Comcast to acquire Time Warner

[Papi]

They both suck, but in my experience Comcast sucks worse.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/...-warner-cable/

Comcast is expected to announce on Thursday an agreement to acquire Time Warner Cable for more than $45 billion in stock, a deal that would combine the biggest and second-biggest cable television operators in the country.

For Comcast, which completed its acquisition of NBC Universal, the television and movie powerhouse, from General Electric less than a year ago, the latest deal would be its second big act to radically reshape the media landscape in the United States. And the merger is almost certain to bring to an end a protracted takeover battle that Charter Communications has been waging for Time Warner Cable.

For Time Warner Cable, the deal provides a neat solution to its problems. It will receive just about the $160-a-share price it said was its true value, and possibly more. It will no longer have to slog ahead with a turnaround plan being run by a new chief executive, Rob Marcus. And it will allow it to become part of the company that is already the dominant force in cable television services.

Despite combining the two largest cable operators in the country, a merger may have little impact on consumers. Comcast and Time Warner Cable compete in very few markets. As a result, few consumers will see their choices of cable operators reduced.

Nonetheless, regulators will surely look carefully at the impact on the deal to consumers, and may also focus on whether the combined company will have additional power in negotiations with cable networks, a recent source of tension in the industry.

Comcast has about 22 million television customers, according to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Time Warner Cable has about 11 million video subscribers, according to people familiar with the company.

In a bid to appease antitrust regulators, Comcast is expected say it is willing to divest three million of Time Warner Cable’s roughly 11 million pay television subscribers.

It was not immediately clear if Comcast would propose certain markets to divest, but shedding those subscribers should keep Comcast with less than 30 percent national market share for pay television, a level the company believes will satisfy antitrust regulators.

Under the terms of the deal, Time Warner Cable shareholders will receive 2.875 shares of newly issued Comcast common stock for each of their shares, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday evening. Based on Comcast’s closing price of $55.24 on Wednesday, that values each Time Warner Cable share at about $158.82 each.

If Comcast stock rises on news of the deal, the price could go up, while if the stock falls, it could go down. The deal is set to be announced on Thursday morning.

The deal is subject to approval by both shareholders of both companies. Because it is an all-stock deal with newly issued shares, Comcast will not have to take on any new debt.

Should a deal be completed, Time Warner Cable shareholders will own about a quarter of the combined company.

For Comcast, the deal, extending its leadership in the cable industry, is another transformative step in the evolution of what is now America’s most influential media company. It comes less than a year after Comcast completed the acquisition of NBC Universal And it will further extend Comcast’s lead as the nation’s largest cable operator.

Charter, however, is left in the lurch. Charter is one of the nation’s smaller cable operators, but had big ambitions to compete with Comcast. Last year Liberty Media, the conglomerate backed by billionaire John C. Malone, acquired 27 percent of Charter, and urged the company to pursue deals, a process that could have led Mr. Malone back to the heights of American cable, an industry he once ruled as head of TCI, then the country’s largest operator.

Beginning last year, Charter made overtures to Time Warner Cable, privately offering a succession of higher prices, all of which were rejected. Last month, Charter went public with an offer of $132.50 per share for Time Warner Cable, which Mr. Marcus dismissed as inadequate. He countered by saying the company would consider a bid of $160 per share, which Comcast has now nearly matched.

On Tuesday, Charter nominated a full slate of directors to Time Warner Cable’s board, its most aggressive move to date.

At the same time, Charter was negotiating with Comcast about a deal through which Comcast would acquire certain markets from Time Warner Cable if Charter was about to buy the entire company. Comcast, however, had other plans.

Charter may buy the subscribers that Comcast has pledged to divest, giving it added scale but not nearly the boost it had hoped when it set its eyes on acquiring all of Time Warner Cable.

Though the companies are set to announce the deal, it could still come undone. Shareholders of either company could vote it down, though that seems unlikely.

Charter could still play spoiler with a new bid, though that seems unlikely too, given its limited financial resources.

Or Comcast shares could collapse, leading Time Warner Cable shareholders to shun a deal.

Morgan Stanley, Allen & Company and Citigroup had been advising Time Warner Cable on its defense from Charter, with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison providing legal advice. Centerview Partners and the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Skadden also advised Time Warner Cable.

JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, among others, advised Comcast.

[Skyy God]

Such BS. Corporate kleptocracy at its worst.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2...-in-20-states/

[Chief Gump]

Originally Posted by Dayze

I've never had Comcast, but I had TW for a whopping 3 days after our move to an apartment a few years back that wouldn't allow LOS for our DTV dish.

TW sucked ass. Switched to U-Verse the same week.

I believe I read somewhere it is illegal for a apartment to prevent you from getting dish. They can say it they just can't enforce it.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by Chief Gump

I believe I read somewhere it is illegal for a apartment to prevent you from getting dish. They can say it they just can't enforce it.

in my case, we were on the basement floor (the level below the parking level) facing north. We couldn't get line of site when DTV came out.

...which sucked.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

Such BS. Corporate kleptocracy at its worst.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2...-in-20-states/

HOORAY FOR THE RISE OF THE RENTIER!

[KC_Lee]

Originally Posted by Predarat

Everytime there is a thunderstorm warning within 100 miles of where you live, it will freeze your TV with an archaic EBS warning the switch to CSPANN and get stuck there for a bit. It is ****ing annoying. They interrupt your local news telling you in real time where the storm is, has gone and is going for a generic text message with a robotic voice that takes up the whole screen.

Love when they do that. It's even better when something happens and you are stuck watching CSPAN for an hour.

[kysirsoze]

I was just gonna say the cable provider industry needed less competition. Good news.

[Stewie]

I don't use either of these companies for TV. TWC was horrible when I was a subscriber and I've heard Comcast is worse. DirecTV has always been accommodating... with a little Stewie coercion.

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by KC_Lee

Love when they do that. It's even better when something happens and you are stuck watching CSPAN for an hour.

That is the worst, and there is nothing you can do about it, changing the channels, unplugging the cable box. Nothing. The only real thing you can do is switch to a DVD player or something but no live TV. It really sucks if a storm is heading in your area and its stuck on CSPAN or the general EAS warning. Damn I hate Comcast!

[Mr. Laz]

Terrible

cable and internet prices will be going up

[tk13]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

Terrible

cable and internet prices will be going up

What might be just as important is with net neutrality being shot down a few weeks ago... they can put the hammer to Netflix and Hulu and the like and really go after the cord cutters. Like Hamas said... they could restrict bandwidth for people on Apple TV and Roku.

[houstonwhodat]

Cable TV costs too much nowadays.

You're lucky if you get a bill for 120.00.

And there's still nothing to watch.

[Hammock Parties]

They better not try to **** me when I switch to Google Fiber this spring.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by tk13

What might be just as important is with net neutrality being shot down a few weeks ago... they can put the hammer to Netflix and Hulu and the like and really go after the cord cutters. Like Hamas said... they could restrict bandwidth for people on Apple TV and Roku.

yup

they can also choose to jack with prices for certain channels whenever they feel like it


too much power for any particular company is bad

all this consolidation throughout american markets is bad imo

[Hammock Parties]

I'm kind of impressed right now. Zero ****ery from these guys in canceling my service.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

yup

they can also choose to jack with prices for certain channels whenever they feel like it


too much power for any particular company is bad

all this consolidation throughout american markets is bad imo

How can anyone think this will be good for the consumer?

The only benefit is for the corporation to get bigger and squeeze the competition out while hitting us with bigger cable bills for less service.