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Netflix is totally cool with Charter buying Time Warner Cable
Charter Communications has Netflix's support for its $55 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable after promising the streaming service settlement-free "peering" through 2018. Peering, according to The Internet Peering Playbook, is a local routing optimization method that allows two networks to exchange traffic without incurring transit fees. On Tuesday, Charter reportedly filed a document with the FCC stating that it wouldn't charge any website for faster access until at least December 31st, 2018. Netflix also filed a document stating that it would not oppose the acquisition as it had last year's Comcast-TWC merger.
TWC robo-calls customer 153 times, now owes her $229,500
Reuters reports that Time Warner Cable has been slapped with a hefty ($229,500) fine after hammering one of its own customers, Araceli King of Irving, Texas, with robo-calls. The cable company reportedly autodialed her 153 times in less than a year. The kicker: they weren't even looking for her -- TWC was actually looking for the guy that originally owned the phone number. But even after repeatedly pleading with the company and a seven minute discussion with a TWC rep in which she made it clear that she wasn't Luiz Perez (the number's original owner), she kept receiving calls. The harassment was so consistent and extensive that the company continued calling her -- an astounding 74 times -- after she instigated her lawsuit in March 2014.
TWC is threatened with the first Net Neutrality lawsuit
It's been less than a week since the net neutrality rules came into force, but they're already being used to slap the ISP that everybody loves to hate. According to the Washington Post, Commercial Network Services is about to file a complaint against Time Warner Cable for holding its video traffic to ransom. CNS runs SunDiegoLive, a site hosing webcam streams across San Diego, which is popular with the military crowd whenever a US Navy vessel comes into port. As far as CNS is concerned, TWC has been charging unreasonably high rates to let these videos get through the internet without being throttled into dust.
Charter is reportedly close to buying Time Warner Cable
Charter's interest in buying Time Warner Cable appears to be more than just a passing fancy. Bloomberg sources claim that the cable company is on the cusp of reaching a deal to buy TWC for $195 per share. The finer details of the buyout aren't available, but Charter would fold both its new acquisition and Bright House into a single mega-entity. Reportedly, Charter could announce the purchase as early as Tuesday -- if so, it's not wasting much time following Comcast's failed TWC deal.
The French are coming... for Time Warner Cable
Ever since Comcast was scared off buying Time Warner Cable, a slew of other firms have been eyeing up the business for a purchase. The latest to throw a beret into the ring is French telecoms firm Altice (us neither), which Reuters and the Wall Street Journal claim has eyes on America's No. 2. The outfit is already attempting to make it big here after announcing that it's purchasing Suddenlink, a regional cable company operating in a handful of states, including West Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, at a cost of $9.1 billion.
Bright House Networks and Charter deal looking less likely
According to Reuters Bright House Networks may look to kill its impeding merger with Charter Communications. After pressure from regulators put an end to Comcast's effort to purchase Time Warner Cable, rumors started circulating that Charter wanted to resurrect its bid for the beleaguered company. Comcast backing out of the TWC deal triggered a clause in the Bright House / Charter agreement that would allow the two to renegotiate the terms of their merger. The 30 day window for the renewed contract talks ends in roughly two weeks, and sources have suggested that Bright House may want to put the kibosh on the acquisition. According to the Reuters report, Bright House appears to have decided that its in the company's best interest to remain independent. Part of that decision is likely fueled by an existing agreement with Time Warner, where the larger provider negotiates programing rates for Bright House and shares its technology with it. A merger with Charter would kill the existing arrangement and weaken its negotiating position.
Comcast burned $336 million trying to buy Time Warner Cable
Comcast's failed bid for Time Warner Cable didn't just leave egg on the company's face -- it was also horrendously expensive. The cable giant's latest earnings suggest that it chewed through a total of $336 million in "transaction-related costs" for the would-be merger, $99 million of which was spent in the last quarter alone. And, as Ars Technica notes, this only accounts for directly related costs like legal fees, hired contractors and immediately relevant lobbying efforts. Not that TWC emerged unscathed, either: It paid $200 million.
