Time Warner Cable Approves Comcast Merger
Time Warner Cable's stockholders met on Wednesday to vote on the merger with America's #1 cable company, Comcast Corporation. The company stockholders approved the deal, with 99 percent of the votes giving a thumbs up. Time Warner originally agreed to merge with Comcast back in February 12.
"Today's Time Warner Cable stockholder approval comes on the heels of Comcast shareholder approval yesterday and is an important milestone as we work towards completing our merger," said Rob Marcus, Time Warner Cable Chairman and CEO.
Comcast shareholders met earlier this week to vote on the merger, which resulted in more than 99 percent in favor of the deal. The company indicated that Time Warner shareholders will receive 2.875 shares of Comcast Class A common stock for every one share of Time Warner Cable common stock.
So what does this merger mean for customers? Increased prices? More choices? That has yet to be seen. However, Comcast chief executive Brian L. Roberts indicated earlier this week that Comcast and Time Warner are not competitors and that the merger will not eliminate customer choice.
Currently, both the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice are reviewing the merger. Just recently, the FCC put its review on hold so that additional responses and oppositions for the Comcast/Time Warner merger can be filed. The investigation is slated to resume on October 29. The FCC has set aside 180 days to examine the merger.
According to both Comcast and Time Warner, the merger is subject to regulatory approvals as well as the satisfaction of certain closing conditions. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2014.
Comcast has a website dedicated to the merger, which claims that this deal will make life better for more people. How? By bringing "faster Internet speeds, a more reliable and more secure network, net neutrality protection, low-cost Internet access, and programming diversity to millions of new customers across the country."
Time Warner Cable has 15 million subscribers spread out across 29 states. The company also employs more than 50,000 people nationwide.
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They Say that now, to get approval, but in 2-3 years time there will still be no upgrades for the customers. FCC should block this deal
They Say that now, to get approval, but in 2-3 years time there will still be no upgrades for the customers. FCC should block this deal
That said: IF the deal is approved (note the public comment period at the FCC has been extended - so get your opinion in now), the resultant company will drive itself into the ground as their combined customer service will be even more garbage leading to even more complaints to the FTC and other real powers that be - at least in my opinion anyway.
Both companies are known to want to charge "big" companies extra for bandwidth their customers have already paid for. So expect more of that.
Both companies keep raising prices, and cutting service. Especially if you are still on analog service/ So expect this to get much worse.
I see no benefits for customers of either of these companies. None. Prices will not go down. They will not stay stable. And yes, with no competition, they will go UP!!!
I believe that we should be breaking these companies into smaller parts and forcing them to compete against each other, not letting them merge. Only when they have to compete against real competition will prices come down, service get better, and options increase.
Anything short of a breakup and compete order will be a huge loss for the public.
But if anything holds true, Comcast is going to celebrate by sacrificing newborn children and puppies on an alter to Cthulhu for a month or two.
That defies logic.
Thanks for insulting the consumers intelligence.
"We weren't competing?" Why? Because you weren't in each others territory? You should have competed, that would have benefited the consumer but no, let's combine our companies so we gain the profit and size and increase our monopoly and control of the consumer all at the same time!
As a person who has worked for Time Warner Cable, their system is a hodge podge that is an example of how it was formed. They bought a bunch of small local cable companies and have a disjointed system that has different management software used in different regions. There are so many points of human error its baffling why they have not fixed these weaknesses yet. 90% of the jobs I took with them had some error that needed to be corrected and wasted 20% of my time daily. They must employ a large number of people just to correct mistakes.
I also used to work with Cox. They have high standards, but also give you the tools to succeed and meet those standards. They are also understanding.