Time Warner Cable swaps Houston with Comcast

[jmace57]

Well - on the local news tonight, they announced that Time Warner Cable and Comcast were swapping some markets - and that as a result, for me, after 20+ years of cable service and almost 10 years of RoadRunner, I (and hundreds of thousands of other customers) will be switched to Comcast.

I guess the purpose of this message is two-fold.

1) - To bitch about the comment on TV today that all Roadrunner users would be getting new email addresses (I presume a comcast email address) and they said it "was just a minor change, that can be changed in just a few minutes". How about the 10 years I have had my email address - how about my sister's business, whose business cards, stationery, etc are obsolete.

2) - To ask what I can expect from Comcast as compared to TWC. Anyone had both and can compare?

PS - I have DirecTV as well already

I am really pi**ed.

Jim

[jsmeeker]

I wish I could trade you. We LOST Comcast and got TW in Dallas. I'm not happy about it.

I totally don't get the whole thing. Why couldn't Dallas and Houston just keep what they had? What's the damn point? Two big cities in Texas swapping. It's gotta be pretty much a wash, right?

[jmace57]

I agree Jeff. Argghhhh.

[Dan203]

jmace57 - Was Houston one of the test areas for Switched Digital Video? If so it'll be interesting to see what Comcast does with it.

Dan

[jmace57]

Dan, I hate to show my lack of knowledge, but I have no idea what that is. However, in another forum thread (DTV Tivo) HERE (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=310017) Jeffreypenneck talks about the rollout of SDV being 75% complete in Houston.

What is it?

Thanks
Jim

[bitTraveler]

I'm not thrilled about being switched to Comcast either, but maybe I can at least have access to the upcoming Comcast TiVo.

bit

[Davis Freeberg]

The whole move was nothing but a power play by Comcast. They knew that Time Warner is trying to divest their company right now and so they exercised an option that allowed them to create an over / under bet with Time Warner. According to the deal, they got to assign the debt from their partnership together between the Houston markets and the Southwestern TX markets and then Time Warner got to pick which side they wanted. Comcast really wanted to own Houston so they assigned 100% of the debt to the Houston monopoly and forced Time Warner to walk away. If this had been 2 years earlier or later, Time Warner may have just paid the money, but right now they have too many fires to deal with then to try and get involved in a land war in Asia. It was a shrewd business move by Comcast, but like most of the secret cable monopolies the consumer once again gets ripped off by not being given a voice on choosing who they want for their telecom provider.

[Welshdog]

The whole move was nothing but a power play by Comcast.
. . . It was a shrewd business move by Comcast, but like most of the secret cable monopolies the consumer once again gets ripped off by not being given a voice on choosing who they want for their telecom provider.

This kind of stuff probably should be illegal since it almost always means damage to the customer. If it's too complicated for my Mother to understand then it's probably wrong. ;)

In Austin we are lucky - we got to have Earthlink broadband via Time Warner's network. It had sommething to do with the TW AOL merger. The idea was that TW AOL had an unfair advantage in the market and were forced to allow Earthlink (and some others I think) in. That worked for us since we had been with Earthlink dial-up for years and got to keep our email address. I suppose it's possible that if TW and Comcast swapped in Austin, that agreement would reamin and we could keep our Earthlink mail address.

[DTSDude]

The whole move was nothing but a power play by Comcast. They knew that Time Warner is trying to divest their company right now and so they exercised an option that allowed them to create an over / under bet with Time Warner. According to the deal, they got to assign the debt from their partnership together between the Houston markets and the Southwestern TX markets and then Time Warner got to pick which side they wanted. Comcast really wanted to own Houston so they assigned 100% of the debt to the Houston monopoly and forced Time Warner to walk away. If this had been 2 years earlier or later, Time Warner may have just paid the money, but right now they have too many fires to deal with then to try and get involved in a land war in Asia. It was a shrewd business move by Comcast, but like most of the secret cable monopolies the consumer once again gets ripped off by not being given a voice on choosing who they want for their telecom provider.


Just wondering where you're getting that information?

Most site swaps are as a result of the Adelphia aquisition. Comcast and TW are attempting to consolidate their markets.

As for the SDV question, to my knowlege Comcast has no plans to support or maintain SDV.

[ah30k]

They knew that Time Warner is trying to divest their company right now and so they exercised an option that allowed them to create an over / under bet with Time Warner.Couple of questions for you Davis, What do you mean by TW is trying to divest their company? Divesting usually refers to selling off a particular asset.

