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The man who defined net neutrality is running for office in New York
Many will tell you to run for office if you really want to change the political status quo. Tim Wu, the professor who defined the term "net neutrality," has clearly taken that advice to heart -- he's now running for lieutenant governor in New York state. As he explains to the Washington Post, he sees this as a chance for state governments to get more of a say in both net neutrality issues and telecom mergers. People aren't happy with "concentration in the media industries and tech industry into political strength," Wu says.
Comcast may roll out data caps for all customers within five years
So much for Comcast's proposed merger with Time Warner Cable being good for your internet service. The cable giant's David Cohen tells investors that he expects "usage-based billing" (that is, data caps with overage fees) to reach all Comcast customers within five years. While he's not saying exactly when or how this would expand beyond the cap system's limited existing footprint, the company would gradually increase caps as demand goes up to make sure that the "vast majority" of users don't bump into it. Cohen doesn't anticipate having complex plans that force people to worry about their usage, but he warns that it's hard to make long-term predictions. "Five years ago I don't know that I would have heard of something called an iPad," he says.
Comcast proposes giving up 3.9 million customers to clinch its TWC merger
Comcast said it would be willing to shed customers to secure its buyout of Time Warner Cable, and today it's backing up those words with (tentative) deeds. The media behemoth has reached a deal that will see it offload 3.9 million subscribers -- mostly in the Midwest, check after the break to see where -- if the merger goes through. About 1.4 million of those would go to Charter; the remaining 2.5 million will go to a spin-off company where Charter will have a one-third stake (Comcast shareholders own the rest). The move should keep Comcast under 30 percent of the TV market and make Charter the second-largest cable provider in the US. In theory, that's good news for those worried that Comcast would carry too much industry clout if it gets TWC under its belt.
Time Warner Cable will sell a $99 Fan TV box that streams cable TV and internet video
Last summer Fanhattan showed off its Fan TV box that promised to put cable TV on the same level as internet streaming services, but with the odd twist that cable TV providers would be the ones to sell it. After a short test period with Cox Cable last year, Fanhattan has formed a partnership with Time Warner Cable to sell the $99 boxes to its subscribers (available for pre-order now, shipping in the next few months). It doesn't need coax or a visit from the cable guy, but it will have live TV and video on-demand from TWC, plus streaming video from services including Redbox Instant, Target Ticket (coming shortly after launch), Crackle and Rhapsody. Time Warner Cable has been on the forefront of transitioning to internet streaming with its TWC TV apps, and the Fan TV box plays directly into that.
Comcast's merger makes big cable bigger, but not better or cheaper
In a three-hour hearing today (watch it here or embedded after the break; read the statements here), executives for Comcast and Time Warner Cable joined a few others taking questions about their proposed $45 billion merger. Unfortunately, after pushing a 180-page explanation of how great an idea the merger is to the FCC yesterday, Comcast's David Cohen and Time Warner Cable's Arthur Minson didn't have much new to say. Senators including Al Franken, Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee grilled the execs with questions about rising cable rates, channel bundles and network neutrality, mostly garnering the same answers we've heard before. Franken's questioning stood out, pointing out comments Comcast made during its acquisition of NBCUniversal citing Time Warner Cable as a competitor that could help keep it in check, even though now it says they don't compete for customers. The prospect of the two companies joining to create one vertically integrated giant controlling both content and means of access to content for millions of people loomed over the proceedings. Comcast took the opportunity to announce higher speeds on two of its internet tiers in the Northeast, and call out its growing network of WiFi hotspots for customers, while once again promising new features and better tech for TWC areas. Still, with so many networks and access for 30 million customers potentially under one brand, Comcast/TWC's arguments about competition from Google Fiber, Netflix (which Comcast said it didn't fear in 2011), telcos and satellite didn't seem to hit the right notes.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable on why their merger is a good thing: 'Big isn't bad'
The day before their executives go in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have filed joint FCC applications for their merger. Available as a blog post from Comcast EVP David Cohen or a 180 page Public Interest Statement, it carefully explains why two giants in the TV and internet business joining to become one, bigger, giant, works in everyone's best interest. It's worth a read, especially if you want to hear good things about anyone who competes with Comcast or Time Warner Cable. While we didn't spot a direct reference to Reed Hasting's issues with "weak" net neutrality, the Netflix CEO is quoted for praising Comcast's X1 platform.
