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mahicks
join:2001-06-20
Tallahassee, FL

mahicks

Member

[Merger] Is there any decent data on who Comcast will drop/spin off?

Sorry if I missed it but is there a map or something that shows the potential customers that will be spun off if/when Comcast gets the merger thru?

I have heard/read Florida but was not sure. I am in Tallahassee, FL and wanted to know what the future may bring.

Zenit_IIfx
The system is the solution
Premium Member
join:2012-05-07
Purcellville, VA

Zenit_IIfx

Premium Member

Comcast -> SpinCo: Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Alabama, Eastern Tennessee, Kentucky and Wisconsin.

Looks like your safe (well, if you wanted to stay with Comcast).

mahicks
join:2001-06-20
Tallahassee, FL

1 recommendation

mahicks

Member

Thanks Zenit. I am sure your post is accurate so thank you very much.
However...You pose A REAL QUANDARY of a question to my question I have to question myself about!!!!!!

If I wanted to stay with Comcast......Hmmm.....

Why I want to stay or go:

+ 4 years with them and only a couple of months (measure that in actual months over the course of time that I had totally unusable internet) of any real issues.
- Months of issues??

+ Fastest speed available in my area and faster than anyone that would court my area.
- No one else is courting my area.

+ Lowest price for available speed in my area.
- Price moves more than a cheetah on crack.

+ Customer "service" available 24/7.
- Finding out that I am not a cared for customer much and my "service" could be considered inhumane...even in an S&M brothel/hostel.

+ I can bring my own equipment
- I can be charged for my own equipment and theirs until I prove (like proving the speed of light by driving on a lightwave with a video camera and a radar gun all in view of everything) that I own my own equipment and have turned their equipment in.

+ I can learn a couple of foreign languages.
- That I have to learn a couple of foreign languages to actually get service to understand what my issue is and only find out they are sympathetic and understand but they cannot fix my issue unless I use their pay for service agreement.

+ I get a Comcast guarantee and Comcast cares services.
- I learn that Comcast caring is asking me to first reboot all my devices and then being told I need special "pay for service" because my devices have "become out of sync" with their signal and a phone tech can fix it for $XX or a real tech can fix it for $XXX only to finally find out that they accidentally disconnected my cable line during a routine cable audit.

+ I get service on the weekend, actually on a Sunday, Superbowl Sunday.
- I get service on Superbowl Sunday to find out that Comcast cut my line during a routine cable audit because an install tech did not mark my line with a green piece of plastic.
-I was charged $XX for a TRUCK ROLL.
-I had NO SERVICE for a WEEK but I was credited $31 dollars (you do the math for triple play...even though I have never connected a video.)

+ I get to talk to my neighbors about their internet quality, go on a "field trip" with my son to a neighbors yard and find an illegal/improper splitter in the box.
- Speak with Comcast for hours about having no usable internet, get told , my signals look GREAT, it is my modem, change modem, get told it is my router, change router, put ticket in on Comcast direct on this forum, wait a couple of weeks, get told by Comcast direct forum they are working on a ticket, issue then fixed, go back to neighbors yard and find splitter gone though I told them about it when I first called them.

+Make new friends on DSL Reports.
-I MUST make new friends on DSL reports to get resolutions to my issues from a company I PAY FOR SERVICE!

I know I did this in as much good humor I could muster but the worst part is if I have to answer your question/statement in short......YES I want to stay with Comcast. There is not a better/cheaper alternative available..

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

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MVM

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said by mahicks:

Sorry if I missed it but is there a map or something that shows the potential customers that will be spun off if/when Comcast gets the merger thru?.

There's this article (with this map: »consumermediallc.files.w ··· rmap.png ):

Comcast/TWC Reveal Plan To Hand Over 4 Million Customers To Charter
By Chris Morran, Consumerist - April 28, 2014
»consumerist.com/2014/04/ ··· charter/

RFGuy_KCCO
join:2001-11-12
Niles, MI
Netgear CM2000
(Software) pfSense
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RFGuy_KCCO

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Ugh, that stinks... Looks like I am in an area that would go to lame ass Charter, who currently offers a max speed of 100/5. Looks like I now oppose the Comcast/TWC merger as well. I have no desire to take a 5 year step backwards in my internet speeds.
LostMile
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

LostMile

Premium Member

said by RFGuy_KCCO:

Ugh, that stinks... Looks like I am in an area that would go to lame ass Charter, who currently offers a max speed of 100/5. Looks like I now oppose the Comcast/TWC merger as well. I have no desire to take a 5 year step backwards in my internet speeds.

Don't worry!
»www.wsjm.com/Comcast-Sti ··· 18918547

RFGuy_KCCO
join:2001-11-12
Niles, MI

RFGuy_KCCO

Member

You just made my day! Thanks!

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

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MVM

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FYI - An article on the FierceCable site today:

Local markets in Northeast, Michigan, Southeast deal with SpinCo ramifications
By Jim Barthold, FierceCable - August 12, 2014
»www.fiercecable.com/stor ··· 14-08-12

Links to some local newspaper articles in the various affected markets are provided at the end.

