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to 46436203
Re: Comcast, Time Warner and Charter.The good thing is that heavy users can always get a Comcast business account and forget about caps. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 10:10 am · (locked) |
etaadmin
1 edit |
to asdf
said by asdf :My choices are uverse which caps out at 3mbps at my address and offers no TV and satellite. Yeah that sucks but if you think about it it is not TWC or Comcast or Charter fault. The problem lies in the competition which is at&t in your case and regardless on how this merger ends at&t will still be giving you 3Mbps and no TV offerings. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 11:05 am · (locked) |
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to hobgoblin
My questions are regarding the Copy Once flag that Insight and TWC both had on EVERY broadcast (except locals) that keeps me from playback on other Tivos and DVRs in my house. I'm in the former Insight area, now TWC and according to our local Fox Affiliate, we would be sold to Charter if the merger happens. I know Charter doesn't historically add the Copy Once flag and is normally set to Copy Freely. Would they apply that to the Louisville (and other new sites) when then came online, or would they just "buy" the existing equipment and leave everything alone? Also, does Charter have any kind of app like TWC does? I'm not a big TWC fan by any stretch, but the app on my Roku does make watching live cable in rooms without a box very easy. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 11:45 am · (locked) |
 hobgoblinSortof Agoblin
Premium Member
join:2001-11-25
Orchard Park, NY |
hobgoblin
Premium Member
2014-Apr-29 11:48 am
Have you visited the Charter forum?
Hob |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 11:48 am · (locked) |
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Satch
Member
2014-Apr-29 1:53 pm
said by hobgoblin:Have you visited the Charter forum?
Hob I did a while back. Not recently though. Satch |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 1:53 pm · (locked) |
 mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA |
to raedwa01
There's no way to know what's going to happen. It'll probably go slowly, and Charter is undergoing a major upgrade and all digital conversion, so it's not clear what will even happen in existing Charter areas.
For what it's worth, Charter is trying to standardize all of their areas to all digital, with 60 and 100mbit internet tiers (with rumors the 100mbit tier is going to 200) and sometime this year a "cloud based" new software for all the set tops. They have an app for iOS and Android, but no Roku or Xbox apps. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 2:03 pm · (locked) |
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to hobgoblin
This is a bad deal for the Time Warner Cable Customers that would be divested to Charter Communication's. Charter Communication's no longer offers whole house DVR. They do not have home security like Time Warner Cable does. Limited Social Media Support mostly directs you to call their 800 number. A lot of complaints on YouTube and Facebook that they do not solve their issues. For people who currently have intelligent home would have a security system that Charter Communication's has no way to support or monitor it. In addition they have no service similar to Time Warner Cable's Signature Home. So me and other subscribers to this service would be downgraded to a non comparable Charter Communications Package if this deal gets approved. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 2:56 pm · (locked) |
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to hobgoblin
Is New England going to Comcast? |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 2:57 pm · (locked) |
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to bandit90
said by bandit90:This is a bad deal for the Time Warner Cable Customers that would be divested to Charter Communication's. Charter Communication's no longer offers whole house DVR. They do not have home security like Time Warner Cable does. Limited Social Media Support mostly directs you to call their 800 number. A lot of complaints on YouTube and Facebook that they do not solve their issues. For people who currently have intelligent home would have a security system that Charter Communication's has no way to support or monitor it. In addition they have no service similar to Time Warner Cable's Signature Home. So me and other subscribers to this service would be downgraded to a non comparable Charter Communications Package if this deal gets approved. I think they would get those services as part of the deal. I know that when the bid for TWC Cable failed in February, Mr. Rutledge, the CEO at Charter was very interested in Charter expanding its offerings to what TWC has now. Charter WANTS Whole House DVR/Signature Home, and Start/Over look Back. Now, I am not sure what Comcast has now. I doubt they would just take away TWC existing services like Signature Home. Right now, expect at least a five year transition to get everything done, and that's IF the deal goes through. If the deal doesn't go through all companies will continue to expand their offerings. Unfortunately, bills will go up regardless. I think whoever gets TWC in each market will want to establish good rapport for the first couple of years with discounts and promotions. They have to do something, because most customers are very angry with this proposed merger. The problem is, how long will the discounts and goodwill last? Satch |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 3:21 pm · (locked) |
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Satch
How would they be able to support the intelligent home when the monitoring center is in Syracuse NY which would be owned by Comcast not Charter. Charter has no home security monitoring Center or service even close to intelligent home. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 3:28 pm · (locked) |
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to hobgoblin
Comcast/TWC Reveal Plan To Hand Over 4 Million Customers To CharterComcast/TWC Reveal Plan To Hand Over 4 Million Customers To Charter» consumerist.com/2014/04/ ··· msg=fail |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 3:29 pm · (locked) |
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ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH |
to hobgoblin
Re: Comcast, Time Warner and Charter.Ohio is actually being spun off into the new MSO owned 33% by Charter's new holdings company. Which will be a publicly traded company. The name hasn't been announced yet even on here, nor who will own the rest of the company.