What do you mean by over/under bet. Its not like these publically traded companies under SEC regulation go to the OTB and place wagers?

A little more clarification might help me better understand what you are talking about.

Thanks!

[JohnBrowning]

Well - on the local news tonight, they announced that Time Warner Cable and Comcast were swapping some markets - and that as a result, for me, after 20+ years of cable service and almost 10 years of RoadRunner, I (and hundreds of thousands of other customers) will be switched to Comcast.

I guess the purpose of this message is two-fold.

1) - To bitch about the comment on TV today that all Roadrunner users would be getting new email addresses (I presume a comcast email address) and they said it "was just a minor change, that can be changed in just a few minutes". How about the 10 years I have had my email address - how about my sister's business, whose business cards, stationery, etc are obsolete.

2) - To ask what I can expect from Comcast as compared to TWC. Anyone had both and can compare?

PS - I have DirecTV as well already

I am really pi**ed.

Jim


Yep, we just got switched TO Time Warner this month in Plano. Fortunately, Verizon just turned up Fios TV at my address, so, my install is scheduled in 10 days! :p

On the email issue, I got sick of email switches years ago whether it was from me moving or changes in internet providers. My solution was to get my own domain where I can configure all the emails I want. It is particularly handy when I need a temporary email address for some business that I don't want to have my regular one. I simply forward my domain's email to whatever ISP provided email address I may have at the time. Its invisible to the sender and very convenient for me.

[Dan203]

I use to use a free email service to get around the switching problem. But then the provider I was using started to charge. It wasn't much at first so I just payed it, but it kept going up until finally I just dumped them and got my own domain.

Dan

[S.Mo]

I never thought I'd be envious of people in Dallas. :D Time-Warner does better than Comcast in the J.D. Power survey. Their prices are generally better, too.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou060802_ac_timewarner.c99338.html

While I've been very pleased with Roadrunner, I'm finding it hard to justify spending $39.95 a month on it when AT&T's basic DSL is $12.99 for the first year.

[jautor]

Couple of questions for you Davis, What do you mean by TW is trying to divest their company? Divesting usually refers to selling off a particular asset.

What do you mean by over/under bet. Its not like these publically traded companies under SEC regulation go to the OTB and place wagers?

A little more clarification might help me better understand what you are talking about.

Thanks!

A full description was in the Houston Chronicle yesterday:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/4091036.html

But basically, TWC and Comcast both owned 50% of the Houston system in a deal separate from the Adelphia buyout. Comcast decided to end the deal, and gave notice, which of course was timed with the Adelphia closing...

I didn't understand why Comcast would choose to take on all the debt, but now that makes sense... Nice move on their part, and I'm happy to have them over TWC! DirecTV is going to have to really show me some love to keep me once the S3 and/or ComcasTiVo rolls out! :) :D

Jeff

[jsmeeker]

I never thought I'd be envious of people in Dallas. :D Time-Warner does better than Comcast in the J.D. Power survey. Their prices are generally better, too.


If you lived in Dallas, you would be singing a totally different tune if you were intersted in a Series 3 TiVo.

SDV will suck a** for people like that.

[pkscout]

Isn't it great to see the cable industry colluding to create little monopoly markets. It's like gerrymandering for cable tv. ;)

[abobrow]

Time-Warner does better than Comcast in the J.D. Power survey. Their prices are generally better, too.

I sure hope so, but so far I'm not thrilled. I'm in West LA and we just lost Comcast for TW. The first thing I notice? Now our channel grid has a banner ad at the bottom and when you try to scroll through the channels, you have to click past the ad before getting to the next screen.

Overall, I was incredibly happy with Comcast. Damn.

[smark]

Hopefully this means I get to make a trip to Houston soon.

[MarkBarbieri]

Never rely on your ISP's e-mail for your primary e-mail address, particularly if you run a business. Either get a third party service (many are free) or even better, get your own domain.

[maki]

Never rely on your ISP's e-mail for your primary e-mail address, particularly if you run a business. Either get a third party service (many are free) or even better, get your own domain.

Agreed - I've used my own domains for email for several years now. If a person can't do that, there's always the big third parties that should virtually never go away.

[mike55btz]

well i feel for you... i know i love my tw... i get a 7meg pipe for 29.99 who can compete with that...