Posted on 02/13/2014 6:36:46 AM PST by shove_it
The two biggest US cable companies are joining forces in a $45bn (£27bn) deal, creating an entertainment giant with some 32 million TV subscribers. Comcast's merger with Time Warner Cable was confirmed at the start of trading on Thursday. Its offer, which is subject to regulatory approval, is about 17% higher than the company's closing share price on Wednesday.
The takeover bid trumps an earlier $38bn (£23bn) offer from Charter Communications, which appeared to concede defeat by announcing: "We've always maintained our greatest opportunity to create value for shareholders is by executing our current business plan.
"We'll continue to be disciplined in this and any other (merger and acquisition) activity we pursue." Comcast is the largest video, broadband and phone provider in the US with more than 21 million TV subscribers...
~snip~
... Comcast is expected to insist its market does not overlap with Time Warner Cable and that the deal would not reduce competition for consumers.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
Didn’t see that coming. (Not.)
My wife and I did the same too. We only have Netflix for the time being, but if we ever did miss regular TV enough, we would simply add on Hulu. We do also miss college sports, but we don’t live near our favorite teams so it’s not like we could see those games on local channels anyway.
I had to negotiate my Internet bill last month and during that time I made it known repeatedly that streaming services are the new norm and their insistence to get me on a bundled package of worthless tv channels for over $100 a month is a step backwards. I don’t understand how cable companies don’t get understand this yet. They absolutely refuse to be competitive with companies like Netflix or Hulu. It must be that there are enough people who don’t know their options or don’t look at their bill that these companies can get away with it.
If anyone out there is paying more $50/month for tv/internet, you need to know that you can be paying less. Make a statement and drop your cable/satellite tv. Catch up on your shows by watching them online or on Netflix/Hulu/etc for less than $10/month. Trust me, after a few months, you won’t miss it anymore.
“I have had Comcast for over 15 years. I have never had a customer service problem or any issue with getting answers or resolutions. Their service is pricey but we have always been able to work a deal with them to get more value for our money when we renew. I know there have to be folks who have problems with Comcast but it is by no means universal.”
We are into our 4th year, and our results re similar.
They had a big price increase a few years ago, I told them that we were going to cancel our contract until they reduced the price. They did and added services like HBO and its competitors. We seldom use any of that.
We have a local office, and I learned quickly not to go on line with a problem and talked with some nice person in India, who was nice but didn’t/couldn’t/wouldn’t help.
So I go to their local office, describe my problem, and they schedule a repairman usually within days or later that day.
The repair guys are basically local, living within 20 miles.
They are polite, knowledgeable, listen to you and resolve the problem or install the new equipment.
I got static from one after our contractor removed the old phone company box which was decades old, when our home was repainted last summer. The old box and the old phone lines were causing some problems.
The Infinity guy, who came out said he could not service us without the old phone box and lines. I told him that he could take the modem back with him as I was cancelling my service due to him not working with me. When he started again, I told him about my wife’s office where Infinity redid the outside wiring, box and connections, so I knew it could be done. I told him to wait at my porch as I retrieved their old modem. Apparently, he had done some work with my wife’s office and its refitting.
Then, he got creative and made the system work, using the Old phone lines.
When Infinity updated our modem, it wouldn’t work. So I went to the office and got an apt for the next day.
That repair guy was great. Before, he exchanged the modems, I told him about the old inside/under the house phone wires. Then, he did some new wiring and disconnections. Then, he exchanged modems and got the new one on line.
The internet here and our two new phone lines are better than ever.
The old phone system was non functional about 50% of the time. The system was so bad, that my wife, often, was not able to call me on her separate line/phone in the same house vice/versa.
“Comcast To Buy Time Warner Cable For $45bn”
That’s interesting. The total outlays of the federal government in 1951... 45 billion [$45,514,000,000]
It's a nice idea in theory, but not-so-far-out-here in the woods, we can't get internet speeds that allow us to stream.
We were tickled when Verizon came in and did the fiber optic thingie in our neighborhood.....was able to dump TW and save around 20 bucks a month with the phone/TV/internet package.
“If anyone out there is paying more $50/month for tv/internet, you need to know that you can be paying less. Make a statement and drop your cable/satellite tv. Catch up on your shows by watching them online or on Netflix/Hulu/etc for less than $10/month. Trust me, after a few months, you won’t miss it anymore.”
How do you get Hulu’s service in your home?
What do you do for internet service.
Thanks
TMF needs to streamline these long winded sales pitches to a Berlitz version. And their spam emails are also annoying.
