Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable Inc.
Subsidiary
Industry Telecommunications
Mass media
Fate Acquired by Charter Communications
Successor Spectrum
Founded 1973 (1973)
Founder Time Warner
(merger of Time Inc. & Warner Communications)
Defunct 2016 (2016)
Headquarters Time Warner Center, New York City, New York, United States
Area served
 United States
Key people
 Robert D. Marcus
(Chairman & CEO)
Parent Warner Communications (1973–1990)
Time Warner (1990–2009) Charter Communications (2016–present)
Subsidiaries Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC
Time Warner Center, formerly the headquarters of the company in New York City. It was shared by its namesake, but now unrelated company, Time Warner.
Time Warner Cable building entrance in Morrisville, North Carolina

Time Warner Cable (TWC) was an American cable television company. Prior to its purchase by Charter Communications in 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operating in 29 states.[1] Its corporate headquarters were located in the Time Warner Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City,[2] with other corporate offices in Stamford, Connecticut; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Herndon, Virginia.[3]

It was controlled by Warner Communications, then by Time Warner (the film and television production company and cable channel operator). That company spun off the cable operations in March 2009 as part of a larger restructuring. From 2009 to 2016, Time Warner Cable was an entirely independent company, continuing to use the Time Warner name under license from its former parent (including the "Road Runner" name for its Internet service, now Spectrum Internet).

In 2014, the company was the subject of a proposed purchase by Comcast Corporation, valued at $45.2 billion; however, following opposition to the deal by various groups, along with plans by the U.S. government to try to block the merger, Comcast called off the deal in April 2015. On May 26, 2015, Charter Communications announced that it would acquire Time Warner Cable for $78.7 billion, along with Bright House Networks in a separate $10.1 billion deal, pending regulatory approval.[4]

The purchase was completed on May 18, 2016; Charter had continued to do business as Time Warner Cable in its former markets, but has now re-branded these operations under the Spectrum brand in most markets.[5]

History

Time Warner Cable was formed in 1992 by the merger of Time Inc.'s cable television company, American Television and Communications Corp. (service areas that had belonged to that company went under the Time Warner Communications name; since the 1990s, areas that had used that name have either been renamed to Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, or have been given to other cable providers), and Warner Cable, a division of Warner Communications, as a result of a merger to form Time Warner; for the two years after the merger, the companies operated separately but under the umbrella name "Time Warner Cable Group" (primarily due to 18% of ATC having been publicly owned at the time); they merged into one entity in 1992. 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 later known as Road Runner High Speed Online. That year, talks began that would later result in Warner's acquisition of Paragon Cable. Glenn Britt (1949–2014)[6][7] was the CEO from 2001 until December 2013.

Time Warner retained Time Warner Cable as a subsidiary until March 2009, when it was spun out as an independent company.[8] Prior to the spin-out, Time Warner had held an 84% stake in Time Warner Cable.[9] 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).[10]

Time Warner Cable launched DVR service in the Houston area in 2004. (TWC's Houston-area cable systems are now owned by Comcast.) When first launched, it used Scientific-Atlanta set-top boxes with DVR.

In June 2009, Time Warner Cable unveiled a concept known as "TV Everywhere"—a means of allowing multi-platform access to live and on-demand content to content from television channels that is tied to a user's television subscription.[11][12]

Sale

It was first reported in October 2013 that Time Warner Cable was exploring a sale of the company, possibly to Charter Communications.[13] However, on November 22, 2013, reports surfaced that Comcast expressed interest in acquiring Time Warner Cable. Both companies were said to be placing bids for the company.[14] Charter reiterated its interest in purchasing Time Warner Cable and increased its bid on January 14, 2014. On February 12, 2014, it was reported that Comcast had reached a deal to acquire TWC in an overall deal valued at $45.2 billion, pending regulatory approval.[15]

The proposed merger was met with prominent opposition from various groups, showing concerns that the sheer size of the combined company would reduce competition and would give Comcast an unprecedented level of control over the United States' internet and television industries, increased leverage in the distribution of NBCUniversal content, hamper over-the-top services, and lead to higher prices for its services.[16][17][18][19] In April 2015, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Justice was preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against the companies in a bid to halt the merger, primarily because the merged company would have controlled 57 percent of the nation's broadband capacity. On April 24, 2015, Comcast officially announced that it had called off the merger.[20][21]

