Comcast to Acquire Time Warner Cable

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The last thing this industry needs is less competition. The products are way overpriced as it is IMO, and less competition yields less basis to increase value to the consumer, vs just raising the prices. They do that as is in markets with at least two providers.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The last thing this industry needs is less competition. The products are way overpriced as it is IMO, and less competition yields less basis to increase value to the consumer, vs just raising the prices. They do that as is in markets with at least two providers.


Exactly.

Frankly I don't understand why the FCC and antitrust laws allowed this. It seems criminal. Comcrap is one of constantly rated by consumers as the worst company in America.
 
How is this eliminating competition? I have never heard of an area that had a choice for cable service, generally you have -

1 cable company
1 telephone company (offering FiOS if you're lucky)
DirecTV
Dish Network
Google Fiber if you're really lucky
OTA Antenna
 
The internet bill will go up another $10 on top of the now $65 fee. The new reason for the price increase: they increased the download speed by 2.5mb on the already 10mb blast increase that they separate from your normal speed on your bill. It's now called blast 1.5

Next they will take away ESPN or some other popular channel on their digital starter tier and make you pay the extra $10 or whatever the cost for the next tier now. They will now charge you an extra $20 a month and tell you how much better your service is now and offer new subscribers to only pay 1/2 of what you pay although you have not missed a bill in years.

Just kidding...they're not that bad but kinda overpriced. Calling customer service is like playing a game of Russian roulette. If you end up with Mary or David from India you lost. I have had my bill messed up at least 2x dealing with Indian customer service agents.

I do like the fact that you can hook up to wifi spots throughout your local area that they have, although I've never used it. Also the give you an estimated repair time if there is an outage. I rarely have down time. But they are a monopoly in most places, but have the best service you can get, so people tend to resent them since they have you by the throat .
 
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this sucks....... I have been getting internet only from comcast i may have to drop that too and just start tethering my phone to wifi router whenever im home.

one this is for sure.... prices are going UP

simple economics
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
How is this eliminating competition? I have never heard of an area that had a choice for cable service, generally you have -

1 cable company
1 telephone company (offering FiOS if you're lucky)
DirecTV
Dish Network
Google Fiber if you're really lucky
OTA Antenna

Very few cities/towns in USA have more than 1 cable service.
 
I thought the slogan was live free or die?! Now everyone thinks the govt should step in because its anti competition to have 2 companies merge??? Vote with your wallet, stop giving them money and they wont be able to merge.
 
It would cause a huge monopoly. The only guys left would be ATT, Verizon...

It will unfair trade it wont go through if you ask me.
I've dealt with timewarner in past, really dont like them. their techs suck, prices high , and they wont give you discount for anything.

Comcast I heard are equaly as bad, i'll stick with Uverse. I get free family package TV with DVR + 30mb internet for 10 bucks cheaper than the price of TW's 25Mb.I already had my own modem too... [censored].
 
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Your subject was a little ahead of itself. Comcast has made a bid, it still needs to be accepted and then approved by the gov.

I cannot get any cable so its Direct TV for me.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The last thing this industry needs is less competition. The products are way overpriced as it is IMO, and less competition yields less basis to increase value to the consumer, vs just raising the prices. They do that as is in markets with at least two providers.


You are absolutely correct. It boggles the mind when I read posts on here of people "wanting Sears to die" and the like. Anytime competitors die away, people LOSE JOBS and the consumer suffers.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
How is this eliminating competition? I have never heard of an area that had a choice for cable service, generally you have -


It comes into leveraging against content providers. Comcast is already a content provider, BTW, owning NBC/Universal. And NBC was separate from Universal until a decade ago. Universal gobbled up StudiosUSA/ USA Networks which produced "Law and Order." Once NBC merged, they didn't have to pay for every run of that show.

Vertical integration makes it hard for a guy to get in. In the 1950's we split the movie studio system where the studios owned the theatres-- content and distribution-- something that would be reversed if this Comcast thing went through.

Similarly, in an anti-trust vein, one used to only be able to buy Kodak film with the price of its developing included. That got kicked out, back when we had an active set of consumer protection laws.

The other players you've never heard of include Sinclair, Hearst-Argyle, and other TV station owners who leverage all their stations against the cable companies for retransmission. With fewer cable companies, these fights will get more intense and nastier. (And independent TV stations need to merge or get swallowed by a huge station group for the same reasons-- to one-up fighting for incoming content and outgoing cable signal.)

Satellite companies are theoretically competition but deep in the Northeast we need a good view of the southwest sky. The "look angle" is only 25 or 30 degrees over the horizon, and trees block this for many. But cable companies will always prattle that the little pizza dishes count as competition.
 
Originally Posted By: gfh77665
It boggles the mind when I read posts on here of people "wanting Sears to die" and the like. Anytime competitors die away, people LOSE JOBS and the consumer suffers.


Nonsense. Every time competition goes out of business there are a several startups that take their place. Many won't make it, but those that do strengthen the economy and provide employment. A business such as Sears failing isn't providing much in the way of competition anyway-they're already irrelevant in the market. It's better for the economy to lose business' that are bleeding red ink than to try to keep them around and prop them up by artificial means.

I'm not familiar with either Comcast or Time Warner Cable. I have better things to do than sit in front of the television, so in that respect I've already voted with my wallet. But for those who feel the need for television, I'm sure there are plenty of alternatives. As I understand it there are multiple venues available on the Internet at a much reduced price.
 
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