Items tagged with Time Warner
In the media world, consolidation is the new name of the game and AT&T is trying to win it by making major acquisitions. It already purchased satellite TV provider DirecTV for $49 billion last year, and now it will look to gain regulatory approval to buy Time Warner for around $85.4 billion. Should the deal go through, AT&T would become one of the biggest multi-faceted media giants around. Time Warner has been selling off bits and pieces of its business over the past decade, including Time Warner Cable, which Charter Communications acquired for $55 billion last year after a deal with Comcast was effectively derailed by the Federal Communications Commission over antitrust concerns. What...
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AT&T is spreading its wings yet again. After purchasing satellite TV company DirecTV last year for $48.5 billion, Ma Bell is reportedly now setting its sights on acquiring Time Warner. Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that executives for both companies have had extensive talks during the past few weeks regarding the deal. The publication went on to say that the talks were merely informal in nature and that specific financial terms hadn’t been discussed at this point. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, its sources claim that the AT&T and Time Warner are already in “advanced talks” and that a deal could be announced as soon as this weekend. The Wall Street Journal’s sources also...
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Given the proliferation of online video streaming, you could say that it's taking quite some time for cable companies to "get with it" and begin offering us their wares online. It's no secret that the number of cord-cutters is steadily increasing, and it's no wonder why: services like Netflix have made it easy to watch content online in very good quality, and through a number of different devices. Well, it seems like Time Warner is going to be one of the first out the door with an online version of its cable TV service, and at first, it's just going to be using New York City as the testing ground. Unfortunately, the company is keeping mum on a lot of details right now, including what kind of...
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Sweet justice like this doesn't come along often enough. We've no doubt all dealt with the annoyance of phone spam -- either from companies that want to up-sell their service, bring us back, or hound for overdue bills which could have already been handled. In our busy lives, getting hassled by aggressive companies is something most of us could do without. Flickr: Michael Dougherty But, there's a big difference between receiving the odd call once in a while to receiving it all the time, such as what Araceli King had to deal with. In less than a year, Time Warner Cable called her a total of 153 times, all automated, and all meant for someone else. Making matters worse, King had a 7-minute...
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It’s hard to imagine a city not rolling out the red carpet for Google Fiber, the broadband service that boasts Internet speeds of up to 1000Mbps. But that’s exactly what’s happening, a Google executive said at a conference this week. Suggesting that Google is fed up with the resistance, VP of Access Services Milo Medin gave cities an ultimatum: warm up to Google Fiber, or we’ll leave you out in the cold. What’s frosting Google Fiber is that even the cities that are glad to receive Google Fiber are making the process slow by being inflexible when it comes to red tape. In particular, Google Fiber feels that it’s too cool for fax machines, which are a staple of city bureaucracies....
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The concept of net neutrality has been a hot-button topic over the past few years, particularly as evidence by fundamental ISP misconduct that has grown more prevalent. In addition, an increasing number of customers have found themselves caught in the crossfire between two huge corporations (ISPs and content providers especially) with little to no recourse... Net neutrality is an attractive concept, particularly if you've followed the ways the cable and telco companies have gouged customers in recent years, and I'm a fan of the idea on some level -- but only to a limited extent. There are two problems with net neutrality as its commonly proposed... Net Neutrality Won't Fix ISP Throttling, Here's...
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The concept of net neutrality has been a hot-button topic over the past few years, particularly as evidence by fundamental ISP misconduct that has grown more prevalent. In addition, an increasing number of customers have found themselves caught in the crossfire between two huge corporations (ISPs and content providers especially) with little to no recourse. Net neutrality, as it's generally explained, is the idea that no company should be allowed to treat traffic differently than other traffic. Information should flow with equal priority and consumers shouldn't end up paying more for "priority service" on certain applications. ...
