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 ...
"Comcast is expected to insist its market does not overlap with Time Warner Cable and that the deal would not reduce competition for consumers."
Time Warner customers, prepare yourselves for a truly hideous experience.
I’d keep the toll-free numbers of the dish companies handy.
How is this not a monopoly?
So now instead of two companies with horrid customer support and unfair pricing, now folks have one to choose from. /sarcasm
WoW - a bigger company to give us 500 channels we don’t want to watch...
sounds like an opportunity for someone new to me :)
Team Obama WILL APPROVE THIS BIG BUSINESS MERGER, as it CRUSHES competition AND because Comcast is in the pocket of the regime.
Even more of a reason to cut the cable. My wife and I have deliberately transitioned to NetFlix and Hulu, and despite a pining for college football during the season, we’ve not missed anything. If nothing else, we’re spending more time together reading and talking.
I do Directv so I'm not too worried about that aspect of this deal. But I get my Internet connection via Time-Warner. 15 Mbs down and 2 mbs up for a reasonable price.
So how does Comcast do on the Internet side of the business?
Thinking it maybe is time to buy a converter box.
My experience is very fast, reliable, reasonably priced. 30mbps down,, 1 up, 45 bux. Tech support is terrible, but eventually gets the job done.
“DISH” is a four-letter word, IMHO (correction: VERY STRONG opinion/experience)
That depends on what market you’re in. If you bundle the internet with TV, then it’s not bad ($45/mo). If you get internet only it’s almost $80/mo (25 mb down / 5 mb up). I’m in the Houston market.
“Sounds like an opportunity for someone new to me :)
The Motley Fools agree with you. This long video discusses how the Cable and satellite companies, aka the Bully boys/girls in the tv/internet business are about to meet their day of reckoning for the abuse they have piled on us for decades.
http://www.fool.com/video-alert/stock-advisor/sa-cabletv-ext/?
THE $2.2 TRILLION WAR FOR YOUR LIVING ROOM BEGINS NOW
Will they finally offer The Blaze?
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.
“So how does Comcast do on the Internet side of the business?”
Out here in the land of fruits, nuts and wino’s, Comcast seems to do a good job with business.
Comcast’s service people out here seem to be knowledgeable and willing to solve problems. Just the opposite of the big phone provider.
My wife retired last year, and a couple of years before she retired, the business group her office and about 12 more offices used the former big internet/phone provider. It never worked right and the repair people experience know how was basically limited to pulling the plug on the computers and rebooting them and blaming MS. The communications box outside their office complex was over 20 years old and so were the wiring connections to the individual offices.
Finally, they pulled the plug on the former big service, and got Comcast/Infinity to put in a new wiring to their building and new connections for their office and by passing the 20+ year old outside box and inside wiring.
After about 4 weeks, their phone/fax service was the best ever, and their internet was very reliable. The only problem was when MS updated their operating system. Nothing was done at night, and my wife and other office people had to spend a few hours in the morning getting the new stuff downloading and restarting the various computers.
Fortunately one of the sons of their boss said fire your IT guy, hire me as a PT consultant. They did, and he put in a service that downloaded the updates at night, and all they had to do was restart the computers the next morning. It worked very well.
There’s still Cox and Charter. And because of the way cable companies are local monopolies you never have a choice anyway. If you live in TW territory you never had the option to get Comcast or Cox or Charter, and now you still don’t.
This looks like Anti-Trust division should not allow this merger. But Comcast is very friendly with the Obungu Administration so most likely nothing will happen
My last straw with Comcast was after I had canceled my service and a Comcast tech came to my home to take back my digital TV box.
A month later I got a nasty letter from them accusing me of stealing the box, along with a bill for its $869 cost.
Won’t tell you how many calls I had to make over that screaming at idiots. The box turned up on a truck someplace in Maryland two months later. Turned out their tech had never logged it back in.
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