Monopolies are always a bad thing, in my opinion. But then it's not like there was a competitor to Time Warner anyways. I'd rather see less regulation of the airwaves and encourage more broadcast and internet TV. Cable is so 80's and 90's. http://gizmodo.com/5830956/why-the-government-wont-protect-you-from-get…
With the current status of Net Neutrality, I worry about a decrease of competition.
My libertarian friends will tell us that worries about monopolies are overblown. That companies that were often pegged as monopolies ended up being disrupted or becoming their own worst enemy. But if too few companies control the pipe, where does that leave the consumer?
I voted no, but it's not a hard no because I'm not a fan of government regulators sticking their nose into business.
The real problem, as most everyone knows is the crony-capitalism involved here. At the end of the day, when all the blustering and bs from congress and the FCC has run its course, Comcast will get whatever it wants.
"The company employs a host of former FCC officials in its lobbying office and is one of the most visible players in Washington. It spent $18 million on lobbying in 2013, making it the seventh-highest spender overall, according to Open Secrets."
The CEO plays golf with the President, for cryin' out loud
I switched to satellite years ago, it is relatively less expensive for more channel choices, People should really understand, with cable, you really do not have much of a choice at all as far as provider goes as that is negotiated first with other cable companies as far as service regions then again with municipal governments for rates.
While I hate government overregulation I am sort of in the same place as Howard, this is a bad thing about to happen, It will effectively put the majority of Television under one hat, there a far more frightening implications than just cost and service levels.
I don't think its a big deal...You can always as we did years ago go back to an antenna..Less channels but its free..You can go as Mark said to satellite.In Batavia we had only one choice and it was Time Warner.So now it will be comcast..No change there..Being a bigger company they might be able to negotiate better rates with the content providers..Its called Capitalism....
Many years ago I worked for Comcast during the @Home network transition. They could care less about customer service. All they cared about was expand their footprint.
Comcast isn't much better. I have a service through ATT called UVerse. So far I am very happy and it's cheaper than Comcast. I am still under the new subscriber prices so we'll see what happens in 2 years when their prices go up. They always get me there.
You people have it all wrong about Comcast. Dave has it right that Comcast and the White House are VERY cozy. Federal approval will be no problem and when the merger is complete, here is what you can expect:
1. If you like your channels, you can keep your channels.
2. If you like your service technician, you can keep your service technician, period.
3. Signing up for Comcast will be as easy as buying on Amazon.
4. The average household cost for cable and internet will go down by 20 - 30%.
5. If your favorite channel is dropped, that is actually a good thing because you are not "channel locked" and now have more choices with your free time.
6. Even more smaller, less competitive channels will be subsidized by people who don't watch them ensuring that Al Jazeera and the Icelandic Woman's Knitting channel will survive.
7. The cost of the merger will not increase anyone's taxes, oops, I mean out of pocket costs by one dime.
Silver lining people, silver lining.
I wish there was a good alternative for Internet Service. I cut the cord may years ago and went with antennas for TV (I receive 30+ channels). I would be happy to give my internet business to another company but there doesn't seem to be any comparable alternatives.
Had to deal with Comcast down in Fl when helping my father in law get hooked up with cable and internet, the experience was horrible! As said above, their customer service does not exist!
I recently switched from Hughesnet satellite broadband to Exede. It's faster (19 mbit down and greater than 3mbit up) than any cable connection I've used and they're delivering better speeds than advertised. It's $60/month, but TW and all the other cable companies can take their wired broadband and roll it to the scrap yard. Even if cable was available at my house, I wouldn't subscribe to any of their television packages.
I've tried to get TW to run the 11 pole spans to my house and they have quoted me 4 different prices ranging form $750 to $6500 depending on who did the site survey. TW was great back in the day, but they've dropped the ball. I was a subscriber for about 12 years in Rochester.
TW is the only cable company in the area so I'm not sure what people mean when they talk about competition. There isn't any competition now. If google brought fiber optic into the area, then TW would have real competition.
@ Tom Hunt: Better get yourself a Snickers because you’ll be waiting a long time. The CEO of Verizon announced several years ago that Verizon is ceasing the expansion of the FiOS network. Only areas with existing contracts will be getting FiOS. Now it appears some of those contracts are not being honored.
This merger isn’t about TV programing, it’s about internet. Cable TV is dying a slow death. The only thing it’s good for anymore is live sports. Just about everything else you can stream via the internet. If this merger goes through, I’d bet they make another attempt at data caps.
BTW, for those of you not into sports, cut your cable TV cord. If you buy or make a good UHF antenna, you’ll pick up the Buffalo, Rochester and Toronto TV stations, over 35 in all. Get a video streaming device like a Roku or Chromecast with a subscription to Netflix or Hulu Plus. You’ll end up saving yourself $800 to $1000 per year.
I'm right there on the internet/streaming only. As long as I get a nice speed, I'm good. But I feel the merger would bring bad news as Comcast is a nightmare.
Why not? All I ever hear
Why not? All I ever hear people do is complain about time warner.
Monopolies are always a bad
Monopolies are always a bad thing, in my opinion. But then it's not like there was a competitor to Time Warner anyways. I'd rather see less regulation of the airwaves and encourage more broadcast and internet TV. Cable is so 80's and 90's.
http://gizmodo.com/5830956/why-the-government-wont-protect-you-from-get…
With the current status of
With the current status of Net Neutrality, I worry about a decrease of competition.
My libertarian friends will tell us that worries about monopolies are overblown. That companies that were often pegged as monopolies ended up being disrupted or becoming their own worst enemy. But if too few companies control the pipe, where does that leave the consumer?
