’t concern herself with because she has better things to do. What’s at risk of being overlooked is that Comcast is just a horrible company that really doesn’t care about its many millions of customers who have no other choice. [More]
The Future Will Not be Televised: Comcast’s Merger Plans are All About Broadband
By 2.27.14
Comcast and Time Warner Cable are cable companies: they run their wires to little boxes in our living rooms so we can watch Mad Men and Game of Thrones. But even though roughly 100 million Americans subscribe to pay TV, that’s not what the merger between the two companies is about. The future of entertainment is online, and that access is what’s really at stake in the proposed merger deal. [More]
Uncle Sam, Pre-Marital Counselor: The Approval Process Ahead For Comcast And TWC
By 2.25.14
The proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, as it currently stands, looks like it could be a good move for the businesses and a bad move for consumers. But right now it’s still just that: a proposed merger. In order for this corporate marriage to move forward, federal regulators first have to approve the union–and that’s where it gets tricky. [More]
Why Comcast Wants To Buy Time Warner Cable, And Why TWC Wants To Let Them
By 2.24.14
Commentary has been flying nonstop since Comcast announced its plan to buy Time Warner Cable. If the buyout goes through, there will be enormous repercussions in the TV and broadband industries, both for competitors and for consumers. Before the legal filings and federal approvals and consumer chaos all begin in March, though, it’s worth taking a step back to look at why this merger is being proposed, and why it’s happening now. [More]
Dish CEO: If Comcast Can Buy TWC, Then We Can Merge With DirecTV
By 2.24.14
As we mentioned last week, if regulators approve the pending marriage of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, it would put pressure on the nation’s two largest satellite operators to combine in order to compete. And while Dish co-founder and Chairman Charlie Ergen isn’t talking about a tie-up with DirecTV just yet, he is pointing out that it would be hypocritical for the Comcast deal to be approved and a satellite merger to be denied. [More]
Why DirecTV and Dish Customers Should Care About Time Warner Cable/Comcast Deal
By 2.21.14
While many cable subscribers around the country are dreading the impact that a merged Time Warner Cable and Comcast could have on pricing for TV and Internet service, some satellite customers have shrugged off the news. But a tie-up between the two largest terrestrial cable companies could have far-reaching consequences for all pay-TV subscribers. [More]
Real Competition From Google Or Window-Dressing For FCC? Time Warner Cable Improves Speeds In Austin
By 2.20.14
Here are two facts: Google Fiber is coming to Austin, and Time Warner Cable is being bought by Comcast. The question is: Which one of these two facts is the cause for TWC’s significantly ramped-up service in the Texas capital? [More]
Comcast Deal Means No Set-Top Box Netflix App For Time Warner Cable Customers
By 2.18.14
Time Warner Cable had reportedly been in talks with Netflix regarding a deal that would give TWC subscribers direct access to the streaming video service through their set-top cable boxes, rather than having to use a third party device like a gaming console. But that seems to have come to a crashing halt now that Comcast has agreed to buy TWC for $45 billion. [More]
Time Warner Cable Shareholder Sues To Block Comcast Merger
By 2.17.14
It’s not just consumers and advocacy groups that are worried about the pending sale of Time Warner Cable to Comcast for $45 billion. On Friday, a TWC shareholder has filed a lawsuit to block the merger, claiming that executives prioritized their own bank accounts over investors’ interests for a deal that will have a difficult time passing regulatory muster. [More]
Data Caps Are The Devil For Residents Of Rural Alaskan Towns; Are They In Our Future?
By 2.14.14
What if you weren’t able to binge watch House of Cards on Netflix earlier this week? It would be agony, right? For residents in some rural areas of Alaska the ability to binge watch their favorite shows, or enjoy that viral video online, quickly drain their pocketbooks thanks to data caps. [More]