Maybe that new holdings company will start buying up some of the smaller companies. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 4:27 pm · (locked) |
DampierPhillip M Dampier
join:2003-03-23
Rochester, NY |
to hobgoblin
We clarified who is going where here: » stopthecap.com/2014/04/2 ··· rve-you/Effectively the entire northeast except some western PA, VA, and NC systems are all going to Comcast. Most of the midwest is going to Charter or the SpinCo and large cities in TX, CA will go to Comcast. The SpinCo exists solely as a tax avoidance measure. Although Comcast will have a minority interest, Charter will run the day to day operations and has a right to acquire the venture in full (and will eventually). A SpinCo customer will not be able to tell he isn't a part of Charter. Comcast wants the big media market clusters, so it will get Dallas/Ft Worth, NYC, LA, etc. Charter is the dumping ground of small/medium-sized midwestern/mid-southern markets, which is nothing really new for them. Charter will almost certainly seek to poach Mediacom, Cable ONE, and Suddenlink in the future -- those systems all serve the markets Charter seems to favor. Neither company is good news for consumers, so we're going to continue fighting the deal. This transaction feels a lot more like AT&T-T-Mobile than Comcast-NBCUniversal, so I think we have a real shot of ruining their money party. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 4:29 pm · (locked) |
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jacko15
Anon
2014-Apr-29 5:24 pm
Posted: April 28th, 2014
Deal update: Time Warner customers in Erie to become Charter customers eventually
Time Warner Cable customers in northwestern Pennsylvania will eventually become Charter Communications customers under a deal announced this morning.
Under the deal announced today, Comcast will transfer to Charter current TWC systems serving about 3 million customers in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama and Ohio — including northwestern Pennsylvania, said Mike Hogan, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable.
Time Warner Cable employees working in those systems will become employees of Charter when the transactions are completed, he added.
“This morning’s announcement is a win-win-win and moves us one step closer to completing our merger with Comcast,” Hogan said. “We’re pleased that the parties have reached agreement and look forward to working with Comcast and Charter to make all of the transactions as seamless as possible for our employees and our customers.”
It’s far too early to speculate about programming changes, he said.
“We expect it to be months before the merger closes. In the meantime, we’ll continue to focus on serving our customers. There won’t be any near-term changes to our operations,” Hogan said.
He added that Time Warner officials continue to expect the merger to close at the end of the year. |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 5:24 pm · (locked) |
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to bandit90
said by bandit90:Satch
How would they be able to support the intelligent home when the monitoring center is in Syracuse NY which would be owned by Comcast not Charter. Charter has no home security monitoring Center or service even close to intelligent home. I don't know. But what would Charter gain by just dumping Intelligent Home? It seems like each company Charter, TWC, and Comcast, would get what the others have. Than after this exchange in about five years time from the approval of the deal, most Midwest regions with TWC would be Charter, and the other markets would be Comcast. Others might go to the spin off company. This whole thing is going to take years and that's if it is approved. Not days, weeks, or months, but years. The technology may be so different by that time that none of the three companies with what they are doing now, may be totally different later on down the road. Customers will probably get faster Internet and a more consolidated element of Triple Play packages. The cable companies are losing TV subs at record rates, so they want to merge to compensate for revenue loses for their cable TV services. Their main interest is High Speed Internet and trying to get the TV element of cable more appealing through these services. We will probably see Smart Phone plans for Digital Phone. The cable boxes, not so much change. I think that the companies will want to move away from the boxes and cloud-base everything. Super Speed in a cloud based network is where these companies are going. Satch |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 5:28 pm · (locked) |
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH |
to Dampier
The new company is being created due to not having any legal issues. Where you're getting the tax avoidance is pure BS. It's something that they set up well before anything and was talked about well before who said who was going where.
