Time Warner Cable

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Not to be confused with Turner Broadcasting System, the cable channels division of Time Warner.
Time Warner Cable Inc.
Type Public
Traded as NYSE: TWC
S&P 500 Component
Industry Telecommunications
Mass media
Founded 1989 as Warner Cable
1990 as Time Warner Cable
Headquarters New York City, New York, U.S.
Area served United States
Key people Robert D. Marcus
(Chairman, CEO)
Products Digital cable
Cable Internet
Digital phone service
Cable advertising
Local news channels (Time Warner Cable News)
Regional sports networks (Metro Sports, TWCS, TWCSN, TWC Sports 32, SNY)
Revenue US$21.4 billion (2012)[1]
Operating income US$4.069 billion (2011)[2]
Profit US$1.665 billion (2011)[2]
Total assets US$48.276 billion (2011)[2]
Total equity US$7.530 billion (2011)[2]
Owner(s) Time Warner (1989-2009)
Independent (2009-present)
Employees 47,300 (2011)[2]
Website timewarnercable.com
Time Warner Center, the headquarters of the company in New York City. It is shared by its namesake, but now unrelated company, Time Warner.
Time Warner Cable building entrance in Morrisville, North Carolina

Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), formerly Warner Cable Communications and sometimes colloquially referred to as simply Time Warner, is an American cable telecommunications company that operates in 29 states and has 31 operating divisions. It is the second largest cable company in the U.S. behind only Comcast.[3] Its corporate headquarters are located in the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City,[4] with other corporate offices in Stamford, Connecticut; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Herndon, Virginia.[5] Time Warner Cable serves customers in the following 29 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Originally controlled by Time Warner (the film and television production company and cable channel operator), that company spun out the cable operations in March 2009 as part of a larger restructuring. Since then, Time Warner Cable has been an entirely independent company, merely continuing to use the Time Warner brand under license from its former parent (it also previously used the "Road Runner" name for its Internet service). Time Warner Cable does own several local news and sports channels, but it no longer has any corporate affiliation with national cable channels such as CNN or HBO, which remain the property of the original Time Warner.

History

Time Warner Cable (once known in the 1990s as Time Warner Communications) was formed in 1989 through the merger of Time Inc.'s cable television company, American Television and Communications Corp., and Warner Cable, a division of Warner Communications, as a result of a merger to form Time Warner. It also includes the remnants of the defunct QUBE interactive TV service. In 1995, the company launched the Southern Tier On-Line Community, a cable modem service now known as Road Runner High Speed Online. That same year, talks began that would later result in Warner's acquisition of Paragon Cable. "Warner Cable" was changed into "Time Warner Cable" in 1990.

Time Warner retained Time Warner Cable as a subsidiary until March 2009, when it was spun out as an independent company.[6] Prior to the spin-out, Time Warner had held an 84% stake in Time Warner Cable.[7] Non-Time Warner shareholders received 0.083670 shares for each share already owned. This move made Time Warner Cable the largest cable operator in the United States owned solely by a single class of shareholders (without supervoting stock).[8]

Possible sale

It was first reported in September 2013 that Time Warner Cable was exploring a sale of the company, possibly to Charter Communications.[9] However, on November 22, 2013, reports surfaced that Comcast expressed interest in acquiring Time Warner Cable. Both companies are said to be placing bids for the company.[10] Charter reiterated its interest in purchasing Time Warner Cable and increased its bid on January 14, 2014.

Residential services

As of second quarter 2009, there were 14.6 million basic cable subscribers, 8.8 million Digital cable subscribers, 8.7 million Road Runner residential subscribers, 2.5 million DVR subscribers,[11] and 4.5 million residential Digital Phone subscribers, which makes it the fifth-largest landline phone provider in the United States.[12]

Business services

As of 2013, Time Warner Cable's business division had the second largest business-facing enterprise by revenue (of cable providers who offer business services), with $1.7 billion in revenue as of the third quarter of 2013. Total revenue for 2012 was $1.9 billion.[13]

Naming rights

Arena

Time Warner Cable Arena is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. In April 2008, the Charlotte Bobcats reached a naming rights deal with Time Warner Cable, the Charlotte area's only cable television provider. Under this deal, Bobcats Arena will be renamed Time Warner Cable Arena. In return, Time Warner agreed to tear up the cable television deal that had limited the Bobcats' exposure over the team's first four years. Starting with the 2008–09 season, most Bobcats games will be seen on FSN South and SportSouth in North and South Carolina.[14]

TWC Field

On March 9, 2007, Time Warner Cable, which provides service to the local area, northeastern Wisconsin, signed a 10-year naming rights deal. The field is home of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a local minor league baseball team of the Midwest League, based in Grand Chute, Wisconsin.

