Milwaukee HDTV User Group

Breaking News => Latest News => Topic started by: mrschimpf on Wednesday Feb 12, 2014, 09:15:53 PM

Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: mrschimpf on Wednesday Feb 12, 2014, 09:15:53 PM
Anyone who was thinking that Charter was going to snap up TWC like me is shocked tonight...Comcast is laying down $159/share (http://www.businessinsider.com/comcast-to-buy-time-warner-cable-2014-2?IR=T) for Time Warner, well above the $130-140/share range Charter was offering.

Announcements of more tomorrow and somehow I don't think this is the final word by far since Charter's aggressive about getting Time Warner, but Comcast, with their one Manitowoc system, would probably get to keep the TWC Wisconsin cluster for sure.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: gparris on Wednesday Feb 12, 2014, 11:06:06 PM
Oh great. Comcast has crap TV service. I guess the first thing that will happen is Comcast will end the good service I get with Signature Home. Maybe I should stop throwing out those DirecTV mailers?:bang:
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 12:04:37 AM
If this deal is not approved, struck down in the courts, than what happens?

Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: PONIES on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 12:18:12 AM
Have fun with the bandwidth caps, guys.

Comcap's latest scam is implementing a 300 GB cap and $10 per 50 GB overage fees on their subscribers.

So if you were to subscribe to Comcast's 300 Mbps tier and use it 24/7 the whole month they will send you a bill for over $20,000.

Meanwhile, on Time Warner, if you get their 100 Mbps tier and use it 24/7 for a month no ****s are given.

I hope you don't actually use your broadband connection for any sort of modern technology because your bill is fixing to shoot up like crazy.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 12:25:12 AM
Comcast uses I-Guide in some markets,

But they have also rolled out a Tivo based guide in other markets that makes Navigator look like Pong!

http://tivo.com/discover/cable  (Scroll down)

I have been talking to subs about Comcast's bandwidth caps.  They say in many markets,  they aren't even turned on, and I know one guy that downloads like 1TB of stuff a month and Comcast has said nothing, so I wouldn't worry about it.

It would be nice if we get better boxes and a better guide though.  Remember, this could all die in the courts and with the FCC.

Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 12:33:39 AM
Quote from: Jack 1000;59836Comcast uses I-Guide in some markets,

But they have also rolled out a Tivo based guide in other markets that makes Navigator look like Pong!

http://tivo.com/discover/cable  (Scroll down)

I have been talking to subs about Comcast's bandwidth caps.  They say in many markets,  they aren't even turned on, and I know one guy that downloads like 1TB of stuff a month and Comcast has said nothing, so I wouldn't worry about it.

It would be nice if we get better boxes and a better guide though.  Remember, this could all die in the courts and with the FCC.

Jack

However, just like TWC, being able to get the newer boxes depends on your market with Comcast and what they have in stock:

http://forums.comcast.com/t5/XfinityTV-and-Equipment/How-do-I-get-the-newest-HD-DVR-cable-box/td-p/1170993

Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: LoadStar on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 07:52:34 AM
Quote from: Jack 1000;59836Comcast uses I-Guide in some markets,

But they have also rolled out a Tivo based guide in other markets that makes Navigator look like Pong!

http://tivo.com/discover/cable  (Scroll down)

To be accurate, the image displayed is the retail TiVo Roamio interface, not one running on a Comcast box.

I've heard that the TiVo interface running on Comcast boxes is DOA.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: PONIES on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 10:04:49 AM
Quote from: Jack 1000;59836I have been talking to subs about Comcast's bandwidth caps.  They say in many markets,  they aren't even turned on, and I know one guy that downloads like 1TB of stuff a month and Comcast has said nothing, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Irrelevant. It isn't going to stay that way forever. Comcap is clearly on a path of rolling out a cap nationwide and implementing overage charges. You'd be a fool not to see it.

They want to strangle your bandwidth usage and wring out some extra cash just like the mobile providers, and as a monopoly they're in a position to do it. By the time this deal is completed I'm sure they'll have rolled out their caps and overages to more of their territory.