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We've covered the battles between ISPs and various large-scale content providers multiple times before. From deliberately throttling Netflix users to older spats that prevented Time Warner customers from watching cable channels they'd legally paid for, these kinds of disagreements are common in America these days. A new report from M-Lab, however, illustrates the degree to which these battles can impact all of an ISPs customers, including those who don't use video on demand services like Netflix. Details on how M-Lab configured its tests are available in this PDF, but the company ran its benchmarks and monitoring by setting up multiple access points within a single location and testing network...
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On Wednesday morning, every single Time Warner Cable Internet subscriber found themselves without access to the World Wide Web. Internet downtime isn't entirely uncommon, of course, but it is when we're talking this kind of scale. The worst of it in this particular event is that the downtime wasn't caused by hardware dying; rather, a maintainence worker accidentally submitted a bunk configuration, which propogated across the entire network. Given the fact that this incident was completely avoidable and that it affected such an enormous number of people, TWC has found itself in hot water over this. This is especially the case given that the Comcast merger the company is hoping for is already shrouded...
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently deciding whether or not to approve Comcast's $45.2 billion proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable, a deal that would combine the two largest cable providers in the U.S. and give net Comcast an additional 30 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Dish Network is screaming in the FCC's ear to block the deal over concerns that it would present "serious competitive concerns." One of Dish Network's biggest concerns is the control of so-called choke points in the broadband pipeline that Comcast could use to harm competing video services. The choke points include the direct connection to consumers, the interconnection point, and managed or specialized...
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The FCC has confirmed that it will hold a May 15 vote on a new set of policies governing net neutrality and ISP behavior -- but according to the Wall Street Journal, the commission's proposed regulation will effectively kill the idea of a level playing field. The Wall Street Journal reports that the proposed rules would prevent ISPs from blocking specific websites, but would allow them to charge services like Netflix an additional fee for better access to end users. The paper claims that all "commercially reasonable" agreements would be permitted, with deals investigated on a case-by-case basis to ascertain whether the terms are reasonable. This is the opposite of what the FCC attempted to do...
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Two events in the telecommunications and cable world this week have highlighted why, exactly, we need net neutrality and stronger protections for consumer rights. First, on the cable side of the business, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Eagle Communications, and Comcast have collectively introduced a bill into the Kansas legislature that prevents any city from rolling out any broadband infrastructure unless said area is completely cut off from the grid. Critically, the bill also claims that a municipality is "providing a video, telecommunications or broadband service" if it works through intermediaries, partnerships, on contract, or through resale. It would bar the use of eminent domain for the purpose...
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Good news for Time Warner Cable subscribers. You can put away those unsightly rabbit ears on top of your television for local programming because CBS Corp. hammered out a deal with the world's second largest cable company to end what had become a month-long blackout to millions of subscribers in Los Angeles, New York, and Dallas, the Los Angeles Times reports. Following weeks of negotiations, the two sides finally came to terms on a new distribution deal that will run almost five years. In doing so, subscribers in affected areas not only get to see the return of KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles, but also the media giant's premium Showtime channel, home to the final season...
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It's been ~10 months since we first covered AOL's desperate plan to reinvent itself and reclaim a strong position in the online industry, but the company's efforts aren't yielding the results it promised. The company announced a major reorganization earlier this month, while recently leaked documents indicate just how bad the situation has become. Much of the company's financial woes are attributable to Patch. Patch is AOL's attempt to create web communities and advertising focused on specific real-world towns and communities. In theory, users in such areas are hungry for online sources that cover their own local news and events. In practice, things don't seem to be working out that way. That...
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Last month, we covered AT&T's decision to impose caps on its previous unlimited Internet service plans. An estimated 56 percent of Americans now pay for bandwidth-capped service, almost always at the same price point that once allowed them unlimited bandwidth. Now, toss in the fact that you can't swing a dead cat two feet without smacking into another company eagerly talking about 'cloud services.' The offers are varied, the promises inflated, and the terminology uncertain. In virtually every case, today's cloud services are nothing more than what we used to call 'web storage' or 'sharing content across a network / the Internet.' The difference between these services of yesteryear and today's...
