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[aeolist]

fewer companies does not mean less competition. charter and TWC operate in virtually exclusive areas. The only real competitive difference if this were to happen is... a name change.. that's it.

ISPs wield more market power against other network providers and content owners when they get bigger. a merger here consolidates the bargaining power of TWC and charter and has immense potential to hurt consumers even if they weren't ever going to operate in the same cities.

There's really no need to. Basically these are internet providers at this point, and there are typically a number in any given area.. The (formerly) phone company, the (formerly) cable company.. the wireless companies.. medium distance wifi services.. on top of that federal regulation requires the companies owning the copper and/or frequencies to allow others to buy capacity over those systems and resell it. tl;dr if there was actually an ability to compete in a segment, companies already have the ability to do so because of this regulation.. that they don't is a pretty strong statement on exactly how thin margins on the market are.

this is false. POTS service providers have to resell capacity to competitors, but DSL/fiber/cable/wireless providers do not. back in the early 2000s DSL companies had to lease their lines out but that requirement was killed by the FCC in 2005.

even with the common carrier decision that the FCC made recently to bring back their net neutrality rules, local loop unbundling is specifically not being forced on ISPs.

 

[AndyD]

I feel like this one will get the go-ahead.

Yep. It would create two giants, effective competitors. The upside of this one is that unlike Cmmcast/NBC they are not content owners, just providers, so they have the incentive of doing a good job on that front.

 

[facelike]

So instead of Comcast, they went with Charter.I had Charter once, it was exactly like Comcast down to the process, prices, cable box and cable menu. Took me a while to find out it was a different company.

 

[Jafku]

Ugh. We have Brighthouse. I really hope this doesn't affect our service.

 

[Marion Cobretti]

I have charter in Los Angeles and it's very fast and priced low.

I have Time Warner in Manhattan and it can definitely be ass at times.

Not too hot on this merger.

 

[Laekon]

For years I heard everyone always complain about how shitty TWC is. I recently switched from Verizon DSL to TWC, and the change has been amazing.

Verizon was charging me $53 for 7/1 on a grandfathered dry-loop line. FiOS isn't an option in my building yet, despite living in Manhattan.

TWC is charging me $35 for 50/5.

Honestly, I should've switched earlier.

In a year they will increase it to $50 or $65. It's seems random and they don't give any type of warning. Then your modem rate will go up 50% for the same piece of equipment. There is no doubt their speed is better than ATT and non Fios Verizon but it doesn't make them good.

Verizon ripped of NYC and your paid of officials just let them get away with it.

 

[*Nightwing]

as an employee for one of these, all three pretty much keep the same ideals (trying to concentrate on better service and speeds relative to other providers in the area, better customer service than other providers, no internet speed throttling, etc.) no change will come about until after about a year. Once they start consolidating their infrastructure (which will take a very long time and a lot of money), we will start to see the changes they make in standardizing services across the entire merged company and that's when it will affect their customers, and that's probably when i will loose my job since i will not be willing to relocate. I ain't stoked (if it happens i get a really nice severance package), but its better than comcast - time warner merger for sure... by a long shot.

 

[BBboy20]

*reads this while using Charter's internet*...huh.

 

[xsarien]

As a Time Warner subscriber, I wish some company *would* buy them. The TV service is awful, and the random Internet outages are kind of a joke. Anyone coming in would at least, maybe, potentially, make a token effort to upgrade their infrastructure.

But man, they make sure that the email reminding you that your statement is ready gets sent on time.

 

[pgtl_10]

Does Charter have internet caps? I am planning to switch to Time Warner Cable for internet in August and I hope Charter does not place caps.

 

[Shizzlee]

Does Charter have internet caps?

No they don't.

 

[Daria]

hopefully Charter's CS will improve with this merger and possibly do better pricing. Either way though, $30-40 for 60mbps Internet isn't bad IMO. It's the ridiculously priced TV service that irks me. $60 for 125+ channels they claim (I think music choice are included in that number).

 

[CDX]

Does Charter have internet caps?

No they don't.

Good.

I don't currently have a cap with TWC, and I really don't ever want one.

 

[pgtl_10]

As a Time Warner subscriber, I wish some company *would* buy them. The TV service is awful, and the random Internet outages are kind of a joke. Anyone coming in would at least, maybe, potentially, make a token effort to upgrade their infrastructure.

But man, they make sure that the email reminding you that your statement is ready gets sent on time.

I think that a computer does that automatically.