Time Warner Cable says 'me too,' issues first transparency report
Not to be outdone by its competitors (or future owner), Time Warner Cable has released a transparency report of its own. From January to June last year, the telco obeyed some 12,000 information requests from the government that break down as such. Of the legal requests, 82 percent were for subpoenas, 12 percent were for court orders and four percent related to search warrants. Seventy-seven percent of the time that data was requested, it was subscriber and transactional info that was disclosed, 20 percent resulted in no data shared at all and three percent of the time, content information was disclosed. Because the report doesn't give exact numbers, though, comparing the precise amount of requests that TWC handled with its competitors isn't exactly easy.
Weekly Roundup: Comcast acquiring TWC, the Galaxy S 5 and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable's $45 billion merger puts 30 million customers under one roof
It's official: Confirming the leaks from last night, Comcast has announced it plans to acquire Time Warner Cable. This combination of the country's #1 and #2 cable companies will stretch from coast to coast, as TWC controls markets like New York City, LA and Texas, while Comcast strongholds include Philadelphia and Washington DC. TV isn't the only medium in play either, since as Gigaom points out, the two companies together cover not only 30 million+ cable TV subscribers, but also around the same number of internet connections and about 15 million phone lines. So, what's the likely impact for customers as a result of the deal? For several reasons the answer right away is "not much." It will take time for the combo to gain regulatory approval from the FCC and Justice Department -- check after the break for Comcast's reasons (Apple, Google, Netflix and Hulu) why the FCC should approve it -- like like the lengthy acquisition process we saw when Comcast snatched up NBCUniversal a few years ago. Despite that, both parties expect the deal to close by the end of this year, although interestingly there's no "break up fee" if the deal does not go through for some reason, which came into play when AT&T tried to acquire T-Mobile. As part of the announcement, Comcast says it's "prepared to divest systems serving approximately 3 million managed subscribers," and expects to gain about 8 million net subscribers with the move. Comcast is still trying to roll out its new X1 TV platform including cloud DVR access, while Time Warner Cable brings its own setup, complete with StartOver and LookBack VOD features that let viewers go back in time without a DVR.
CNBC: Comcast will buy Time Warner Cable tomorrow for over $40 billion
After months of rumors and a public battle with Charter Communications, CNBC reporter David Faber reports that Time Warner Cable will be acquired by Comcast tomorrow. According to sources, the number one cable TV (and internet) provider in the US will make an all-stock deal worth $159 per share to gobble up the number two provider. Of course, any such agreement would be subject to regulatory approval from the FCC, however Faber indicates Comcast is willing to ditch about 3 million subscribers to make the deal go through. Previous rumors suggested Comcast might split TWC with Charter, but that doesn't appear to be on the table even after Charter proposed a new board of directors for TWC to get its deal done. Another rumor this might put a stake in is today's curiously-timed Apple TV leak, although we'll wait for an official announcement of some kind to judge that.
Charter makes a $61 billion bid for Time Warner Cable, could be the first of many
After months of trying to negotiate a deal behind the scenes, Charter Communications is publishing details of its offer to buy Time Warner Cable (which split from Time Warner years ago). Despite a bid that including debt is enough to nab 20 or so Nests, TWC's board responded to the offer by calling it "grossly inadequate." Charter CEO Tom Rutledge is telling anyone who will listen that he can run the company better than its current leadership, and is encouraging shareholders to join him in this viewpoint by making this offer (apparently Charter's third in the last year) public. For customers the upside isn't so clear, as according to J.D. Power Charter is next-to-last in customer satisfaction, staying ahead of only Time Warner Cable -- ouch. Bloomberg mentions that a reason this deal may happen is because billionaire John Malone is backing Charter, and he believes that by joining the companies he can negotiate better deals with the Hollywood studios that provide their content. Another possibility mentioned by Gigaom, is that control over a larger swath of area and customers could help push bandwidth caps and tiered internet pricing. Others like Comcast have also been rumored to be interested in a deal for at least part of Time Warner Cable, but the Charter/TWC combination would make for the country's third-largest provider behind Comcast and DirecTV. This afternoon Charter put on a conference call (slides are available here for EBITDA fans to drool over) to explain its side of the argument, and Time Warner replied it "would not let Charter steal this company." The biggest takeaway here is that these same economics affect others in the industry, so there could be more consolidation of cable/internet giants to come.