I couldn't give two shits about if Comcast has a better guide on their crappy boxes or not. That is wholly irrelevant. CableCARD tuners work on Comcast and on Time Warner so there is no need for a cable company provided box on either provider. A CableCARD tuner + Media Center interface blows away any cable company DVR. I see this much like the console peasants who get so excited over their new PS4s or Xbox Ones... who cares? You guys are literally debating over which pile of crap emits the least amount of odor. I've had a gaming PC for years that blows every console out of the water just like I've had a media center PC that blows away any cable company box. When such a superior option exists to you it's like fighting over table scraps when a nice juicy steak is sitting right there.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Tivoman44 on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 10:15:20 AM
speaking of TiVo and cable .   is it true that comcast allows two way multi streaming cable cards.....no more need for a tuning adapter or SDV?  

and what about copy control being able to transfer shows from one TiVo the other.   I thought I remembered hearing how TWC was the only provider using copy control and one way cable cards
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 02:08:31 PM
Good article here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/comcast-to-acquire-time-warner-cable-143000745.html

Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: LoadStar on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 05:13:50 PM
Quote from: Tivoman44;59840speaking of TiVo and cable .   is it true that comcast allows two way multi streaming cable cards.....no more need for a tuning adapter or SDV?  

and what about copy control being able to transfer shows from one TiVo the other.   I thought I remembered hearing how TWC was the only provider using copy control and one way cable cards

For the first, not true. There is no such thing as a "one-way" or "two-way" CableCard. The only two types of CableCards out there are single-stream and multi-stream. What determines "one-way" or "two-way" is the device they are placed into.

As long as SDV is in use, non-cable-company-owned set-top boxes will require tuning adapters.

As far as the copy control (CCI byte), Time Warner Cable does seem to make the most prolific use of it, but there isn't anything stopping the others from doing the same. As long as they don't apply it to broadcast stations, they're legally fine.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Tivoman44 on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 08:28:09 PM
Thanks for the info Loadstar.  You said TWC uses Copy Control the most which I can say is true, all I can transfer is over the air channels, do we know for sure if Comcast allows it differently?
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Thursday Feb 13, 2014, 10:33:57 PM
Good article on Internet Broadband caps.  As of May 2012, it says Comcast raised the limit to 300GB's of download per month and now they don't enforce it.

How much data would that be considering movies and streaming?

http://gigaom.com/2012/10/01/data-caps-chart/

Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Talos4 on Friday Feb 14, 2014, 08:33:51 AM
Quote from: PONIES;59839I couldn't give two shits about if Comcast has a better guide on their crappy boxes or not. That is wholly irrelevant. CableCARD tuners work on Comcast and on Time Warner so there is no need for a cable company provided box on either provider. A CableCARD tuner + Media Center interface blows away any cable company DVR. I see this much like the console peasants who get so excited over their new PS4s or Xbox Ones... who cares? You guys are literally debating over which pile of crap emits the least amount of odor. I've had a gaming PC for years that blows every console out of the water just like I've had a media center PC that blows away any cable company box. When such a superior option exists to you it's like fighting over table scraps when a nice juicy steak is sitting right there.

That's all well and good for you, myself and others, That doesn't address the majority of cable customers who have no clue what a "media center" or "Cable Card" is.  

Just in my family alone which encompasses about two dozen people they look at me like I have three eye's when I tell them that I watch a majority of TV through my PC with HD and Surround sound. They ask me why I have a set of rabbit ears tucked behind my TV.

When we presented my parents with a new WS tv at christmas my dad asked why does it have to be that shape and why do we have to have a cable box. They complained about having to change remotes for cryin out loud.

Business models have to appeal to the masses, That's where the money is, Not the niche markets, early adopters etc.

I'm probably an exception when it comes to the "average cable customer", I'm in my mid 50's, fairly fluent in "PCease" I got into HD, surround sound in 2005, have two of the latest android phones, two tablets on so on.  

WE on this board are the ones expecting software and GUI to be at least somewhat up to date. Not my parents or even my brothers who when I complain about the guide and the DVR think I 'm nuts.

Superior options don't concern the majority of subscribers, They want to turn on the TV after dinner and watch this mornings episode of Kelly and Micheal.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: PONIES on Friday Feb 14, 2014, 11:15:39 AM
Quote from: Jack 1000;59844Good article on Internet Broadband caps.  As of May 2012, it says Comcast raised the limit to 300GB's of download per month and now they don't enforce it.

How much data would that be considering movies and streaming?

http://gigaom.com/2012/10/01/data-caps-chart/

Jack

That would be approximately six dual layer Blu-rays or six 4K movies assuming you didn't use your Internet connection for anything else that month.

I hope you don't like PC gaming either as games like Max Payne 3 from Steam require a 30 GB download or Call of Duty: Ghosts is 50 GB.

Also, if you subscribe to a porn site, I hope you like only being able to download 100 movies instead of being able to subscribe to a porn site for one month, download the entire site, and then cancel your membership to that site. Under Comcast's stifling caps you can no longer cost effectively save entire porn sites whereas with a Time Warner connection you can subscribe to a site like Brazzers for $20, download their entire site, and be set with a massive catalog of 1080p porn for life.