Acquisitions

Adelphia

On July 31, 2006, Time Warner Cable and Comcast completed a deal to purchase practically all of Adelphia's assets for $17 billion.[15] Time Warner Cable gained 3.3 million of Adelphia's subscribers, a 29 percent increase, while Comcast gained almost 1.7 million subscribers. Adelphia stockholders received 16% of Time Warner Cable. Time Warner Cable went public effective February 13, 2007, and the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 1, 2007.[16]

In addition to Adelphia's coverage being divided up, Time Warner Cable and Comcast also agreed to exchange some of their own subscribers in order to consolidate key regions. An example of this is the Los Angeles market, which was mostly covered by Comcast and Adelphia (and some areas of the region already served by TWC), is now under Time Warner Cable. Philadelphia, previously was split between Time Warner and Comcast, with the majority of cable subscribers belonging to Comcast. Time Warner subscribers in Philadelphia were swapped with Comcast in early 2007. Similarly, the Houston area, which was under Time Warner, was swapped to Comcast, while the Dallas metro area was changed to Time Warner (RR).[17] In the Twin Cities, Minneapolis was Time Warner and Saint Paul was Comcast. That whole market is now Comcast.

NaviSite

Time Warner Cable purchased NaviSite (NAVI), a company providing cloud and hosting services, on February 1, 2011 for $230 million, roughly equating to $5.50 per share.[18]

Insight Communications

On August 13, 2011, Time Warner Cable announced its purchase of Insight Communications for $3 billion acquiring Insight's 760,000 subscribers nationwide. The merger was completed February 29, 2012, and as of June 2013 all of Insight Communications was absorbed into Time Warner Cable.[19]

DukeNet Communications

On October 7, 2013, Time Warner Cable announced that it has agreed to acquire DukeNet Communications LLC for $600 million. DukeNet provides data and high-capacity bandwidth services to wireless carrier, data center, government, and enterprise customers in the Southeast.[20]

Advance/Newhouse and Time Warner (Bright House Networks spin off)

Some of the regional cable system clusters operated by Time Warner Cable are owned by the Time Warner Entertainment - Advance/Newhouse Partnership (TWEAN). In 2002, Advance/Newhouse Communications, unhappy with some of the operating policies of Time Warner Cable in the AOL Time Warner era, forced a restructuring of the TWEAN partnership such that Advance/Newhouse would actively manage and operate a portion of the jointly owned cable systems equal to their percentage of equity. Under this arrangement, Advance/Newhouse enjoys the proceeds of their actively managed systems rather than simply a percentage of the partnership's total earnings. The majority of the affected systems are in the Tampa and Orlando markets under the Bright House Networks brand.

The value of this deal is that it allows Advance/Newhouse to more directly control their cable investments without having to completely unravel the TWEAN partnership, which does bring some benefits via Time Warner's development and purchasing clout.

Venture with Sprint Nextel

In late 2005, TWC and several other cable companies formed a venture with Sprint Nextel. This joint venture enables TWC customers to receive a full suite of products, linking in-home and out-of-home entertainment, information, and communications services. All of this was included in the new "Triple Play on the Go", similar to the Triple Play but an addition of new services through Sprint Nextel.