On May 25, 2015, Bloomberg News reported that Charter was "near" a deal to acquire TWC for $195 a share.[22] Charter had been involved in the Comcast/TWC merger, as the companies planned to divest around 4 million subscribers to Charter in order to reduce the combined company's market share to an acceptable level.[23] The next day, Charter officially announced its intent to acquire Time Warner Cable in a deal valued at $78.7 billion, and confirmed that it would also continue with its proposed, $10.1 billion acquisition of Bright House Networks. The deal was subject to regulatory approval, although due to the relatively smaller size of the companies and their media holdings, the deal was expected to face less resistance than the Comcast/TWC merger.[24]

The acquisition was completed on May 18, 2016. The Time Warner Cable brand was phased out in favor of Spectrum, the brand used by Charter to market its services.[25][5][26]

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,[27] and 4.5 million residential Digital Phone subscribers, which makes it the fifth-largest landline phone provider in the United States.[28]

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.[29]

Cable Internet service

Naming rights

Current

Arena

Spectrum Center, formerly Time Warner Cable Arena, is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, the home of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets. In April 2008, the then-Bobcats reached a naming rights deal with Time Warner Cable, the Charlotte area's major cable television provider; the arena was named for the cable provider in exchange for the release of the team's television rights, which had been on the TWC co-owned Carolinas Sports Entertainment Television for its first season, which failed to find much cable coverage in the Charlotte market outside of Time Warner systems and went dark after a year, and then News 14 Carolina which was limited to only the North Carolina side of the market, until the arena naming rights deal was made. The team moved to the new Fox Sports South sub-feed Fox Sports Carolinas and SportSouth (now Fox Sports Southeast) with the 2008-09 season, allowing coverage through both the Carolinas.[30] Shortly after being acquired by Charter, the arena was renamed to Spectrum Center.

Former

Fox Cities Stadium

On March 9, 2007, Time Warner Cable, which provides service to the northeastern Wisconsin area, 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 and affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, based in Grand Chute, a suburb of Appleton. The team and Time Warner Cable mutually agreed to end the rights deal after the 2013 season, and the venue is now known as Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium, named for a local neurology practice.

Acquisitions

Adelphia

On July 31, 2007, Time Warner Cable and Comcast completed a deal to purchase practically all of Adelphia's assets for $17 billion.[31] 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.[32]

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 had been 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).[33] In the Twin Cities, Minneapolis was Time Warner and Saint Paul was Comcast. That whole market is now Comcast.

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.[34]

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.[35]

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.[36]

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.

The transactions proposed by Charter were approved, TWC and Bright House Networks have been absorbed into Charter.[24]

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 Beaumont, Texas, during 2008, Time Warner Cable began testing tier-based metered data plans that effectively placed customers into a pricing hierarchy based on the amount of data that they used, .[37] 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[38] and Stop The Cap[39] 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.[40]

Signal intrusion and 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.[41] 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."[42] A Time Warner executive said normal monitoring procedures did not take effect because the glitch affected only a few areas. Customers were told to pay the small fee, and that their next bill would be reduced. [43]

Cable clusters

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

Divisions

Time Warner Cable's divisions, from official website:

West Region

Former logo for "Oceanic Time Warner Cable" division

East Region

Time Warner Cable Spectrum.