Also, I hope you guys don't care about actually being able to back your data up to a offsite cloud storage provider so that you're not one of the legions of people crying when their hard drive fails or they get robbed/their house burns down/floods/gets hit by a tornado, etc.

I have over 50 TB of data I have to keep backed up to the cloud and Comcast would expect me to pay them $10,000 in overage fees or spend 14 years spacing out my uploading to use under 300 GB of data each month for 167 months in order to do that. To put that into perspective, you can buy EIGHTY 4 terabyte hard drives (yes, PHYSICAL products), for a total amount of 320 TB of storage space, and then rent a safety deposit box at a bank and store some of your data in there, for the same amount of money that Comcast wants to charge you in 'overage fees' to send 50 TB of data via the Internet.

Something ain't right with this picture. Remember in the 1990's when it was more cost effective to physically buy hard drives and pay for shipping to move data around than it was to just use your Internet connection? Comcast wants to take us all back to those days. Comcast wants to introduce us to an Internet dark age.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Friday Feb 14, 2014, 11:23:04 AM
Quote from: PONIES;59846That would be approximately six dual layer Blu-rays or six 4K movies assuming you didn't use your Internet connection for anything else that month.

I hope you don't like PC gaming either as games like Max Payne 3 from Steam require a 30 GB download or Call of Duty: Ghosts is 50 GB.

Also, if you subscribe to a porn site, I hope you like only being able to download 100 movies instead of being able to subscribe to a porn site for one month, download the entire site, and then cancel your membership to that site. Under Comcast's stifling caps you can no longer cost effectively save entire porn sites whereas with a Time Warner connection you can subscribe to a site like Brazzers for $20, download their entire site, and be set with a massive catalog of 1080p porn for life.

Also, I hope you guys don't care about actually being able to back your data up to a offsite cloud storage provider so that you're not one of the legions of people crying when their hard drive fails or they get robbed/their house burns down/floods/gets hit by a tornado, etc.

I have over 50 TB of data I have to keep backed up to the cloud and Comcast would expect me to pay them $10,000 in overage fees or spend 14 years spacing out my uploading to use under 300 GB of data each month for 167 months in order to do that. To put that into perspective, you can buy EIGHTY 4 terabyte hard drives (yes, PHYSICAL products), for a total amount of 320 TB of storage space, and then rent a safety deposit box at a bank and store some of your data in there, for the same amount of money that Comcast wants to charge you in 'overage fees' to send 50 TB of data via the Internet.

Something ain't right with this picture. Remember in the 1990's when it was more cost effective to physically buy hard drives and pay for shipping to move data around than it was to just use your Internet connection? Comcast wants to take us all back to those days. Comcast wants to introduce us to an Internet dark age.

I upload next to nothing and watch You Tube Videos, backing up my storage to Google Docs and Windows Sky Drive.  I also have a Flash Drive for my computer.  Just pictures, documents, and bookmarks, no movies or TV shows.

Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Friday Feb 14, 2014, 11:27:24 AM
I also read that Comcast is adding TWC Start Over and Look Back to all systems if the deal is approved.  The deal may not close for AT LEAST A YEAR, if even approved by the Department of Justice and the FCC.  Intelligent Home from TWC will stay.  Have no word on Signature Home.  It could take another three years to get all systems and nodes Comcast ready, so we are looking at 2016-2018, I would say before huge changes come about.  You won't see any changes to the line-up or equipment changes for a couple of years.

Not happy with the proposed buy-out.  I would rather see TWC/Comcast work to improve it's customer relationship skills across  the footprint to get the public speaking about cable TV in a more positive way.  That's what is needed.  Better training, more modern equipment for the DVR's and Set Tops, and better quality control testing.  It would be better if each company TWC, Charter, Comcast, Cablevision, and Cox were all in close proximity to each other to encourage competition.  That way, subs get better service and deals.


Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: ArgMeMatey on Thursday Mar 06, 2014, 04:37:10 PM
Quote from: PONIES;59839You guys are literally debating over which pile of crap emits the least amount of odor.

Well, not literally, but your other points are right on.  ;)

I agree that there are two piles:
1.  The local duopoly / monopoly.  They blame price increases on increased maintenance costs and increased programming costs from the big cable content providers and local stations trying to replace lost local ad and network revenue-sharing, not on their own desire for profits "because we can."  