Xbox 360 Time Warner Cable app finally gets video-on-demand
It's been a long wait for Xbox 360-faithful wanting Time Warner Cable video-on-demand through their console, but the feature has finally arrived with some 5,000 promised titles (there's good news for Roku users too, where TWC TV has added VOD to go along with that new YouTube app). If you somehow still aren't entertained, well maybe chatting with other TWC customers via the app's messaging feature will do the trick. This seems a tad redundant when the 360's native messaging client is a few button presses away, but we dig having another way to spoil the latest New Girl for our pals.
Twitter and Comcast expand their tweet-based TV viewing to nine more providers
Comcast and Twitter made it easy to watch TV online when they launched their SeeIt social platform, but the service has only been truly useful for Comcast customers watching NBCUniversal shows. It's about to become much more relevant, though, as Comcast has reached deals with nine new channel and TV service providers. ABC, A&E Networks, AMC, Cablevision, Charter, Crown Media Family Networks, Discovery, Fox and Time Warner Cable should all support SeeIt's "watch now" links in tweets as soon as the first quarter of 2014. You also won't need to sign up for Comcast service to get the full experience -- the new SeeIt deal will let Cablevision, Charter and TWC TV subscribers both tune their set-top boxes and record programming without ever grabbing the TV remote. There will still be gaps in SeeIt's coverage in the wake of these agreements, but don't be surprised if it's ubiquitous in the near future.
Showtime Anytime is finally available for Time Warner Cable customers
Showtime Anytime has been able to be accessed with a number of service providers, but one of the major players, Time Warner Cable, was absent from that list since the beginning. Starting today, however, TWC customers can begin accessing Showtime's streaming offering, including via the iOS/Android applications and on the web. Naturally, you'll need to have a Showtime subscription as part of your cable package to view the content -- if that's all taken care of, you'll be ready to stream Dexter and Homeland in no time and anytime you want. And hey, Bright House Networks subscribers, this applies to you as well.
Time Warner Cable promises faster internet to woo back fleeing customers
One of the downsides of taking a risk is that the consequences are liable to come back and hurt you further down the line. Take Time Warner Cable, for instance, which took CBS' channels offline for the better part of two months in protest of "outrageous" carriage fees. Now that it's come to financials season, however, the company has admitted that the moral high ground came with a price: it lost 117,000 customers in three months. Of more concern, is that Time Warner also managed to lose 24,000 broadband customers, a trend which may make executives a little twitchy. In the hope of distracting people from today's dour news, the company is going to double the speed of Ultimate 50 customers in Los Angeles from 50 Mbps to 100, and those with the same package in NYC and Hawaii will get the same boost before the end of the year.
Bloomberg: If Aereo wins in court, cable companies might buy it or build clones
While TV broadcasters like CBS and Fox continue their legal battle against Aereo and its leased microantenna-to-internet streaming scheme, Bloomberg reports cable companies are watching more closely than ever. Since they're currently paying retrans fees for a lot of the same content networks broadcast over the air (and that Aereo is catching, then streaming to its subscribers on various devices -- web browser, Roku, Apple TV via AirPlay, iOS and most recently Android) if Aereo wins, they might see it as a way out of deals said to be worth billions of dollars over the years. Specifically, the usual unnamed sources name Time Warner Cable, Charter and DirecTV as candidates to build their own versions of the technology, with TWC mentioned as considering a purchase of the company. One thing that could complicate any potential end run however, is the fact that said broadcasters also own a number of cable channels. CBS has Showtime (as seen during its showdown with Time Warner Cable earlier this year), Fox has Fox Sports, FX, FXX and more, ABC brings ESPN and Disney to the table and Comcast-owned NBC attaches USA, Syfy and a few others to its umbrella. Time Warner Cable namechecked Aereo during its dispute with CBS, while Fox's CEO threatened to make the channel pay-TV only if it can't get the service shut down. For now though, the lawsuits still fly back and forth and Aereo's footprint continues to expand, if this ever means your cable bill might shrink a bit then we'll let you know.
