Time Warner Cable Loses 306K Subscribers in CBS Fight

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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You remember the standoff between TWC and CBS a while back? You can bet it’s still fresh in the memory of Time-Warner Cable executives who have to contend with the loss of 306K paying subscriptions as a battle scar reminder of the scuffle.

"Every cable operator now goes to the table knowing that CBS not only won the war but left Time Warner Cable badly damaged even for having fought the fight."
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eh -- I'm a TWC customer -- (data only) it was either that or AT&T (whom I hate)

$35 dollars a month for 15 down 1 up. no other hidden charges, and I can suck down as much bandwidth as I want. I'm pretty happy.

Not saying they are a golden child at all - just saying I've had a great experience with them. Hell they even credited me $20 when I called to complain about the service guy being late. (I was bored and didn't actually care)
 
I wonder though how many people left simply because TWC keeps inching-up prices without inching-up the quality and quantity of services offered. Their set-top boxes are easily below that offered by the satellite providers and FIOS IME.
 
CBS? Honestly, I can do without ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. I can't even recall the last time I watched one of those channels. Having said that....I might watch TV a couple of hours a week. A bit more during the F1 season.
 
Scythe said:
CBS? Honestly, I can do without ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. I can't even recall the last time I watched one of those channels. Having said that....I might watch TV a couple of hours a week. A bit more during the F1 season.
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Amen to that hell I don't even watch local news other then when a major storm hit my area.
 
Jack Hammer said:
There were that many people who liked CBS?
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And Showtime which CBS owns.

CBS, there is CSI, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Survivor, also they have some NFL games I believe (Not sure if this was relevant at the time this occurred). I'm sure Showtime had some shows that people were in to, I don't have Showtime so I don't know.

Overall though these usually are arguments over one company wanting more money to air the channel, another company saying no. So they get in a big power struggle, and pffbt no TV station is just a single station, they're part of an umbrella of other stations so when one goes, they all go, and you're bound to piss some people off. Net result your cable bill ends up going up.
 
Typical sensationalist journalism taking a study or survey and assuming that correlation equals causation. I've been tempted to cut my cable TV, not because of whatever network happens to be trying to squeeze more money out of viewers at the time, but because there are only 2 or 3 shows in the entirety of cable television that are worth watching. It's getting harder and harder to justify paying for cable TV when 99% of the content you get is pure, unadulterated crap.
 
I myself cannot justify paying for cable simply because there is nothing worth watching. If they would allow me to choose and pay for only the 1-2 channels I want, that would be a different story. As a result, I cut the cable a long time ago and only keep my TW business class internet.
 
In some places this is true, where I live two stations are available (sometimes) from antenna. One is HSN. The other not much better.
Basically in hills between two cities with broadcasts, 25 miles one way about the same the other.
 
I wonder how many of those people quit Timer Warner, after learning for alternatives ways to watch CBS stuff online? I bet a lot of people thought, "why the hell am I paying for cable?".
 
amdgamer said:
I myself cannot justify paying for cable simply because there is nothing worth watching. If they would allow me to choose and pay for only the 1-2 channels I want, that would be a different story. As a result, I cut the cable a long time ago and only keep my TW business class internet.
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Yeah, the sad thing for me is the #1 reason I still have DirecTV is because I love the DVR by how simple it is.

But have been very close to to turning it all off, most shows can be seen online, hell even without commercials, if I really care I can toss an antenna on my roof to get local channels (get my football fix) at HD quality that surpasses satellite or cable. And if I can't get my shows any other way, yes I will illegally download them just because I can neaner neaner poo poo.

Seems every time I see a story about disconnecting I always research antennas for the roof.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah, the sad thing for me is the #1 reason I still have DirecTV is because I love the DVR by how simple it is.

But have been very close to to turning it all off, most shows can be seen online, hell even without commercials, if I really care I can toss an antenna on my roof to get local channels (get my football fix) at HD quality that surpasses satellite or cable. And if I can't get my shows any other way, yes I will illegally download them just because I can neaner neaner poo poo.

Seems every time I see a story about disconnecting I always research antennas for the roof.
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Oh wow. This is me too. DirecTV Genie is literally what's keeping me from cutting the cord. The convenience factor of it just working trumps going the PC route. I just leave my server as a movie server for the Bluray movies I buy.

I too have thought about putting an antenna on the roof too but it didn't work well in my old house (different city though) so I'm hesitant to do that.
 
Why in God's name would anyone cancel their cable service because of a broadcast television station? You can get the channel for FREE. It has insane picture quality on just antenna (which is how I watch TV).
 
Eiolon said:
Why in God's name would anyone cancel their cable service because of a broadcast television station? You can get the channel for FREE. It has insane picture quality on just antenna (which is how I watch TV).
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Showtime is owned by CBS.
 
Eiolon said:
Why in God's name would anyone cancel their cable service because of a broadcast television station? You can get the channel for FREE. It has insane picture quality on just antenna (which is how I watch TV).
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I could see the numbers loss related to the ensuing price increase from CBS getting their way.
 
Time Warner Cable is penny pinching everything. TWC is implementing encryption tech on their cable. Which is great. However to decrypt the channels on the customer end, they have to install a box that is free, for 2 rooms in the house. Extras cost extra, and from 2014 they will charge a rental....Im pretty sure they can make up the loses they endured here with that :)
 
collegeboy69us said:
eh -- I'm a TWC customer -- (data only) it was either that or AT&T (whom I hate)

$35 dollars a month for 15 down 1 up. no other hidden charges, and I can suck down as much bandwidth as I want. I'm pretty happy.