And Comcast has already stated who was going where regardless of what you post.
And what you think about ruining their "money party" LMAO!! FUNNY! |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 6:29 pm · (locked) |
mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA |
to Dampier
said by Dampier: Charter will almost certainly seek to poach Mediacom, Cable ONE, and Suddenlink in the future -- those systems all serve the markets Charter seems to favor. I see Bright House as also being a target, though who knows if the Newhouse family will sell. They might, since they are losing their partner in TWC and will have to take over a lot of stuff they currently don't do, and they geographically fit in very well with the new Charter |
actions · 2014-Apr-29 7:22 pm · (locked) |
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to Satch
said by Satch:said by bandit90:This is a bad deal for the Time Warner Cable Customers that would be divested to Charter Communication's. Charter Communication's no longer offers whole house DVR. They do not have home security like Time Warner Cable does. Limited Social Media Support mostly directs you to call their 800 number. A lot of complaints on YouTube and Facebook that they do not solve their issues. For people who currently have intelligent home would have a security system that Charter Communication's has no way to support or monitor it. In addition they have no service similar to Time Warner Cable's Signature Home. So me and other subscribers to this service would be downgraded to a non comparable Charter Communications Package if this deal gets approved. I think they would get those services as part of the deal. I know that when the bid for TWC Cable failed in February, Mr. Rutledge, the CEO at Charter was very interested in Charter expanding its offerings to what TWC has now. Charter WANTS Whole House DVR/Signature Home, and Start/Over look Back. Now, I am not sure what Comcast has now. I doubt they would just take away TWC existing services like Signature Home. Right now, expect at least a five year transition to get everything done, and that's IF the deal goes through. If the deal doesn't go through all companies will continue to expand their offerings. Unfortunately, bills will go up regardless. I think whoever gets TWC in each market will want to establish good rapport for the first couple of years with discounts and promotions. They have to do something, because most customers are very angry with this proposed merger. The problem is, how long will the discounts and goodwill last? Satch Comcast has said that they are keeing Start Over and Lookback and now they are introducing a new service called Instant On Demand for X1 so yeah Comcast is still adding features what will likely happen is all of the DCX-M, Samsung, Cisco boxes will get X1/X2 upgrade easily as they already have DSG enabled but they won't have all of the features that the X1 has such as 4 to 6 tuners. |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 12:02 am · (locked) |
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Satch
Member
2014-Apr-30 2:15 am
said by motorola870:said by Satch:said by bandit90:This is a bad deal for the Time Warner Cable Customers that would be divested to Charter Communication's. Charter Communication's no longer offers whole house DVR. They do not have home security like Time Warner Cable does. Limited Social Media Support mostly directs you to call their 800 number. A lot of complaints on YouTube and Facebook that they do not solve their issues. For people who currently have intelligent home would have a security system that Charter Communication's has no way to support or monitor it. In addition they have no service similar to Time Warner Cable's Signature Home. So me and other subscribers to this service would be downgraded to a non comparable Charter Communications Package if this deal gets approved. I think they would get those services as part of the deal. I know that when the bid for TWC Cable failed in February, Mr. Rutledge, the CEO at Charter was very interested in Charter expanding its offerings to what TWC has now. Charter WANTS Whole House DVR/Signature Home, and Start/Over look Back. Now, I am not sure what Comcast has now. I doubt they would just take away TWC existing services like Signature Home. Right now, expect at least a five year transition to get everything done, and that's IF the deal goes through. If the deal doesn't go through all companies will continue to expand their offerings. Unfortunately, bills will go up regardless. I think whoever gets TWC in each market will want to establish good rapport for the first couple of years with discounts and promotions. They have to do something, because most customers are very angry with this proposed merger. The problem is, how long will the discounts and goodwill last? Satch Comcast has said that they are keeing Start Over and Lookback