 

[xsarien]

hopefully Charter's CS will improve with this merger and possibly do better pricing. Either way though, $30-40 for 60mbps Internet isn't bad IMO. It's the ridiculously priced TV service that irks me. $60 for 125+ channels they claim (I think music choice are included in that number).

i assure you, nothing good is being brought to the table by TWC except the markets they control and a big bottle of mixed piss and vinegar. Customer service, network quality, provided hardware (I flat out gave up and bought a TiVo Roamio)? All crap.

 

[SteveO1683]

Indeed, though isn't Charter supposed to be among the best of providers?

I've had them here in St. Louis for years without issue. Free speed increases for a few years now. The upload could use a boost but I am getting 100/4 for 50 a month so it's not bad at all. No line issues at all but I had something odd with my modem which they replaced for free which is awesome since I don't pay to lease it.

 

[Berordn]

The sheer size of the resulting company is going to be terrifying and that's mainly why I hope it won't go through. Nothing would really change for consumers anyway since as everyone's pointed out, the three companies don't overlap anywhere really, and with the way Bright House's infrastructure works they basically provide TWC services already.

 

[GK86]

If it makes sense to Comcast, time to stop it.

If Comcast had any bitter feelings about the collapse of its Time Warner Cable merger, following today's announcement of a $55 billion Charter/Time Warner deal, it's not making them public. "This deal makes all the sense in the world," Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement this morning. "I would like to congratulate all the parties." On the face of it, the statement seems surprisingly gracious, especially after Comcast spent more than a year fighting for regulatory approval in its attempt at gobbling up Time Warner Cable. But it's not hard to imagine Roberts making nice through gritted teeth. Comcast's merger was enormously unpopular by regulators and the public alike, primarily because it would have severely reduce competition by combining America's No. 1 and No. 2 cable providers. As the fourth largest cable player in the U.S., Charter has a much higher chance of its deal going through without raising monopoly alarms.

So what's Comcast left to do? Most likely, it'll end up pursuing another cable provider. Cox, which is roughly equivalent in subscriber numbers to Charter, made it clear last year that it wasn't up for sale. But Comcast might have a shot at snapping up smaller players like Cablevision, or perhaps even striking a deal with AT&T or Verizon for its services.

 

[erlim]

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

 

[bigmit3737]

”If the deal is blocked, it would leave Charter on the hook for a $2 billion break-up fee, the companies said.

Malone, who in the 1980s built a small Denver cable company into the nation's largest cable system, has been outspoken about the need for more consolidation to grant cable operators the scale to better take on nationwide players like Netflix.

He has said cable companies should team up to create a rival to Netflix, pooling their money to acquire the kind of content that would be too expensive for a single cable operator to acquire.

As part of the complicated deal, Charter also wins control of Bright House Networks from Advance Newhouse. That would help Charter expand in Florida, a market where Bright House has a strong presence.”


I don't understand this reasoning at all. They need to pool money together to compete with Netflix?? Charter was what $68 billion dollars to buy Time Warner but they can't compete with Netflix. Neflix's market cap is about half that and I don't think Neflix has anywhere close to the amount of cash.

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

Good.

I don't currently have a cap with TWC, and I really don't ever want one.

The #1 reason I was planning on moving if the TWC/Comcast merger went down.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

DoJ isn't going to allow this, what are they even thinking.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

When Charter Internet works they are great, however if you have a problem apparently their only solution is to swap out your modem every time you call support(even if it was done the day before, a week before that and again month prior to that.)

 

[Prosopon]

.

 

[xsarien]

“Prices for cable and broadband continue to go up, and customer service is dismal. In a customer satisfaction survey of 17 cable providers by Consumer Reports, Charter ranked 14th, and Time Warner Cable was 16th. We’re going to meet with federal regulators to make sure the consumer perspective is heard.”

So, you know... PROGRESS.

http://gothamist.com/2015/05/26/time_warner_charter_cable.php

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Charter rocks, hope this doesn't change service.

My unbonded 4Mbps upstream says otherwise.

BRB paying $40 more a month for 5Mbps unbonded upstream. Oh man so worth it.

 

[Delio]

When Charter Internet works they are great, however if you have a problem apparently their only solution is to swap out your modem every time you call support(even if it was done the day before, a week before that and again month prior to that.)

This happens with me. Either that or they just change all the wires outside. I'm pretty mixed on Charter I've been with them for years and the Internet has had a ton of disconnects for me. The TV service is just LOL but i maintain it with my relatives in the house.

 

[vwnut13]

That's a low bar. I have Charter. In the past they've arbitrarily raised my rates without explanation, and have harassed me with constant marketing phone calls and junk-mail.

Last week they must have had a computer glitch. They were calling 5-6 times a day and there was nothing on the other end.