Former divisions

Sold to Comcast

Divisions that became Bright House Networks

Rankings

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) ranked Time Warner Cable as one of the least liked companies in terms of customer satisfaction in 2011,[45] 2012,[46] 2013,[7][47] and 2014.[48]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Top 25 Multichannel Video Service Customers (2012)". National Cable & Telecommunications Association. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  2. ↑ "Investor Relations Contact Us." Time Warner Cable. Retrieved on March 6, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Locations". Time Warner Cable. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  4. ↑ Smith, Gerry (June 25, 2015). "Charter Promises Faster, Cheaper Internet to Win Merger Approval". Bloomberg.
  5. 1 2 "So Long Time Warner Cable: Charter to Retire Much-Maligned Brand". Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "Glenn Britt timeline" (PDF).
  7. 1 2 Henry, David; Sherman, Alex (June 11, 2014). "Glenn Britt, Who Raised Time Warner Cable Shares, Dies at 65". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Time Warner Cable Spinoff to Finish Next Month". New York Times. February 27, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Time Warner's $9 Billion Cable Spinoff". CBS News. Associated Press. May 21, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Time Warner Sets Final Distribution Ratio For Cable Spinoff". Dow Jones (via CNN Money). March 20, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  11. ↑ Lasar, Matthew (June 24, 2009). "Is Comcast and TimeWarner's "TV Everywhere" TV for everyone?". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  12. ↑ Cheng, Jacqui (December 15, 2009). "Comcast expands online video to all cable+Internet customers". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Analyst: Charter, Time Warner Cable Merger Looks Probable". Fox Business.com. September 11, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  14. ↑ Flint, Joe; James, Meg (November 22, 2013). "Charter Communications and Comcast may battle for Time Warner Cable". New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  15. ↑ Baker, Liana B. (February 13, 2014). "CORRECTED-UPDATE 7-Comcast takeover of Time Warner Cable to reshape U.S. pay TV". Reuters. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  16. ↑ "Netflix Says It Opposes Comcast’s Merger Bid". The New York Times. 21 Apr 2014. Retrieved 25 Apr 2014.
  17. ↑ "More Than 50 Public Interest Groups Speak Out Against the Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger". Freepress.net. 8 Apr 2014. Retrieved 14 Apr 2014.
  18. ↑ Julian Hattem (24 Mar 2014). "Writers Guild protests Comcast-Time Warner deal". The Hill. Retrieved 14 Apr 2014.
  19. ↑ Ira Teinowitz (9 Apr 2014). "Consumer Group Slams Comcast, Time-Warner Deal at New Senate Hearing (Updated)". The Wrap. Retrieved 14 Apr 2014.
  20. ↑ "Comcast/TWC merger may be blocked by Justice Department". Ars Technica. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  21. ↑ "Comcast / Time Warner Cable / Charter Transactions Terminated – Comcast Press Statement". Comcast. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  22. ↑ Sherman, Alex (25 May 2015). "Charter Near Deal for Time Warner Cable at $195 a Share". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  23. ↑ McGrath, Maggie (28 April 2014). "Comcast Strikes Deal With Charter To Divest Nearly 4 Million Subscribers". Forbes. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  24. 1 2 Steel, Emily (May 26, 2015). "Charter Communications Agrees to Acquire Time Warner Cable". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  25. ↑ "Charter completes purchase of Time Warner Cable, Bright House". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  26. ↑ "Charter introduces Spectrum brand in Southern California". Los Angeles Times. September 20, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
  27. ↑ "About Us - Time Warner Cable's Company History and News".
  28. ↑ Leichtman Research Group, "Research Notes," First Quarter 2012, pg. 6, Time Warner (#5) with 4,544,000 residential phone lines.
  29. ↑ "Heavy Reading: Cable Biz Sales to Hit $8.5B | Light Reading".
  30. ↑ "Deals widen Bobcats' TV reach". Charlotte.com. April 9, 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
  31. ↑ "CNNMoney.com: Time Warner to save on programming costs after Adelphia Deal – Jul, 31. 2006". CNN. July 31, 2006. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
  32. ↑ "Time Warner Press Release: Time Warner Cable Becomes a Public Company". Timewarner.com. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
  33. ↑ Ehling, Jeff (August 2, 2006). "Time-Warner Cable leaving Houston". KTRK-TV. American Broadcasting Company. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
  34. ↑ "Time Warner Cable buys NaviSite as hosting acquisitions pick up". zdnet.com. February 1, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  35. ↑ "Lexington, KY local and state news by the Lexington Herald-Leader – Kentucky.com". Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Time Warner Cable to acquire Regional Fiber Optic Network Company DukeNet Communications". Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  37. ↑ Lawson, Stephen (January 18, 2008). "Time Warner to Try Tiered Cable Pricing". IDG News Service. PC World. Retrieved April 11, 2009.
  38. ↑ "Stop TWC – More Info Coming Soon! Please Check Back!". Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  39. ↑ "Stop the Cap!". Stop the Cap!. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  40. ↑ Massa, Eric. "Congressman Eric Massa calls on Time Warner to eliminate Broadband Internet Cap". Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2009.
  41. ↑ Pearson, Erica (March 17, 2010). "Time Warner apologizes for accidentally showing Playboy previews on kiddie channels in N.C". Daily News. New York.
  42. ↑ Davis, Stacy (2010-03-16). "Time Warner apologizes for Playboy-kids channel glitch". WRAL.com. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  43. ↑ Archived February 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  44. ↑ "Time Warner Cable changes name to Bright House". Orlando Business Journal. American City Business Journals. March 7, 2003.
  45. ↑ Lubin, Gus; Vivian Giang (2011-06-29). "The 19 Most Hated Companies In America". Business Insider. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  46. ↑ Spector, Dina; Gus Lubin; Vivian Giang (2012-06-22). "The 15 Most Hated Companies In America". Business Insider. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  47. ↑ "Benchmarks by Companies: All Companies". American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
  48. ↑ Fottrell, Quentin (December 31, 2014). "The most unpopular company in America is …". MarketWatch. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
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