Charter Has Moved Millions of Customers To New -- And Often Higher -- Pricing (arstechnica.com) 84
After Charter closed the acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in May 2016, it moved 30 percent of the customers it acquired onto new pricing plans, resulting in many people paying higher prices. "Before the merger, Charter had about 6.8 million customers; afterward, Charter had 25.4 million customers in 41 states and became the second-largest U.S. cable company after Comcast," reports Ars Technica. From the report: Charter came up with new prices and packages, and many customers saw their bills rise when their previous discounts expired and they were switched to non-promotional pricing. Now, 30 percent of the ex-TWC and ex-Bright House customers are paying different -- and often higher -- prices. Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge provided the update in an earnings call last week (hat tip to FierceCable). According to a Seeking Alpha transcript, Rutledge said: "In June, we finished the rollout of our new pricing, packaging, and branding across our national footprint with the last launch of Spectrum in Hawaii. We now offer a simple, straightforward, high-value product using a consistent and uniform approach across our 50 million passings under one brand, Spectrum. The new product is succeeding with consumers across our footprint. In the second quarter, our customers and PSU [primary service unit] connects were higher year-over-year. And as of the end of the second quarter, 30 percent of Time Warner Cable and Bright House legacy customers were in our new pricing and packaging, up from 17 percent at the end of last quarter. In areas where we've had Spectrum in place for at least three quarters, 43 percent of our residential customers have Spectrum package products."
Degradation of the U.S. culture. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Degradation of the U.S. culture. (Score:4, Insightful)
What about internet access? Which other companies are available within these monopoly markets for them to switch to? And considering that basic internet access is a requirement for job applications nowadays, there is no serious way to simply "live without"
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We did.. before TWC got bought out.
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So cancel. Television is not a necessity. You can live without it for a while. If enough people cancel, they will be forced to lower their prices.
If you aren't willing to do that, then you deserve to pay more.
Television? What the hell are you talking about?
We're talking about the cost of cable internet here. Nobody gives a shit about television.
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destroying the competition (Score:4, Insightful)
Municipalities are often the guilty party - NOT (Score:1)
If you want so
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Actually, my cousin's internet price went DOWN with the switch from Time-Warner to Spectrum, and he got a huge speed boost too. He was paying $70/month for 25Mbps from Time Warner. When he called Spectrum, he found they were offering 100Mbps for just $65. And that's not promotional pricing either. That's the regular rate.
Of course, I still get to brag that I have fiber. So I can still rub my speed in his face. But he's getting a lot closer to where I'm at, and for $5 less than what he was paying. No complai
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That's crazy talk (Score:5, Funny)
Wellll, this is a wee bit misleading... (Score:4, Insightful)
Charter came up with new prices and packages, and many customers saw their bills rise when their previous discounts expired and they were switched to non-promotional pricing.
Clearly, the nature of cable conglomerates is chaotic evil, but it seems likely on the order of tomorrow's sunrise the same customers would've been subjected to rate increases at their original cable providers when their promotional discounts expired.
We're talking about an industry where the only sure method of getting discount rates involves switching providers. No one gets great rates staying with their current provider.
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Actually, when you call to cancel, most customer retention departments will renew those offers.
Speaking of "Retention", does anyone here have a good story to share about what happened when trying not to simply "cut the cord" on Spectrum, but rather to simply go from Cable TV (formerly Brighthouse) + High-Speed Internet (formerly RoadRunner) to simply High-Speed Internet (what Spectrum now calls a Tier 1 Customer)?
I I go to the Spectrum site and put in my Address, it won't give me an online answer for Internet Only (their basic 60 Mbps service would do me just fine); it says "Call your local Spectrum
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If DirecTV Now can give me 90% of the "cable" channels I want to watch for $35/mo (and I just got an email that they just added REELZ) non-promotional pricing (which is actually $10/mo for me because I am an ATT wireless "unlimited" customer), then why can't Spectrum do the same thing?
Because DirecTV Now is not paying your ISP fees or maintaining the wire to your house. Because DirecTV Now is not paying the local broadcast fees because it does not carry the local broadcast channels (my area can get Fox from a local station -- so there is one broadcast fee, not six or more). Spectrum has a lot of infrastructure to maintain while DirecTV Now uses stuff maintained by others, and to whom you pay for that maintenance.
Seriously. Most of the "HD" channels on a typical CableTV carrier like Spectrum are ACTUALLY VOD Streaming sources (which your cable box/DVR nicely makes LOOK like "channels");
Not on Comcast. I don't know what Spectrum does but I suspect it is no diff
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If DirecTV Now can give me 90% of the "cable" channels I want to watch for $35/mo (and I just got an email that they just added REELZ) non-promotional pricing (which is actually $10/mo for me because I am an ATT wireless "unlimited" customer), then why can't Spectrum do the same thing?