Time Warner Cable's Xbox One app now streams live TV
Time Warner Cable's Xbox One app, TWC TV, just became much, much more useful. The company has added live streaming for up to 300 channels, so you don't have to miss out on a show when you're at a friend's place or can't hook up cable in your gaming den. There are still 8,000 free and subscription-based on-demand shows, too, so you'll usually have something to watch. Grab the free app today if you're hoping to get a little more mileage out of your TV package.
With Comcast out, Charter eyes Time Warner Cable merger again
Comcast is out, but that doesn't mean Time Warner Cable is off the market. Charter, which already cast a losing bid for the provider in 2014, is considering trying to acquire TWC again, according to the Washington Post. Charter's continued interest isn't much of a surprise. In February CEO Tom Rutledge said that if the Comcast deal fell through, he might make another offer. Being the fourth largest cable TV provider, it might not be subject to the same level of regulatory scrutiny as Comcast, which is the nation's largest. But, Charter already began moving on a consolation prize last month in Bright House Networks. So getting approval to swallow up the second largest pay-TV provider in the country won't be easy if it does decide to carry through with a bid. There's also no guarantee that Time Warner Cable will accept a bid from Charter, which had its original offer of roughly $130 per share rebuffed in 2013.
Comcast officially gives up on Time Warner Cable merger
The rather unpopular, $45 billion merger attempt between Comcast and Time Warner Cable has been officially called off. In a very brief statement, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts said that he would have liked to pair the two companies together, but governmental pressure has killed the deal. The biggest objection to the deal was that the combination would control the majority of high-speed internet connections in the US, raising the ire of both the FCC and Justice Department. Unlike the failed AT&T - T-Mobile deal a few years back, it doesn't appear as if either party has to pay a severance fee to the other, which should make walking away a little easier. Update: In a statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said the decision is a victory for "providers of content and streaming services who work to bring innovative products to consumers across America and around the world." Check after the break for other statements from around the industry, including Time Warner Cable and some of the consumer groups that opposed the deal. [Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
Comcast will reportedly drop its bid for Time Warner Cable
That heavily-criticized $45 billion Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger? Well, it looks like it's not going to happen after all. Bloomberg reports that the former company is dropping its bid to acquire the latter, with an official announcement expected as soon as tomorrow. Just yesterday, reports surfaced that the Federal Communications Commission proposed a hearing, serving as the latest sign that the merger could be doomed. It appears that now, despite efforts to lobby support and offer concessions, Comcast will finally give up on bringing over 30 million cable customers under one roof. Much of the criticism has been that deal wouldn't be good for consumers in terms of competition, controlling well over half of US broadband service. In order to be legally blocked by the government, there will need to be a formal hearing, but it looks like both the FCC and Justice Department are ready to do just that. The last time the FCC sent a similar proposal to court was the doomed AT&T/T-Mobile merger a few years back. [Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
It looks like the government will stop the Comcast/TWC merger
That seemingly ever-looming union between Comcast and Time-Warner Cable looks like it hit another roadblock. The Federal Communications Commission wants to put the $45 billion merger in front of an administrative law judge and issue a "hearing administration order," which The Wall Street Journal says is a pretty strong message from the government that the deal could die. Why's that? Because it's essentially Uncle Sam saying that the business move isn't good for consumers; that whole Netflix situation's still pretty fresh on everyone's mind, it'd seem. WSJ's sources say that Comcast and Time Warner could still make a case for themselves, but it may be too late.
Comcast and TWC will negotiate with officials to save their merger
The merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable is no longer as certain to get approval as it once was, and the two cable giants know it. Wall Street Journal sources understand that the companies will meet with Department of Justice officials this week (the first time they've met since the announcement) in hopes of negotiating concessions and saving the deal. It's not clear what more they'll propose beyond existing offers, although history suggests that they could give up more customers or promise more efforts to expand low-cost internet access.
Justice Department may try to block the Comcast / TWC merger
It's been more than a year since Comcast announced its plan to buy fellow cable giant Time Warner Cable in a $45 billion deal, but it still hasn't received the blessings of various regulators. Now, word is leaking out from unnamed sources to Bloomberg and the New York Times that suggests Justice Department lawyers will recommend blocking the merger. Many consumer groups, politicians and executives from other companies have raised concerns over the last year that the combination would put too many customers, and too much of the nation's internet under one banner, despite a promise by Comcast to divest itself of some 3 million customers. Facing so much negative attention, Comcast is trying to improve customer service and reassure skeptics that it will be a friendly giant telecommunications company, but hasn't had much success convincing anyone that its plan will make cable TV better.