Controversies

Bandwidth metering

In 2008, Time Warner Cable began testing tier-based metered data plans in Beaumont, Texas.[21] In 2009, Time Warner Cable announced that additional cities including Rochester, New York will become additional test sites. In particular in Rochester groups have formed to stop TWC. Several groups including Stop TWC[22] and Stop The Cap[23] are currently working to oppose these efforts. On April 7, 2009, then US Congressman Eric Massa called on Time Warner to eliminate its broadband Internet cap.[24]

Signal intrusion & accidental transmission of pornography

On March 16, 2010, Time Warner Cable's transmission of their Kids on Demand and Kids Pre-School on Demand channels on systems in eastern North Carolina was interrupted by programming from the adult pay television channel Playboy TV for approximately two hours between 6:15 a.m. and 8:15 a.m./EDT, in which a group of nude women talked and posed in a sexually suggestive manner.[25] This accidental display affected Time Warner's digital cable subscribers in four towns in the system's eastern North Carolina cluster, while other areas displayed a black screen. A Time Warner spokesperson said in a statement to Raleigh CBS affiliate WRAL, “It was a technical malfunction that caused the wrong previews to be shown on our kids’ on-demand channels. Unfortunately it hit at the worst possible time on the worst possible channels.”[26] A Time Warner executive said normal monitoring procedures did not take effect because the glitch affected only a few areas.[27]

Cable Clusters

Time Warner Cable ident used until 2010. Still in use on its "Business Class" division.

South West Ohio Division West Virginia - Clarksburg

Divisions

Current logo for "Oceanic Time Warner Cable" division.

Time Warner Cable's Divisions, from official website.

-- West Region --

  • PAC West Region
    • Oceanic Time Warner Cable (Hawaii)
    • Time Warner Cable Desert Cities
    • Time Warner Cable San Diego
    • Time Warner Cable Southern California
  • Midwest Region
    • Time Warner Cable Kansas City
    • Time Warner Cable Nebraska
    • Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio & Western Pennsylvania (Akron, Canton, Cleveland & Youngstown; Erie County & Sharon, PA)
    • Time Warner Cable Mid-Ohio (Columbus)
    • Time Warner Cable Southwest Ohio (Dayton; Cincinnati; Lexington, KY; Louisville, KY; Terre Haute, IN; Clarksburg, WV)
    • Time Warner Cable Wisconsin (Milwaukee & Green Bay)
  • Texas Region
  • Time Warner Cable National (non-clustered systems)

-- East Region --

  • Northeast Region
    • Time Warner Cable Albany
    • Time Warner Cable Buffalo
    • Time Warner Cable Rochester
    • Time Warner Cable Central New York / Syracuse
    • Time Warner Cable New England
  • New York Region
  • Carolina Region
    • Time Warner Cable Charlotte
    • Time Warner Cable Greensboro
    • Time Warner Cable Eastern Carolina
    • Time Warner Cable Raleigh
    • Time Warner Cable South Carolina (Columbia)

Former divisions sold to Comcast

  • Time Warner Cable Central Florida
  • Time Warner Cable Houma
  • Time Warner Cable Houston
  • Time Warner Cable Lake City/Live Oak
  • Time Warner Cable Mid-South (Memphis, TN, AR, and MS)
  • Time Warner Cable Minnesota
  • Time Warner Cable Shreveport
  • Time Warner Cable St. Augustine/Palatka
  • Time Warner Cable Cape Coral/Naples

Awards

Product & Service

2008 The company was honored at the 2008 Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for development of interactive video-on-demand infrastructure and signaling, leading to large scale VOD implementations. [citation needed]

2010 & 2012 The company was named the "Wendell Brown of Cable Companies" in 2010 and again in 2012. [citation needed]

2011 & 2012 Business Insider's list of Most Hated Companies in America[28] - Third Place, after Pepco and Delta Airlines. The company fell to sixth place on that list in 2012.[29]

Investor Relations

2009 The company was honored by Institutional Investor as America's Best Investor Relations for sell side in the Media sector for Cable & Satellite in 2009. [citation needed]

2010 & 2012 The company was ranked in second place by Institutional Investor as America's Best Investor Relations for sell side in the Media sector for Cable & Satellite. [citation needed]

2011 Time Warner Cable is ranked among America’s most successful companies, according to Institutional Investor magazine’s All-America Executive Team rankings.[citation needed]

  • Best Investor Relations - First Place - Nominated by the Buy Side
  • Best Investor Relations - Second Place - Nominated by the Sell Side
  • Best CEO - Glenn Britt - Nominated by the Sell Side*
  • Best CEO - Second Place - Glenn Britt - Nominated by the Buy Side
  • Best CFO - Robert Marcus - Nominated by the Buy Side*
  • Best CFO - First Place - Robert Marcus - Nominated by the Sell Side
  • Best Investor Relations Professional - First Place - Thomas Robey - Nominated by the Sell Side
  • Best Investor Relations Professional - Second Place - Thomas Robey - Nominated by the Buy Side

*Place rank not publicly disclosed.