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Time Warner Cable has experienced a number of hiccups with its (somewhat controversial) iPad app. Since there has been plenty of sour news around the web about the pulling of the channels and litigation, we were pleased to see the latest news from the company: it is adding seven more channels to the iPad lineup. The new channels include Oxygen, Lifetime, History International, Biography, History en Espanol, Crime and Investigation Network, and Reelz. All of these new channels should be available now so feel free to go check them out! Prior to this announcement, Time Warner Cable already offered the following channels on the iPad: A&E ABC Family AMC Bravo CNBC CNBC World CNN...
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Not long after Time Warner Cable announced an app for the iPad that would enable consumers to play back live TV as well as play DVR'd television, the cable provider felt pressure to cut certain networks from its lineup. It did so in April, and has been working to add new channels ever since. Although the new offerings are certainly a step in the right direction, many users (as well as Time Warner Cable itself) want some of the old channels back. Now, Time Warner Cable is hoping the courts will help the company get what it wants. Time Warner Cable is seeking a declaratory judgment that will allow the company to deliver the programming from Viacom cable networks for viewing on devices of its video...
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In March, Time Warner Cable announced an app for the iPad that would enable consumers to play back live TV as well as play DVR'd television. The app has been popular with users but as you might imagine, the management and legal teams at various networks aren't quite as thrilled about the app. As a result, Time Warner Cable recently announced it would cut certain networks from its lineup. In a statement released yesterday, Time Warner Cable explained some channels would be pulled: We believe we have every right to carry the Fox Cable Networks, Viacom and Discovery programming on the iPad app. But, for the time being, we have decided to focus our iPad efforts on those enlightened programmers who...
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A big battle is happening over Internet service so, naturally, people have added large dollops of fear and misinformation and are shouting about it on Facebook. On December 21, the FCC will finally vote on adopting net neutrality rules. This may (or may not) have been caused by Comcast's spat with Level 3 now that Level 3 won a big contract to handle Netflix's video streaming. Grind it all together, output it to Facebook and you get this campaign: "Save the Internet: Stop Comcast from Blocking Netflix. Without strong net neutrality rules, companies like Comcast can demand fees from innovative companies like Netflix in an attempt to choke consumer freedom and coerce users to adopt its own video...
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How much will you pay for instant gratification? Time Warner is hoping you'll pay $30 to $50 for the privilege of watching a new movie from home just days or weeks after it makes its debut in theaters. Big Hollywood studios and pay-TV carriers have been considering the idea of premium on-demand offerings for some time. Now, Time Warner is ready to give the idea a try. The new service could be available as soon as this summer. During an earnings call recently, Time Warner's CEO Jeff Bewkes told investors and analysts that his company is getting close to having an agreement with distributors regarding when these premium video-on-demand offerings will be available and how much they will cost. Variety...
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Time Warner and Verizon are teaming up to give Verizon's FiOS TV customers free, unlimited online access to content from Time Warner's Turner networks, namely TNT and TBS. The companies also have plans to bring the same content to mobile devices in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future. Once the content is available for FiOS subscribers, programs will be available for viewing within 24 hours after an episode airs. Turner expects to launch additional networks sometime this year. Additionally, Verizon is working with content providers to make additional online programming available from content providers such as FOX News, CBS, MTV Networks, Hallmark Channel, Smithsonian Channel, the Tennis Channel,...
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Time Warner Cable Inc. is bringing its customers into its battle over programming fees it pays to stations to carry their signals on its systems.The company - the nation's second-largest cable TV operator - began asking its subscribers this week to vote on whether it should "roll over" or "get tough" in negotiations with the networks. It claims it will use the survey results when officials sit down at the table with the stations whose contracts are up this year. Those networks include The Weather Channel; some News Corp. stations, including the FX channel, which carries such hits as "Damages"; some cable channels owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, which owns Food Network and HGTV; and several...
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