TWC boosts its internet speeds to counter Google Fiber
It's amazing what the addition of a little competition into a natural monopoly can do. Google announced in January that it would be bringing high-speed Fiber to Charlotte, North Carolina. It didn't take long for Time Warner Cable, the (only) local cable/internet provider in that city, to increase its own broadband internet speed by up to 600 percent. The program, called "TWC Maxx" will be a 100 percent digital network meaning that every television channel will be in HD. Since each analog channel takes up three to four times as much bandwidth as a digital one, eliminating them will free up a significant amount of space. TWC plans to use that space to increase its broadband internet speeds at no additional charge to its customers.
Charter buys a cable company to make up for losing Time Warner
Charter lost out on its chance to snatch Time Warner Cable before Comcast made its move, so it's settling for the next best thing. The company just unveiled plans to acquire Bright House Networks, a cable provider that's mostly big in Florida, for about $10.4 billion. Reportedly, the move is about getting "strategic flexibility" and solidifying Charter's position as the second-largest cable company in the US. In other words, it wants to both improve its clout in relation to Comcast (even if the two don't have competing networks) and streamline its costs. That last part is important in an era where services like Netflix are diminishing the importance of conventional TV. If Charter can't have TWC, it can at least prepare for a future where it can't depend on expensive programming bundles to turn a profit. [Image credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke]
'Stop Mega Comcast' group aims to kill the Time Warner merger
Comcast just can't catch a break. Opponents of the company's $45 billion Time Warner Cable merger have gathered forces to create the "Stop Mega Comcast" coalition, just as the FCC has announced that it's restarting its regulatory review of the deal. The group, which includes Dish Network, the communications non-profit Public Knowledge and others, serves as a united front against the merger. Comcast is already the largest cable provider in the U.S., but the Time Warner deal would make it even more of a juggernaut with 11 million additional customers and control of 50% of the home broadband market. "This much power concentrated in the hands of one company would be frightening even for the most trustworthy of companies," Public Knowledge's CEO Gene Kimmelman said in a statement. "And Comcast is definitely not that."
Time Warner Cable says routine maintenance caused national outage
Large chunks of the US will have woken up this morning in a panic. No, not a natural disaster, their Time Warner Cable internet was down. A mother-of-all-outages saw TWC's Internet service down from New York to, well, pretty much everywhere (see map below). What's more curious, is that a statement from the company claims it was due to planned maintenance that went awry. Still, for at least an hour and a half, Netflix's main beef with the company won't have been about neutrality.
Time Warner Cable is charging Netflix for a direct connection too
Comcast, then Verizon, AT&T and now Time Warner Cable. That's the list of ISPs that have less-than-politely declined Netflix's free OpenConnect setup, and instead decided they'll take a payment from the streaming service in exchange for connecting its network directly to theirs. Time Warner cable confirmed the deal to Gigaom, saying it was reached in June and implemented this month. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings just published an essay today in Wired as a part of its 'Save the Net" series railing against just this sort of pay-to-play system, which he's previously said undermines the possibility of strong net neutrality. The FCC has said it's looking into the deals and Hastings has mentioned that if the Comcast/TWC merger goes through, he hopes it comes with a condition blocking the combo from charging for interconnections.
Comcast tries to clinch TWC merger by sweetening its low-income internet plan
Comcast mostly uses its Internet Essentials program to butter up antitrust regulators; it created the low-income plan to help complete its NBC takeover, and extended the offering indefinitely to improve its chances of acquiring Time Warner Cable. It's no coincidence, then, that the company has just sweetened Internet Essentials at a time when the TWC merger remains an uncertain prospect. The cable giant is now offering debt amnesty to those who would normally qualify for the $10 monthly plan, but are saddled with outstanding Comcast bills that are over a year old. It's also offering six months of free service for those who sign up by September 20th, in part to guarantee that kids have access to online educational resources when they return to school.