Not saying they are a golden child at all - just saying I've had a great experience with them. Hell they even credited me $20 when I called to complain about the service guy being late. (I was bored and didn't actually care)
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I understand that you in no way want to go with AT&T but man I live in the middle of no where in MN and pay Mediacom $50 amonth for 50 mpbs down and 5 mbps up. Half the time I am getting there higher lvl which is 100 down and 10 up. Kinda feel like you are being raped for what you are paying for.
 
The wife and I were one of the 306k customers. Yes it pissed us off. Yes, we voted with our wallet. Best way to vote honestly in the consumer market. Most people are too weak to do it though.

Still trying to figure out if Antenna + Hulu+ is enough. As of right now, it looks like it is.
 
Prod1702 said:
Mediacom $50 amonth for 50 mpbs down and 5 mbps up. Half the time I am getting there higher lvl which is 100 down and 10 up. Kinda feel like you are being raped for what you are paying for.
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You find that bad? WTF?
I'm in San Diego and I pay $65 for 25/10. Who's being raped? WTF? No way, you got an awesome deal.
 
collegeboy69us said:
eh -- I'm a TWC customer -- (data only) it was either that or AT&T (whom I hate)

$35 dollars a month for 15 down 1 up. no other hidden charges, and I can suck down as much bandwidth as I want. I'm pretty happy.

Not saying they are a golden child at all - just saying I've had a great experience with them. Hell they even credited me $20 when I called to complain about the service guy being late. (I was bored and didn't actually care)
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We are Charter Cable in SoCal. After switching to a Netgear Nighthawk, our speeds went nuts. We pay for 100/5, but even over wireless, right now, upstairs =
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3076626125

Or 202mbps download.

I thought the site was busted. Nope. It will do a 100MB download in about 5 seconds.
 
Trepidati0n said:
The wife and I were one of the 306k customers. Yes it pissed us off. Yes, we voted with our wallet. Best way to vote honestly in the consumer market. Most people are too weak to do it though.

Still trying to figure out if Antenna + Hulu+ is enough. As of right now, it looks like it is.
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And you would be one of the people bitching and crying about a price increase if CBS had got their way.
 
TWC knew they had to resolve this before the NFL season started or there would be a public uproar. CBS is currently the highest rated national network.... and right don't forget about Showtime.

Don't care about Showtime? Homeland and Dexter, nuff said.

I bet the biggest winners from this battle (other than CBS, of course) were Radio Shack (people buying OTA antennas) and DirecTV.
 
TWC is trash; Serving their customers open-faced shit sammiches regularly, and this is coming from a Comcast customer.
 
BoogerBomb said:
And you would be one of the people bitching and crying about a price increase if CBS had got their way.
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You must not have TWC or else you'd know that they already started nickle-and-diming there customers quite a while back. To blame it on any one service provider is a farce.
 
Trepidati0n said:
The wife and I were one of the 306k customers. Yes it pissed us off. Yes, we voted with our wallet. Best way to vote honestly in the consumer market. Most people are too weak to do it though.

Still trying to figure out if Antenna + Hulu+ is enough. As of right now, it looks like it is.
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That's the argument most of those articles miss. In your case TWC didn't just lose a paying customer.... so did CBS. TWC was paying CBS to carry their channels. CBS wanted more $$$ and now instead of getting what TWC was paying, you're watching the same programs on antenna and CBS isn't getting a penny. In this case, both of the media companies lost... and you won by not having to pay either one of them.
 
Old_Way said:
That's the argument most of those articles miss. In your case TWC didn't just lose a paying customer.... so did CBS. TWC was paying CBS to carry their channels. CBS wanted more $$$ and now instead of getting what TWC was paying, you're watching the same programs on antenna and CBS isn't getting a penny. In this case, both of the media companies lost... and you won by not having to pay either one of them.
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Not sure you understand how broadcast TV works. CBS still gets money via commercials. There is much work done by CBS to indicate how many eyeballs are watching their shows. Therefore the get regardless if it is cable or OTA.

Who do you think makes the Antenna signal? A dog?
 
TWC is implementing encryption tech on their cable. Which is great. However to decrypt the channels on the customer end, they have to install a box that is free, for 2 rooms in the house. Extras cost extra, and from 2014 they will charge a rental...
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Welcome to the world of Digital Cable, sorry but analog is a thing of the past now.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Not sure you understand how broadcast TV works. CBS still gets money via commercials. There is much work done by CBS to indicate how many eyeballs are watching their shows. Therefore the get regardless if it is cable or OTA.

Who do you think makes the Antenna signal? A dog?
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CBS may get paid by the advertisers, but unless I'm the dumbass buying that advertised product, I'm not the one forking out for the broadcast directly. With cable TV I would be paying an additional fee... and CBS would then be getting paid twice based on your snarky reply.
 
ServerKing said:
Welcome to the world of Digital Cable, sorry but analog is a thing of the past now.
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I think the emphasis of his point was the rental fee they would be charging for the mandatory boxes. Up until now, they haven't charged a rental fee as far as I know, unless you wanted a DVR (which is another ridiculous charge, as if my recording shows cost them anything extra). They did something similar with cable modems a year or so back, prompting many customers to go out and buy their own modems instead of paying a monthly rental fee.
 
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