FureverFurry
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For all of the reasons you just eloquently posted ... for me, all I can say is BRING ON SPINCO !

"Power-cycle" as the Be-All/End-all fix has become so ingrained that I routinely power cycle my KNICKERS.
AVonGauss
Premium Member
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL

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Whether you're for or against the Comcast/TWC merger, "SpinCo" is a horrible idea and likely bad for consumers in those regions both in the short and long term. The areas should either remain Comcast or become part of Charter proper, its not like there are multiple cable providers in a single area where a competitor will be lost.

FureverFurry
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FureverFurry

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said by AVonGauss:

"SpinCo" is a horrible idea and likely bad for consumers in those regions both in the short and long term.

Just being nosy, but why do you feel it will be bad for the consumer ? Thanks.
AVonGauss
Premium Member
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL

AVonGauss

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I don't think it will have comparable resources to Comcast or even Charter and will have trouble to keeping up to date across the board. I could be wrong, they may become a shining star, but right now it just reminds me of the Verizon sell offs.

Zenit_IIfx
The system is the solution
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join:2012-05-07
Purcellville, VA
·Comcast XFINITY

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It has some eerie similarities to the Verizon spinoffs of GTE + 1 bell territory to Frontier. However, I think there are some major differences. What Comcast is spinning off has been maintained, and has value for the future. Verizon's spinoffs were decrepit and obsolete, with trash bags used to repair leaking copper splices and in general neglected, unfortunately.

I don't know how upgraded the systems Comcast wishes to spin off are - if they have DOCSIS3.0 and are 700mhz+ plants with low numbers of customers per node I don't see a problem, the new Cable Co will have to worry mostly about backhaul.

So, to put it short, the combined Comcast has a very strong data backbone, and the ability to negotiate for content. It also has financial resources to support frequent plant upgrades. An independent small cable company will be missing out on that for the most part. Many of the really tiny 1 town or 1 county cable systems in the USA are pathetic, stuck on DOCSIS2.0. I don't think it will be anywhere near as bad.

The transition from the Comcast back end to a Charter-compatible one will probably be as painful as the Adelphia->Comcast transition experienced some years ago.
Action2
join:2010-06-29
Champaign, IL

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Has there been word on some of the Illinois Territories? The local Comcast cable system is horribly outdated and has not been maintained since before it was acquired from Insight all those years ago. It has been neglected worse than old rural Verizon lines.

No internet access, phone or any fancy TV options on this system so it seems it seems it would be one Comcast would want to dump.

RR Conductor
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So it looks like Charter will shed systems in CA, NV, MT, WY and CO as well as the midwest and south, but they fail to mention those, well, except for CA. The CA one looks like Truckee, but Charter will still have a lot of cable systems in NorCal and SoCal.

Zenit_IIfx
The system is the solution
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I just looked up the Newman plant in FCC COALS - your not kidding! 400mhz! A relic of the late 80's!

o_o I know Comcast has 1 system like this in Galena, MD that is only 350mhz and known as the one of the worst systems Comcast owned. They are finally getting around to upgrading it to modern technology, but its been stuck in the 80's for so many years.

Didn't know this was a common thing with very rural small Comcast systems.

RR Conductor
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RR Conductor

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said by Zenit_IIfx:

I just looked up the Newman plant in FCC COALS - your not kidding! 400mhz! A relic of the late 80's!

o_o I know Comcast has 1 system like this in Galena, MD that is only 350mhz and known as the one of the worst systems Comcast owned. They are finally getting around to upgrading it to modern technology, but its been stuck in the 80's for so many years.

Didn't know this was a common thing with very rural small Comcast systems.

I guess we lucked out, we're a very rural county (Mendocino) up here in NW CA, but our system is very robust and modern. I credit Adelphia, who, when they acquired Century Communications (and got our county with it) in 1999 announced they would be doing major upgrades to the system here, they rolled out Digital Cable in 2000 and HSI in 2001. Comcast got us when they took our area from Adelphia after the bankruptcy, and has done upgrades to the system as well. Being adjacent to Sonoma County, we got hooked into Comcast's North Bay Network, another plus.

On landlines, we have two companies, AT&T (formerly SBC, formerly Pacific Bell) serves everything from Fort Bragg and Willits south, and Verizon (formerly GTE, formerly Contel) serves everything north of there.

Zenit_IIfx
The system is the solution
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join:2012-05-07
Purcellville, VA
·Comcast XFINITY

Zenit_IIfx

Premium Member

My county is the same way actually..Loudoun County, VA used to be pretty rural. In the late 80's when cable was being built out it was being done by Loudoun Cablevision who invested in FTTN infrastructure early on throughout its then small service footprint of a few towns, by the mid-90's the plant was broadband ready at 750mhz. When Adelphia bought them out they actually deployed DOCSIS service on the plant and it went from there...although the good times with Adelphia were short once they hit financial issues.