CBS and Time Warner Cable end blackout, programming to resume at 6PM ET today
Well folks, it looks like Time Warner Cable customers will soon get CBS stations back in their living rooms. The two sides have reached an agreement after dropping channels back in July and programming is set to resume at 6PM ET this evening. TWC says that all customers should have channels back in 24 hours at the latest. In a press release announcing the deal, specific terms were not disclosed but they do include retransmission consent alongside Showtime Anytime for VOD and CBS stations in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Of course, this means CBS will be up and running on TWC when the NFL regular season kicks off in less than a week's time. For a look at the full statement, venture on past the break.
Time Warner Cable TV app brings live TV to Xbox 360
What was promised has been delivered to Xbox-owning Time Warner Cable customers. Today, TWC TV for Xbox 360 is finally available to Xbox Live Gold members, and brings live streaming of up to 300 channels to the console. Once downloaded, folks can find their favorite shows using the app's program guide and Kinect gesture and voice controls. For now, the service is only streaming live programming, but Polygon reports that Microsoft's working to add VOD content to the app as well -- with no timetable for its arrival, naturally. Still, with the rollout of its latest live TV streaming app, TWC TV is now on iOS, Android, PC, Roku and Samsung Smart TVs. It's clear that the company's made spreading the TWC TV love a priority, so let's hope it starts showing the same initiative when it comes to those negotiations with CBS. Football season's only a couple weeks away, so the clock is ticking, TWC. Update: GigaOm has confirmed with Time Warner Cable that, like Comcast's Xbox 360 app, TWC TV on the console does not count towards its user's bandwidth caps. Good news if you want to use your Xbox to feed an extra TV without worrying about the ticking counter, inflammatory news if you're worried about its relevance in terms of network neutrality.
Time Warner Cable handing out free TV antennas and store credit during CBS blackout
Time Warner Cable may not be in a rush to end the CBS blackout, but it's not leaving subscribers out in the cold. The TV provider is now giving away a "limited quantity" of basic TV antennas in the Dallas, Green Bay, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and New York City regions. For those who don't snag a free antenna, the company is also offering $20 in credit toward buying a unit at certain Best Buy stores in those same cities. These sorts of stopgap measures aren't new, but they may provide some comfort to TWC viewers who aren't likely to watch CBS channels through cable anytime soon. [Image credit: Adrian Clark, Flickr]
CBS strikes a deal with Verizon, continues war of words with TWC
Normally, content providers and pay-TV platforms striking deals to deliver channels to subscribers is sort of non-news. But not every signed contract comes against the backdrop of an almost month-long blackout affecting millions of customers. While Time Warner Cable is still CBS-less, Verizon has locked up the broadcaster's channels for another three years, including CBS Sports Network, which has been missing in many of FiOS's larger markets. If you read between the lines of the press release (embedded after the break), you'll see this message isn't aimed at customers or even the news media, it's directed squarely at Time Warner. New York, Los Angeles and Dallas -- the three cities that are currently mired in the blackout -- are called out specifically as areas where CBS stations are available through FiOS TV. As part of the statement released, president of television networks distribution Ray Hopkins said, "This deal was reached in a short period of time, and CBS has once again achieved fair value for our over-the-air rights." And, just to rub some salt in the wound, the press release ends with a reminder that CBS also owns the highly desirable Showtime. With the war of words clearly continuing between the two feuding media giants, we wouldn't hold our breath for a resolution anytime soon.