Many of the Internet services will over Internet for under $40/month. I think any place that is charging more than $30 is a ripoff, but that's a discussion for another time. So let's say a worst case of $44.99/month for Internet (Comcast pricing after first 6 months) + Hulu (for $7.99 ) + Internet Service taxes, you would end up no worse than $58/month. I'm $8 off from my original statement, but that is the worst case.
Clarifying further, I did look at Comcast, and while they initially offer 25MB Internet at $30, it does go up to $45 after 6 months. ATT (for me) does the same thing and why I spent over a month calling the local cable/DSL companies to see who would be willing to compete more. In the end, cable won with $35/month for a 2 year contract. It's no guarantee, but it is a good tip, try calling these places. Tell them the offer of their competitor, and tell them you are willing to sign a contract, and see what they say. If they refuse to lower the price, hang up and try again another day. I can assure you they have the authority to lower the price. Many of the sales reps will respond those trigger phrases like "this company is offering me this price" or "I am willing to sign on for the next 2 years". Every two years, I go through this mess with them and every single time either cable or DSL gives in and offers me something lower.
It should also be noted that if your Internet provider is cable, you can try attaching the cable to your tv and seeing what happens. There is a chance they are broadcasting local channels through the cable and not telling you. Sometimes it is a digital signal and sometimes it can even be on old analog tvs. It's no guarantee, but it is worth trying if all you have is Internet. You could end up with all the local channels very clearly without the hassle of an antenna.
The FTC failed us on the oil mergers in the 90s and is failing us on this bigtime if they let it go.
If there’s one thing the government should be involved in it’s anti-trust.
problem is TW is the only high speed internet in my area as well so I expect I’ll get an increase there out of this - I don’t do the cable or satellite at all.
Can’t imagine the feds approving this except that both sides have commie friends of Obama who could grease the skids with sizable campaign donations.
We still have anti-trust laws, don’t we?
> Time Warner customers, prepare yourselves for a truly hideous experience.
I don’t see how it could be worse that it is already.
I used to be a customer. One time I made the mistake of looking at my bill online. This simple act apparently gave them permission to stop sending paper bills. The month that followed I did not get a bill, but I noticed and send the payment in anyway with a note. They cut my service for non-payment, so I brought the cancelled check in to show them. They said fine, but it would still take 2 to 3 weeks to restore my service. About 6 months later Verizon was available in my neighborhood and all you saw was Verizon trucks putting in FIOS for new customers. I could not wait to dump the Time-Warner service.
I think I read the same thing in a Standard oil release many years ago.
Before long, there will be ONE BIG: electric company, water company, gas company, healthcare company, grocery company, phone company, cell phone company, school control company, yada yada yada. The big boys are all coming together. Run off all competition. Make it just one big boy and no one else. Then, you control the PRICE. Thus, either come to me for what you want in TV or don’t get TV. Your choice. Do with. OR do without. See you DO have a choice. Do with. Or do without. Two choices. See, socialism does work. It does give you choices. Two of them in fact. Ain’t socialism and One World Government grand?!?!?!?!
The phone companies are set up the same way, where I live I can have AT&T, Dish, Direct or TW but not Verizon, Comcast or Charter. Cable and Phone companies have their safe zones so the only real competition is between Direct and Dish.
TV shows & Movies. High quality video.
http://watchseries.lt
To capture the download of videos. Get these add on’s for Firefox called:
Flashgot http://flashgot.net <- I use this for the Watchseries link above.
Flash and Video Download http://www.fnvfox.com <- use either
Place the icon on the toolbar by right clicking on the toolbar and clicking Customize.
Drag the icon onto the toolbar. When a video plays it will display a 1 or more depending on number of video formats and sizes.
Select the one you want then save.
The icons show up when a video is present that is playing. They sometimes disappear from the toolbar when no video playing.
Free tv
You get the normal over the air tv shows plus these seen below. You may pick up a few others as this is not an up to date list.
Channel 4-2 is called COZI TV http://www.cozitv.com
It has old tv shows from the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s
Channel 5-2 is called Antenna TV http://antennatv.tv
It has old tv shows from the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s
Channel 5-3 is called This TV http://ktla.thistv.com
It has Stargate and old shows from the 50’s onward.
Channel 13-3 is called Movies! - http://moviestvnetwork.com
Channel 56-3 is called METV http://metvnetwork.com
It also has old tv shows.
There is also several PBS stations.
TV listing from MOHU, type in your zip code to view the listings.
http://gomohu.com
I use the tv antenna called The Leaf
TV Guide http://www.tvguide.com/listings
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