Now that its mostly urban I have no problems with Comcast service, the head-end has to compete with FIOS in a majority of the urban areas of the county. Speaking of the telephone situation it was spit 80% Bell/20% Contel. VZ has 12 CO's but 4 of them have no broadband whatsoever, 1 of them is FIOS ready but not even deployed to the population-dense area, and the rest have FIOS.

Funny thing is how most of the abandoned WC's are ex-Bell! Even though the first FIOS deployment here was way back when they first started, out of the major Bell CO that had microwave relay on it.

Then again there is only one ex-GTE WC and the area around that is growing fast. Its serving area is pretty big (Contel was thrifty?).
Action2
join:2010-06-29
Champaign, IL

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There aren't very many neglected systems compared to the full Comcast service area, but there are more than one might think.

Comcast certainly does not have 100% internet coverage yet, but they do a lot better than some phone companies. Frontier offers bonded DSL service in this area at least.

»apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/docume ··· 21925417

That document is a couple years old now, but you can see in the Appendix some of the Comcast Cable systems that do not have internet access. It would be interesting to see how many get moved around if the merger happens.

NetFixer
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said by Zenit_IIfx:

Verizon's spinoffs were decrepit and obsolete, with trash bags used to repair leaking copper splices and in general neglected, unfortunately.

Not just Verizon. At my last residence, a tornado ripped the pedestal at the back of my property from the ground (and its cover plate simply disappeared). I immediately reconnected my own wire pairs (but I had no way of knowing what other pairs were actually in use, or who used them), and covered the pedestal (which was on its side with the connections exposed to the weather) with a heavy duty black plastic trash bag. I of course, did notify BellSouth of the damage, but I lived at that address for at least four years after that happened, and when I moved, the pedestal was still lying on its side on the ground, and its only weather protection was the trash bag I had wrapped around it. It has now been almost two decades since that incident, but I would wager that the pedestal is still belly up and covered with that same plastic bag.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

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said by Action2:

Has there been word on some of the Illinois Territories?

Well, here's a recent article about the Indiana markets next-door that are going to GreatLand Connections:

As Comcast prepares to exit Indy, questions abound
By Jared Council, Indianapolis Business Journal - February 14, 2015
»www.ibj.com/articles/518 ··· s-abound

gar187er
I DID this for a living
join:2006-06-24
Seattle, WA

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said by Zenit_IIfx:

o_o I know Comcast has 1 system like this in Galena, MD that is only 350mhz and known as the one of the worst systems Comcast owned. They are finally getting around to upgrading it to modern technology, but its been stuck in the 80's for so many years.

Didn't know this was a common thing with very rural small Comcast systems.

most were acquired system. Galena/Cecilton now has about 10-12 nodes, and last I heard was running at 550mhz. I havent had to go work that area in a year.

mccabe
join:2012-08-10
Boca Raton, FL

mccabe

Member

This may be a little off topic but if for instance, charter would inherit a former Comcast territory would they get all of the equipment, service centers,employees & whatever infrastructure Comcast already had in place? If they did I'd believe that you'd receive the same service quality(or lack of) you had with comcast.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad

MVM

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said by mccabe:

This may be a little off topic but if for instance, charter would inherit a former Comcast territory would they get all of the equipment, service centers, employees & whatever infrastructure Comcast already had in place?

Yes, most likely it will be a swap of all assets in those areas - systems, offices, subscribers and employees.

Here is the investor presentation on the swaps/spin-offs from April 2014:
»phx.corporate-ir.net/Ext ··· ZT0z&t=1

OpTiC
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join:2014-03-08
West Covina, CA

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said by Zenit_IIfx:

Comcast -> SpinCo: Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Alabama, Eastern Tennessee, Kentucky and Wisconsin.

Looks like your safe (well, if you wanted to stay with Comcast).

and Comcast Ohio too

telcodad
MVM
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Lincroft, NJ

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Well, it looks like this is all going to take a bit longer to decide now:

Comcast says $45B Time Warner Cable deal to take longer
By Tali Arbel, AP via The Washington Post - March 25, 2015
»www.washingtonpost.com/b ··· ory.html

And from:
Traveling to the Tar Heel State to Talk About Media Democratization and What the TWC Deal Means for North Carolina
By David L. Cohen, Exec. VP and Chief Diversity Officer, Comcast Voices blog - March 25, 2015
»corporate.comcast.com/co ··· carolina
quote:
... The FCC and the DOJ are continuing their regulatory reviews of the TWC transaction. Given the FCC's recent decision to pause the shot clock, we have recently reassessed the time frame when we expect the government's regulatory review to be completed and now expect that the review should be concluded in the middle of the year. ...
 
EDIT: Karl has a DSLR News item up about this now: »Comcast: Merger Approval Taking Longer Than We Expected [33] comments

EDIT2: Also on the MCN site now:

Cohen: Comcast Expects TWC Approval by ‘Mid-Year’
FCC Stopped Review Process Shot Clock March 13

By Mike Farrell, Multichannel News - March 25, 2015
»www.multichannel.com/new ··· r/389163