Comcast-TWC merger worries, outrages consumers

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Comcast and Time Warner Cable
regularly rank at the bottom of the pay TV industry when it comes to
customer satisfaction. So it didn’t take long for customers to vent
frustrations online over high prices, spotty service and fears of a
monopoly after Comcast announced its $45 billion purchase of Time Warner
Cable.
Outrage that these two big cable companies would join
hands to form an even more massive entity spurred a cascade of sarcastic
tweets and satirical memes:
the killer Death Star battle station from
"Star Wars," the evil Eye of Sauron from "The Lord of the Rings," and a
"South Park" snippet where character Eric Cartman and friends are
tormented by cable employees before a logo curiously similar to Time
Warner Cable’s own.
Consumers weren’t buying the assertion of
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts that the combination, which will have 30
million TV and Internet subscribers, would be "pro-consumer and
pro-competitive."
Using a contorted logic, the two companies are
expected to argue to anti-trust regulators that the fact they don’t
directly compete against each other in many parts of America shows the
deal won’t reduce competition and therefore should be approved.
But
it is that lack of overlap, and lack of choice, which is at the root of
customer frustration, according America Customer Satisfaction Index
managing director David VanAmburg. Cable companies that purposely don’t
compete against each other to provide fast Internet or reliable TV
service can get away with not fully meeting customer needs in markets
where they dominate.
"It’s almost subconsciously built into their
business model that they don’t have to worry so much you’re going to
leave for a competitor," said VanAmburg. "It’s definitely a big factor."
Skepticism
about the benefits of the deal to consumers was visible in many of the
tweets that surfaced after the takeover announcement.
"I love that we’re headed back to the era of the monopoly," tweeted Chris Buecheler. "’Eh,
I’m sure it’ll work out this time!’"
"A
Time Warner/Comcast merger would create a combined customer service
department of well over 10 employees," tweeted MrScottFletcher.
"The
sale of Time Warner Cable to Comcast will be completed between 8am and
1pm depending on if the CEO is late at another appointment," read a
tweet by William Gallahue that made fun of service appointment windows
that seem designed to cause inconvenience.
Michael Pinto, a
48-year-old Time Warner Cable customer in Brooklyn, N.Y., said a lot of
people in the city are trapped into whatever service happens to run into
their building that the landlord allows. He worries that a lot of
creativity could be stifled if control of Internet and TV service is
consolidated into too few hands.
"I suppose it’s good news for
shareholders. You get a bigger, growing company with smaller cost
structures," said Pinto, a website designer and chief creative officer
at Very Memorable Inc. "But I think as a democracy — not just a
democracy in politics but in a creative sense — I wonder what new
channels are we missing out on?"
Simon Eldridge, a 36-year-old
media technology consultant in San Jose, Calif., is concerned about
everything from the combined company raising prices to throttling back
the streaming speeds of online video companies such as Netflix.
The
British native is a Comcast Internet customer, mainly because no other
provider in his area will give him the speed he needs to work from home.
He pays about $80 a month for a download speed of 50 Megabits per
second. He says that’s about one-third pricier than in the U.K., where
there is more competition.
"This kind of a merger is going to give them a third of the Internet market in the U.S. and they can
charge even more," he said.
He’s
read up about their reputation for poor service, although Comcast has
been "pretty decent" to him. Eldridge is hopeful that the companies
fulfill pledges they made Thursday to boost Internet speeds and
reliability for consumers if the deal is approved.
"Hopefully some good will come out of it rather than the worst side of both," he said.
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