I voted no, but it's not a hard no because I'm not a fan of government regulators sticking their nose into business.
The real problem, as most
The real problem, as most everyone knows is the crony-capitalism involved here. At the end of the day, when all the blustering and bs from congress and the FCC has run its course, Comcast will get whatever it wants.
"The company employs a host of former FCC officials in its lobbying office and is one of the most visible players in Washington. It spent $18 million on lobbying in 2013, making it the seventh-highest spender overall, according to Open Secrets."
The CEO plays golf with the President, for cryin' out loud
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014240527023047038045793813112…
I switched to satellite years
I switched to satellite years ago, it is relatively less expensive for more channel choices, People should really understand, with cable, you really do not have much of a choice at all as far as provider goes as that is negotiated first with other cable companies as far as service regions then again with municipal governments for rates.
While I hate government overregulation I am sort of in the same place as Howard, this is a bad thing about to happen, It will effectively put the majority of Television under one hat, there a far more frightening implications than just cost and service levels.
I am still waiting for
I am still waiting for Verizon's FIOS to come to Batavia. I will be their first customer.
I don't think its a big
I don't think its a big deal...You can always as we did years ago go back to an antenna..Less channels but its free..You can go as Mark said to satellite.In Batavia we had only one choice and it was Time Warner.So now it will be comcast..No change there..Being a bigger company they might be able to negotiate better rates with the content providers..Its called Capitalism....
The merger doesn't go far
The merger doesn't go far enough in guaranteeing affordable broadcasts for all Americans, the ultimate goal should be single payer entertainment
I thought Time Warner was bad
I thought Time Warner was bad until I moved out of state for a couple years. Comcast is Satan.
Many years ago I worked for
Many years ago I worked for Comcast during the @Home network transition. They could care less about customer service. All they cared about was expand their footprint.
Comcast isn't much better. I
Comcast isn't much better. I have a service through ATT called UVerse. So far I am very happy and it's cheaper than Comcast. I am still under the new subscriber prices so we'll see what happens in 2 years when their prices go up. They always get me there.
You people have it all wrong
You people have it all wrong about Comcast. Dave has it right that Comcast and the White House are VERY cozy. Federal approval will be no problem and when the merger is complete, here is what you can expect:
1. If you like your channels, you can keep your channels.
2. If you like your service technician, you can keep your service technician, period.
3. Signing up for Comcast will be as easy as buying on Amazon.
4. The average household cost for cable and internet will go down by 20 - 30%.
5. If your favorite channel is dropped, that is actually a good thing because you are not "channel locked" and now have more choices with your free time.
6. Even more smaller, less competitive channels will be subsidized by people who don't watch them ensuring that Al Jazeera and the Icelandic Woman's Knitting channel will survive.
7. The cost of the merger will not increase anyone's taxes, oops, I mean out of pocket costs by one dime.
Silver lining people, silver lining.
I wish there was a good
I wish there was a good alternative for Internet Service. I cut the cord may years ago and went with antennas for TV (I receive 30+ channels). I would be happy to give my internet business to another company but there doesn't seem to be any comparable alternatives.
Had to deal with Comcast down
Had to deal with Comcast down in Fl when helping my father in law get hooked up with cable and internet, the experience was horrible! As said above, their customer service does not exist!
One of my sons had Comcast.
One of my sons had Comcast. His called it a cable company working out of a residential garage. Customer service was nil.
I recently switched from
I recently switched from Hughesnet satellite broadband to Exede. It's faster (19 mbit down and greater than 3mbit up) than any cable connection I've used and they're delivering better speeds than advertised. It's $60/month, but TW and all the other cable companies can take their wired broadband and roll it to the scrap yard. Even if cable was available at my house, I wouldn't subscribe to any of their television packages.
I've tried to get TW to run the 11 pole spans to my house and they have quoted me 4 different prices ranging form $750 to $6500 depending on who did the site survey. TW was great back in the day, but they've dropped the ball. I was a subscriber for about 12 years in Rochester.
TW is the only cable company in the area so I'm not sure what people mean when they talk about competition. There isn't any competition now. If google brought fiber optic into the area, then TW would have real competition.
I thought the same thing
I thought the same thing Doug. How is that capitalism?
@ Tom Hunt: Better get
@ Tom Hunt: Better get yourself a Snickers because you’ll be waiting a long time. The CEO of Verizon announced several years ago that Verizon is ceasing the expansion of the FiOS network. Only areas with existing contracts will be getting FiOS. Now it appears some of those contracts are not being honored.
This merger isn’t about TV
This merger isn’t about TV programing, it’s about internet. Cable TV is dying a slow death. The only thing it’s good for anymore is live sports. Just about everything else you can stream via the internet. If this merger goes through, I’d bet they make another attempt at data caps.
BTW, for those of you not
BTW, for those of you not into sports, cut your cable TV cord. If you buy or make a good UHF antenna, you’ll pick up the Buffalo, Rochester and Toronto TV stations, over 35 in all. Get a video streaming device like a Roku or Chromecast with a subscription to Netflix or Hulu Plus. You’ll end up saving yourself $800 to $1000 per year.
Thats funny they just
Thats funny they just installed FIOS lines on Swan St 3 months ago so if they arent installing FIOS here why would they put the lines up?
Thats true Mark I get all the
Thats true Mark I get all the buffalo stations with this antenna..... http://kipkay.com/episodes/5-diy-hdtv-antenna-get-free-tv/
I'm right there on the
I'm right there on the internet/streaming only. As long as I get a nice speed, I'm good. But I feel the merger would bring bad news as Comcast is a nightmare.