References

  1. ↑ "Time Warner Cable Reports 2012 Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results.". Retrieved May 17, 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "TWC - Time Warner Cable Inc.". Retrieved August 22, 2008. 
  3. ↑ "Top 25 Multichannel Video Service Customers (2012)". National Cable & Telecommunications Association. Retrieved 2013-01-02. 
  4. ↑ "Investor Relations Contact Us." Time Warner Cable. Retrieved on March 6, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Locations". Time Warner Cable. Retrieved July 15, 2012. 
  6. ↑ "Time Warner Cable Spinoff to Finish Next Month". New York Times. February 27, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010. 
  7. ↑ "Time Warner's $9 Billion Cable Spinoff". CBS News. Associated Press. May 21, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008. 
  8. ↑ "Time Warner Sets Final Distribution Ratio For Cable Spinoff". Dow Jones (via CNN Money). March 20, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2009. 
  9. ↑ "Analyst: Charter, Time Warner Cable Merger Looks Probable". Fox Business.com. September 11, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2013. 
  10. ↑ "Charter Communications and Comcast may battle for Time Warner Cable". Los Angeles Times. November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013. 
  11. ↑ Company Highlights: Time Warner Cable - Corporate
  12. ↑ Leichtman Research Group, "Research Notes," First Quarter 2012, pg. 6, Time Warner (#5) with 4,544,000 residential phone lines.
  13. ↑ "Heavy Reading: Cable Biz Sales to Hit $8.5B | Light Reading". 
  14. ↑ "Deals widen Bobcats' TV reach". Charlotte.com. April 9, 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2008. 
  15. ↑ "CNNMoney.com: Time Warner to save on programming costs after Adelphia Deal - Jul, 31. 2006". CNN. July 31, 2006. Retrieved October 8, 2010. 
  16. ↑ "Time Warner Press Release: Time Warner Cable Becomes a Public Company". Timewarner.com. Retrieved October 8, 2010. 
  17. ↑ Ehling, Jeff (August 2, 2006). "ABC KTRK/Houston: Time-Warner Cable leaving Houston". Abclocal.go.com. Retrieved October 8, 2010. 
  18. ↑ "Time Warner Cable buys NaviSite as hosting acquisitions pick up". zdnet.com. February 1, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011. 
  19. ↑ Time Warner Cable takes over Insight
  20. ↑ "Time Warner Cable to acquire Regional Fiber Optic Network Company DukeNet Communications". Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  21. ↑ Lawson, Stephen (January 18, 2008). "Time Warner to Try Tiered Cable Pricing". IDG News Service (PC World). Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  22. ↑ Stop TWC
  23. ↑ Stop The Cap
  24. ↑ Massa, Eric. "Congressman Eric Massa calls on Time Warner to eliminate Broadband Internet Cap". Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  25. ↑ Pearson, Erica (March 17, 2010). "Time Warner apologizes for accidentally showing Playboy previews on kiddie channels in N.C". Daily News (New York). 
  26. ↑ Davis, Stacy (2010-03-16). "Time Warner apologizes for Playboy-kids channel glitch". WRAL.com. Retrieved 2013-08-05. 
  27. ↑
  28. ↑ Lubin, Gus; Vivian Giang (2011-06-29). "The 19 Most Hated Companies In America". Business Insider. Retrieved 2013-08-05. 
  29. ↑ Spector, Dina; Gus Lubin & Vivian Giang (2012-06-22). "The 15 Most Hated Companies In America". Business Insider. Retrieved 2013-08-05. 

External links


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