2.  Vertical integration.  They claim everything will flow like honey when they own everything from the pole in the backyard to the actor's botoxed lips.  For some reason they don't mention the lack of pricing pressure.
Title: TWC raising prices-again
Post by: gparris on Thursday Mar 20, 2014, 09:45:41 PM
I just received my on line billing, mind you, I have a promotion that covers me (hopefully) until the end of the year, but the pricing is going up.
To start with, there is the $10.00 per STB or STB-DVR box fees are going from $10.00 to $11.25 each, for example, then the Standard TV (includes "Starter TV) is going from $75.99 to $77.99, Variety Pass goes from $10.95 to $12.00 and get this- $2.50 extra a month for "Broadcast TV fee". What a joke!:bang:
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: OlsonNet on Monday Apr 28, 2014, 08:30:09 AM
http://consumerist.com/2014/04/28/comcasttwc-reveal-plan-to-hand-over-4-million-customers-to-charter/

Looks like Comcast will sell our market to Charter should this deal go down.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: RLJSlick on Monday Apr 28, 2014, 11:36:55 AM
I just read that also. Man this is really the perfect time to cut the cord with Cable TV. Looking forward to it.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Bebop on Monday Apr 28, 2014, 12:56:33 PM
http://www.jsonline.com/business/comcast-to-sell-milwaukee-area-time-warner-cable-system-to-charter-b99257618z1-257005711.html

What will that do to us? Which is the lesser of two evils?
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: mrschimpf on Monday Apr 28, 2014, 03:41:25 PM
As a Charter customer I'm praying all this shuffling of systems includes a licensing of Comcast's X1 system. Anything to kill the last strings to Rovi's garbage guide I will take (though Charter is developing their own guide).

The other good things are that channel lineups might be the same everywhere, and Charter has copy-free for all BYO DVR's except for the premium channels, and they'll probably kill TWC 32, as all their rights can easily be taken comfortably by Fox Sports Wisconsin's alternate channel and their local programming creation efforts have been limited to basic billboard channels (though an interest in FSW now looks more likely).

Otherwise, this isn't really good; Charter was already an uneasy cable partner in the outstate areas and this doesn't help with rates at all. I expect rates to continue to rise with nothing to compete with Charter except for U-verse.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Steve Mann on Monday Apr 28, 2014, 03:47:43 PM
I only use TW at home for Internet. I use D* for programming.

I'm fearful of less speed, data caps and who knows what else.
Title: Tw
Post by: budda on Monday Apr 28, 2014, 08:04:49 PM
Time Warner going by by! Comcast giving it up to Charter. If you are a TW costumer soon you will belong to Charter. Heard that today. Was called Divesting there TW interest. Comcast that is. No box no TV. :(

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101614448
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: ArgMeMatey on Monday Apr 28, 2014, 08:20:04 PM
What's good about this deal for customers?  Nothing.  

What's good about this for local Time Warner employees?  Nothing.  

What's good about this for Time Warner, Comcast and Charter stockholders and managers?  Who cares!

At least when Ma Bell was the only game in town, she had regulators (sort of) watching.  Now, this is all just wild west.  They've all got their thumbs on the scale, and what choice do we have?  "Well, you can always wait for the DVD or go to the library!"
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: mrschimpf on Tuesday Apr 29, 2014, 02:09:02 AM
Quote from: Steve Mann;59927I only use TW at home for Internet. I use D* for programming.

I'm fearful of less speed, data caps and who knows what else.

Charter is upping their mid-tier to 60 Mbps once their digital-only transition to "Spectrum" is over, with the higher tier at 100 Mbps. And though they do have technical data caps, they don't seem to enforce them for all but the worst data gobblers.

Of course, that was the old Charter with the 'look the other way' attitude on data caps. The Charter now under this Cablevision exec hasn't been real good, and I'm really, really loathing that the premium tier has been soaked into 'Bronze' 'Silver' and 'Gold' tiers; getting rid of Starz and Epix last year meant I had to spend an hour on the phone getting a custom re-price, and I wasn't able to get rid of Showtime either without losing the other channels I did want to retain. And their new 'Instant Upgrade' channel screwed up auto-tuning and guarantees plenty of drunken/kid/technophobic screw-ups when you suddenly discover your bill rose $40 when you played with that channel.
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: Jack 1000 on Tuesday Apr 29, 2014, 05:55:52 PM
I heard out of both political parties in Washington there is MAJOR opposition to the deal.  Remember, even if it passes, it will take about five years for full implementation.  There won't be that much that will be changed.  Just new names on the trucks, probably promo rates for the first two years of the deal, and than rate increases across the board.

Nothing good comes out of this merger!

Jack
Title: Comcast buying Time Warner Cable
Post by: techguy1975 on Tuesday Apr 29, 2014, 07:22:03 PM
Looks like Comcast will be spinning off their Wisconsin subs to Charter:

http://www.jsonline.com/business/comcast-to-sell-milwaukee-area-time-warner-cable-system-to-charter-b99257618z1-257005711.html


Not surprising, with a deal this large, they would have to divest some areas