and now they are introducing a new service called Instant On Demand for X1 so yeah Comcast is still adding features what will likely happen is all of the DCX-M, Samsung, Cisco boxes will get X1/X2 upgrade easily as they already have DSG enabled but they won't have all of the features that the X1 has such as 4 to 6 tuners. I heard that there are bugs in that Comcast X1 Xfinity system I think it is called. Charter wants to move all ODN boxes from the SA's to the Samsungs to cloud services. I read Texas areas for Charter are testing the cloud guide on legacy boxes. Is Charter's regular guide supposedly better or worse, or similar to TWC Navigator? I am not sure, but I think Charter was/is using a mixture of SA/Motorolla boxes with SARA and I-Guide. My recollection was that they updated SARA to I-Guide. People told me that I-Guide is better than legacy Navigator, but not quite as good as Passport. Now, what Comcast is going to do with Navigator, who knows? SARA looks like an Apple II graphics-wise, but was known to be reliable. Probably each company will, for several years, eep everything, except for changing the cable company name in the left hand corner of the Time Grid. Satch |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 2:15 am · (locked) |
Matt7
join:2001-01-02
Columbus, OH |
Matt7
Member
2014-Apr-30 2:39 am
said by Satch:Probably each company will, for several years, eep everything, except for changing the cable company name in the left hand corner of the Time Grid.
Satch Fresh paint on an old turd (as I always said as a former Insight Columbus customer).. They'll repaint the vans and re-logo the buildings and update the logo on the guide and bills and that's about all we'll see at first. |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 2:39 am · (locked) |
DampierPhillip M Dampier
join:2003-03-23
Rochester, NY |
to ITGeeks
said by ITGeeks:The new company is being created due to not having any legal issues. Where you're getting the tax avoidance is pure BS. It's something that they set up well before anything and was talked about well before who said who was going where.
And Comcast has already stated who was going where regardless of what you post.
And what you think about ruining their "money party" LMAO!! FUNNY! You are completely incoherent. From what I am able to discern from this word salad, I can share with you the fact the tax structure of this deal was discussed in multiple analyst conference calls and it was specifically designed to spin off customers tax free. The deal won approval from both boards over the weekend. The decision about what customers would be spun off to which company was finalized in the last week, again according to the officials involved on the analyst conference calls. People said the same thing about AT&T getting what they wanted with T-Mobile and it did not work out that way. |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 10:43 am · (locked) |
| Dampier |
to Satch
Charter has approached Comcast about licensing the X1/X2 platform, so do not be surprised if customers of both companies will eventually get the same technology, especially in ex-Comcast areas. |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 10:45 am · (locked) |
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to Satch
said by Satch:I heard that there are bugs in that Comcast X1 Xfinity system I think it is called. Charter wants to move all ODN boxes from the SA's to the Samsungs to cloud services. I read Texas areas for Charter are testing the cloud guide on legacy boxes.
Is Charter's regular guide supposedly better or worse, or similar to TWC Navigator? I am not sure, but I think Charter was/is using a mixture of SA/Motorolla boxes with SARA and I-Guide. My recollection was that they updated SARA to I-Guide.
People told me that I-Guide is better than legacy Navigator, but not quite as good as Passport. Now, what Comcast is going to do with Navigator, who knows? SARA looks like an Apple II graphics-wise, but was known to be reliable.
Probably each company will, for several years, eep everything, except for changing the cable company name in the left hand corner of the Time Grid.
Satch charter never switched SARA out for iGuide it was switched out for Passport on the SA boxes and iGuide is still used on the Motorola boxes and they were in the process of converting a few Motorola areas in Texas to Cisco boxes don't know what will happen now that Comcast is possibly buying out Charter in Texas and for all we know the Cloud guide could be vaporware now that Fort Worth is going to Comcast. |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 10:57 am · (locked) |
mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA |
mixdup
Member
2014-Apr-30 11:03 am
Some of the Comcast systems Charter acquires will definitely be on X1 for some period of time. The transfer will happen before any actual operational changes happen.