Because DirecTV Now is not paying your ISP fees or maintaining the wire to your house. Because DirecTV Now is not paying the local broadcast fees because it does not carry the local broadcast channels (my area can get Fox from a local station -- so there is one broadcast fee, not six or more). Spectrum has a lot of infrastructure to maintain while DirecTV Now uses stuff maintained by others, and to whom you pay for that maintenance.
Seriously. Most of the "HD" channels on a typical CableTV carrier like Spectrum are ACTUALLY VOD Streaming sources (which your cable box/DVR nicely makes LOOK like "channels");
Not on Comcast. I don't know what Spectrum does but I suspect it is no different. Making every channel a streaming VOD means you cannot do a channel scan on any tuner to see what channels are valid, which pretty much eliminates all third party products, including things that use CableCARDs.
Even then, the cable carrier has to maintain the wire to your house; DirecTV Now has nothing.
My local DirecTV Now feed passes two local channels (ABC and Fox). But I Understand your point. Spectrum has 5 local Channels (plus a few of their sub channels) to deal with.
As far as maintenance goes, TFB. Spectrum didn't do the initial build out; that was at LEAST TWO corporate sales ago. Spectrum didn't even do the upgrade to Digital; that was at LEAST ONE corporate sale ago, too. So as I see it, Spectrum has no more overhead than DirecTV Now does. DirecTV Now has servers and other IT infrastructure, ban
Re:Wellll, this is a wee bit misleading... (Score:4, Funny)
It's lawful evil. As in:
Step 1: change the law to be evil
Step 2: be evil, but within the constraints of the new law
Step 3: PRRRROFFFFIT!
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The story itself is misleading. I wasn't in any promotional period and I saw my pricing raise by 40%. Even worse, when I called to find out the reason for it, I was on hold for 3 hours then gave up. Never called back. I just pay a shitton more and there's really nothing I can do about it since there isn't any other providers.
deja vu (Score:4, Insightful)
> Charter came up with new prices and packages, and many customers saw their bills rise when their previous discounts expired
So, just like Comcast, then.
Get a retention discount! (Score:2)
Simple. Call and cancel service. They'll put you through to the retention department. That department offers the best discounts. I cut my $120 cable bill to $70 that way.
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It is against Charter's policy to offer discounts or new promotions to retain customers or to allow 'promo hopping" and it is rare to be offered anything, especially anything substantial. They shut the door on that years ago. Charter's has officially and fully embraced "fuck the current customer". If you threaten to cancel Charter you better be prepared to follow through because they WILL let you walk. Either go without for 30 days after paying your last bill to requalify as a 'new' customer, or switch to a
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Or maybe people need to readjust their broadband expectations and go with wireless (whatever form is available) to satellite, or even DSL if it's available. But nothing will change as long as people keep telling themselves they NEED any particular cable company. Simple as that.
Because of the way my city is wired, DSL is essentially a joke here. Satellite Internet? Yeahrightsure. And the only way for me to "choose" a "particular cable company" in my city is to MOVE. And that would move me from a Spectrum-monopolized area to a... wait for it... COMCAST-monopolized area! Think I'll continue to take my chances with Spectrum!
Yeah, it's my fault alright... Gimmeabreak!
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Why the outrage? (Score:3)
many customers saw their bills rise when their previous discounts expired and they were switched to non-promotional pricing.
FFS, the whole point of promotional discounts is that your bill increases when the period is up!
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AT&T isn't in your market? (Not only that, but the threat of me just *dropping* TV service has been enough for me to get a discount.)
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This is why you rip off Charter in a different way - double connections for the price of one.
Because their techs are too stupid, go one month with the low-tier internet + phone package. They give you a crappy large modem. Next month, just upgrade the internet to maximum speed. They'll have to send another tech to your place 'because that old phone modem can't handle the speed of the full connection,' so they install another modem JUST FOR THE INTERNET. It has no phone plugs on it. You'd expect a new phone m
The Invisible Hand (Score:5, Insightful)
What? There is no competition? Impossible. Everyone knows that the market encourages competition and companies to work for the good of the people, not to collude in order to increase their own bottom line.
Barriers to entry? Listen, son, if you want to get ahead in the world, you need to pull yourself up by your boot straps, overcome the paid for barriers that other ISPs have put in place, and create a multi-million dollar infrastructure by hand. Go ahead, all you need is guts and determination!
(rides away on piles of money) AMERICAN DREAM!
Re:The Invisible Hand (Score:4, Insightful)
Business logic:
Government acting in the interest of consumers: "That's anti-competitive, anti-freemarket. A free market is what made this country great." ... "A free market is what made this country great, and we're job creators. We're simply acting on our fiduciary duty to maximize value for our share-holders"
Government acting in the interest of business: *crickets*
The double talk coming from these types is positively awe inspiring. On one hand decrying government intervention while simultaneously engaging in every conceivable manner of rent-seeking.
