Comcast bought out Time Warner

[staunchcharacter]

Avoiding outright monopolies, I can't see this being approved

I wouldn't worry folks... Much ado about nothing

[prim8]

I don't know, their service areas currently don't overlap much and in many areas there are alternatives.
I would hate for it to happen, but I fear it might just go through.

[Bo]

This isn't a good thing. Comcast has notoriously bad customer service.

I heard about this bidding war and I was hoping Charter would win it. That would have been an improvement.

And I do expect the deal will go through, unfortunately.

[TXStrat]

Originally Posted by Seattle206723

Let's move the problems aside; because the same reps will be there if; or when there is a switch. How ever giving the multinational corps more control is a terrible idea. The nature of a corporation is to run it as a business; and that means higher cost for everyone. This isn't just COMCAST/NBC and Company. This also is General Electric...

I could go on a tirade; but I was always told nations and people perish for a lack of knowledge. Just throw them a few crumbs and they will go for it.

Oh look, someone from Seattle railing against the evil corporations. Almost as shocking as the the Treasury Department wanting your check post dated no later than April 15 every year.

The problem with television/internet service providers is that it cannot be done on a cost effective basis at the local level. Sure, we could go back to the days 28.8 and then 56.6 dial up, where things like local ISPs were the norm, but then broadband would not be possible. It takes significant infrastructure to make things like broadband possible. Servers aren't cheap, neither are things like fiber optic cables, poles, buried utilities, etc. It is not fiscally viable for local ISPs to compete against larger firms with the required resources to support said infrastructure. Sure, it could be regulated, but then we'd see politicians get their pockets lined to back certain companies, and go down the whole K Street path, and the revolving door between industry and politics.

[The Man in SATX]

Well, I for one have decided to make the move I invariably put off for a couple of years now.. I had AT&T Uverse for a while.. moved out of their service area and was forced to go back to TWC. After a few years of haggling over prices with them and the now and upcoming merger to Comcast I have opted to bail out and get Grande Communications.. I would have went to Uverse but have heard from neighbors that the service in this area really sucks. So I opted for Grande. Lets see what happens.

I may have hopped out of the soup bowl into the fire but time will take its time in letting me know. I know I got sick and tired of getting my yearly letter from TWC letting me know that they were hiking my rate up and me going through the "I am pissed off customer charade" to get them to drop the price back down again.. I mean who needs that crap after a while? I have better things to do then constantly have to ask them to reduce my cable bill from $200.00 + a month down to $150.00. Maybe they (Time Warner) need to realize there are better things to do then **** people off all the time.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by The Man in SATX

I got sick and tired of getting my yearly letter from TWC letting me know that they were hiking my rate up

Sorry, but ALL TV providers do this. That's because every year, programming networks raise their per-subscriber license fees that the provider pays to carry those channels. The only way providers could avoid rate increases would be to drop channels, like DirecTV is trying to do to The Weather Channel.

If you don't want the rate to go up, drop the subscription.

[The Man in SATX]

Originally Posted by Bo

Sorry, but ALL TV providers do this. That's because every year, programming networks raise their per-subscriber license fees that the provider pays to carry those channels. The only way providers could avoid rate increases would be to drop channels, like DirecTV is trying to do to The Weather Channel.

If you don't want the rate to go up, drop the subscription.

Rate subscriptions do not go up by 50 and 60 dollars... sorry.. I deal with the five and dime increases that SAWS and CPS deals us every year.. those increases I expect... what I don't expect is to pay almost 100 dollars more then what I was paying for the same crap I got before. Seriously if you have something that would contribute a little better then "drop the subscription" you can keep your comments out of any of my comments. I mean seriously... what do you think I did by going to another provider?

As far as the programming rates.. I know all about that.. everyone raises prices including all of your restaurants that you probably love to go to.. so before you know it .. we drop all of it??? Not gonna happen. Just shop around for something better.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by The Man in SATX

Rate subscriptions do not go up by 50 and 60 dollars... sorry.. I deal with the five and dime increases that SAWS and CPS deals us every year.. those increases I expect... what I don't expect is to pay almost 100 dollars more then what I was paying for the same crap I got before. Seriously if you have something that would contribute a little better then "drop the subscription" you can keep your comments out of any of my comments. I mean seriously... what do you think I did by going to another provider?

As far as the programming rates.. I know all about that.. everyone raises prices including all of your restaurants that you probably love to go to.. so before you know it .. we drop all of it??? Not gonna happen. Just shop around for something better.

You're moving the goalposts here. You said you were tired of TWC "hiking the rate up." You didn't say initially that they were hiking it up $50-60 in a single year. (Which I doubt, but won't challenge, because it's beside the point.) There isn't a TV provider in San Antonio that doesn't raise its rates annually. I already explained why that is. You should definitely use the one that provides the best deal that meets your needs. I'm sincerely glad you found a better deal.

OTOH, I am seriously considering going with no TV provider. I can live without most of what's on there. To make the leap, I just need to get to a point where I can live without it completely.