Comcast To Buy Time Warner Cable For $45 Billion.

[dwinth]

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch web site, stltoday.com :

"LOS ANGELES • Comcast Corp. will buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for about $45.2 billion in a deal that combines the nation's top two cable TV companies and would create a dominant force in both creating and delivering entertainment to U.S. homes.

The all-stock deal was approved by the boards of both companies. It is expected to close by the end of the year, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals."

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/comcast-to-buy-time-warner-cable-for-b-trumping-charter/artic...

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

[JefferMC]

I expect that in order to get regulatory approval a large number of communities will be sold off to other MSO's.  Charter will likely still get a piece of this deal.

[rt123]

Those customers can expect higher cable bills with less competition good luck .

[baseballisback]

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rt123 wrote:

Those customers can expect higher cable bills with less competition good luck .

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Maybe, maybe not Comcast and TW only directly compete in a very small number of markets. A few years ago, in some deal,some communities became Comcast areas and others became TW areas. I think some even switched from TW to Comcast.

I'm still utterly shocked that the regulators allowed this to go through. I can see two medium-sized companies merging or even a large company buying a smaller one...but #1 buying #2 surely has my eyes open.

[rt123]

I wounder what will happen to Charter since they lost out on this deal big blow to them .

[siouxmoux]

Thanks to Comcrap. Higher Prices for all TV Providers by crushing the competition

[baseballisback]

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siouxmoux wrote:

Thanks to Comcrap. Higher Prices for all TV Providers by crushing the competition

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I fail to understand this logic. How does Comcast compete with the other "big" cable providers like Time Warner and Cox when they only directly compete in a few markets? In my area, Time Warner competes with companies like WOW, U-Verse and the two satellite providers because I can choose from any of those. Since I can't choose between Comcast or Time Warner, it's not like they compete.

OTOH...how have we had a Comcast thread without a mention or sighting of larry/paul? I bet those people in Time Warner areas will be happy now that they can live in the primetime!

[SomeJoe7777]

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baseballisback wrote:

I fail to understand this logic. How does Comcast compete with the other "big" cable providers like Time Warner and Cox when they only directly compete in a few markets? In my area, Time Warner competes with companies like WOW, U-Verse and the two satellite providers because I can choose from any of those. Since I can't choose between Comcast or Time Warner, it's not like they compete.

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Comcast and Time-Warner Cable don't compete directly on the consumer side, but they do compete on the content purchasing side.  If there are fewer players purchasing content, then there is less leverage on the content producers to stop them from raising prices.  Those price hikes will be passed on to the end customer.

[oufanindallas]

Which is why the major networks are suing Aero. 

[dhascall]

I posted this in the lounge - not sure iof its validity:

[dwinth]

I would like to see a pie chart like that with Direct-TV and Dish included. I wonder how much of the pie each of them would take up?

I assume the 57% share that Comcast has is a figure that includes Time Warner Cable.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

[guest]

Paul/Larry reading away

[codycooper864]

This might be a company worth switching to for a very rich TV lover like me.  They will likely be able to carry every channel out there and never lose one.  They will have the ultimate in on demand seletion to choose from as well.  It doesn't mstter how high my bill might get.  Money ain't a thang to me when it comes to my absolute favorite thing in the world.  TELEVISION!

[my thoughts]

While no fancy pie chart,

total number of video subscribers in US a little over 100 million.
So following can be viewed both as percentage and viewers in millions.
Most numbers are 3rd quarter 2013 unless could find 4th Q numbers.
Note TW has lost 1.3 million video subscribers Jan 2012 to Jan 2014. Or 10%

1. COMCAST ...........22.1%
2. DIRECT TV ..........20.1%
3. DISH.....................14.0%
4. TIME WARNER.....12.0%
5. AT&T UVERSE....... 5.6%
6. VERIZON FIOS........5.5%
7. COX.........................4.8%

8. CHARTER................4.3%.

These 8 have 88.1% of total video subscribers

TELCOS HAVE 11%, SATS 34%, CABLE 55%

[dwinth]

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my thoughts wrote:

While no fancy pie chart,

total number of video subscribers in US a little over 100 million.
So following can be viewed both as percentage and viewers in millions.
Most numbers are 3rd quarter 2013 unless could find 4th Q numbers.
Note TW has lost 1.3 million video subscribers Jan 2012 to Jan 2014. Or 10%

1. COMCAST ...........22.1%
2. DIRECT TV ..........20.1%
3. DISH.....................14.0%
4. TIME WARNER.....12.0%
5. AT&T UVERSE....... 5.6%
6. VERIZON FIOS........5.5%
7. COX.........................4.8%

8. CHARTER................4.3%.

These 8 have 88.1% of total video subscribers

TELCOS HAVE 11%, SATS 34%, CABLE 55%

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If all of the Time Warner customers stay with Comcast, then Comcast will have 34.1% of the video subscribers. However, I would expect some of the Time Warner customers to switch to other providers in their area if they do not want to become Comcast subscribers.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.