In the end, I don't see Charter going with X1 for all customers. John Malone wants to end up with a company the size of Comcast, and that ultimately means controlling everything in the stack like Comcast.
It's going to be a messy decade or so for all this to settle out. As long as the FCC keeps CableCard or a valid successor in play and I can keep my TiVo, then I'll be happy no matter what they do. |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 11:03 am · (locked) |
 kilrathi
Premium Member
join:2005-04-22
Rockaway Park, NY |
to hobgoblin
MURICA those usage statistics are perfectly fine today, maybe 3 years ago they be a bit high but today with everything going online and especially if you are on higher speed tier 300gb a month is expected. |
actions · 2014-Apr-30 12:27 pm · (locked) |
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to Matt7
said by Matt7:Much as one can complain about TWC -- I was happy when TWC took over Insight Columbus as I knew it meant eventually we'd see upgrades. [and it only took them about 7 months to get us the 30/5, 50/5 tier in Insight's digital areas from the time the cut over happened in July). Exactly this. I never even considered Insight as they didn't keep the Columbus market up like their other markets. I am happy I got to pick between ATT and TWC. |
actions · 2014-May-3 1:18 am · (locked) |
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH |
to mixdup
Under the deal- NewHouse could actually end up going bankrupt as TWC or even the new company could tell NH they are no longer providing any services to them under the shared services contract that TWC has with them. Also Charter/Comcast could end up owning part of that company since TWC does own 20% of BH. |
actions · 2014-May-3 9:24 am · (locked) |
| ITGeeks |
to Dampier
It's not to avoid taxes. And you do realize that personal attacks aren't needed?
They're spinning off these customers to make people like your blog happy so they won't be a "monopoly"
And analysts? Bean counters? If what they said was true- VZ is selling FiOS to Google and Cablevision was already to be sold. |
actions · 2014-May-3 9:26 am · (locked) |
mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA |
to ITGeeks
said by ITGeeks:Under the deal- NewHouse could actually end up going bankrupt as TWC or even the new company could tell NH they are no longer providing any services to them under the shared services contract that TWC has with them. Also Charter/Comcast could end up owning part of that company since TWC does own 20% of BH. By my reading of TWC's annual reports, Advance/Newhouse would retain 100% ownership should they dissolve their partnership (TWC will take the assets that add up to their percentage of ownership, and Advance/Newhouse will take the assets that add up to their percentage of ownership). Also, they have to give a one year notice before they can pull out of the partnership. Bright House hired an advisor back when it was still believed that Charter would buy TWC, so they won't be surprised by anything. I believe Charter will pursue Bright House for an outright purchase. Whether that happens or not is anybody's guess, since the Newhouse family would have to want to sell. Geographically Charter makes the most sense (and Comcast probably wouldn't be looking to buy anything for a long time). Time Warner Cable *does* have the right of first refusal (meaning Advance/Newhouse has to offer Bright House systems to TWC for sale first before anyone else can buy them) but who knows how the Comcast deal would affect those rights. Bright House could also enter into a management partnership with Charter, allowing the Newhouse family to retain some or all ownership but allow Charter to run the systems like Time Warner Cable used to do, and how Charter will be doing with SpinCo systems. Either way, I highly doubt they go "bankrupt" at any rate. They've had time to plan out what they want to do, and there are a lot of options on the table. It's also not impossible for a cable company their size to handle the engineering and programming agreements on their own, although that would cost significant money, money that the Newhouse family might not be willing to invest. But, it's not going out of business money. |
actions · 2014-May-3 9:55 am · (locked) |
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to Dampier
said by Dampier:Charter has approached Comcast about licensing the X1/X2 platform, so do not be surprised if customers of both companies will eventually get the same technology, especially in ex-Comcast areas. What's the difference between the X1 and X2? Or is the X2 a service pack to kill X1's bugs? And I have heard there are bugs! Satch |
actions · 2014-May-4 5:55 am · (locked) |