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The new product is succeeding with consumers across our footprint
They are literally saying they have their boot on your necks.
And requiring cable boxes (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.wdrb.com/story/3605... [wdrb.com]
There was a steady stream of traffic going into and out of the Spectrum cable office in St. Matthews Thursday afternoon. Sekou Davis had his arms full of electronic equipment, including a phone modem and a DVR box. He was turning it all in, and cutting the cord after more than 20 years with cable.
“For one, the cost of the service, and, two, just the quality,” said Davis.
Davis says Spectrum's latest change is the last straw. The company is encrypting, or scrambling, its signal in Louisville. It means customers must now have cable boxes for every TV set. They can no long plug cable-ready TV sets directly into a cable outlet.
To be fair, the boxes will be free, at least for a while.
Spectrum is offering customers two free boxes for two years, and five free years for customers on Medicaid. After that, it will cost $5.99 a month for each box.
Well isn't that generous of them.
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Are you saying newish cable ready TVs can't decode digital signals? OTA has been digital for a long while now and my six year old Samsung has no probems with it.
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Forgive my ignorance then, I cut the cord over a decade ago and didn't realize things have gotten even worse when it comes to cable.
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As for new TVs, no of course they can't decode the signal from the cable company.
No, it isn't "of course". It is an economic decision of the cable company, not a technical one. The TV doesn't care if the signal is OTA or cable if it is ClearQAM.
They are literally opposite things.
Not when the technology is the same.
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Are you saying newish cable ready TVs can't decode digital signals? OTA has been digital for a long while now and my six year old Samsung has no probems with it.
This has been the case for years everywhere. I didn't realize there were still places with analog cable as an option.
As for new TVs, no of course they can't decode the signal from the cable company. What the hell does OTA have to do with cable? They are literally opposite things.
Back around 2004, when I first switched my BrightHouse service over to "HD", the tech was having trouble with one of the new cable-boxes. One of the troubleshooting steps he performed was tuning to a particular local channel, which he explained was still analog. That was when I found out that all cable channels were not necessarily distributed the same way.
The second time I got an addendum to the first lesson was when I was looking for a third-party DVR, and found that, without a "secret decoder ring" card
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When they went "digital", they dumped almost all of the analog channels except for two. One was channel 2 which displayed a large text screen saying "you need to get digital service", and whatever it was CSPAN was on. It turns out that CSPAN is/was the go-to channel that all cable boxes turn to when there is an EAS alert.
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Are you saying newish cable ready TVs can't decode digital signals? OTA has been digital
OTA digital is ClearQAM, unencrypted. Comcast, for one, used to be ClearQAM as well, but switched to encrypted a few years ago here. The modern TV does fine with ClearQAM, with the obvious issues of poor signal resulting in really unviewable channels instead of snowy ones.
When that change happened, I protested to the local office. I spoke to the technical manager. I asked him, if there is only one base level of digital service, why not leave the base level channels clear and either encrypt only the upper t
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Filters require a tech/truck roll to remove, you would loose the "self install" option and would see the return of setup/install fees for most services/changes.
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The company is encrypting, or scrambling, its signal in Louisville. It means customers must now have cable boxes for every TV set. They can no long plug cable-ready TV sets directly into a cable outlet.
Cox did this a few years ago, and there's been no sign of a monthly fee.
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Comcast did this in my area some years ago. Initially, the additional DTA boxes were free, but at some point, Comcast started charging for them.
Keep a close eye on your bill. The charges will eventually show up, just about the time that Cox believes people have forgotten about any promises to provide the adapters at no cost.
I would ban Ecrypted QAM. (Score:2)
If I had the Congress of the US to back me, I would pass a law proactively banning the use of Encrypted QAM.
Beyond that, everyone who can Cut the cord should.
Well duh! (Score:2)
many customers saw their bills rise when their previous discounts expired and they were switched to non-promotional pricing.
Quick show of hands, who expected their rates to go DOWN when discounts and promotions ended?!?!
What a huge non-story.
"My two year discount rate ended after just 24 months - those bastards!"
I got a free modem (Score:1)
Cut the cord (Score:2)
Well, I'm a happy customer (Score:2)
Since these things all tend to be an orgy of piling on the awful cable companies, I thought I'd share my very good experience. I was stuck on TWC's pretty mediocre 20 mb internet for $80/mo, with no realistic alternatives, unless you count centurylink crappy 10mb dsl (ha!). After the merger, I was offered the spectrum plan for $20 *less*, and I am regularly getting 70 mb downstream. The difference is night and day. This is for internet only, no phone or TV, so I can't speak to that part, However, the wordi