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Time Warner Cable
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Time Warner Cable (formerly Warner Cable Communications) is an American national cable television company that operates in 27 states and has 31 operating divisions. Its corporate headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut, and has other corporate offices in Charlotte, North Carolina; Herndon, Virginia; and Denver, Colorado. Time Warner owns a majority of voting shares in the company, thus controlling it. Time Warner announced that it will spin out Time Warner Cable in March of 2009, spinning off its 84 percent stake to shareholders.
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.
Warner Cable 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.
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Encyclopedia
Time Warner Cable (formerly Warner Cable Communications) is an American national cable television company that operates in 27 states and has 31 operating divisions. Its corporate headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut, and has other corporate offices in Charlotte, North Carolina; Herndon, Virginia; and Denver, Colorado. Time Warner owns a majority of voting shares in the company, thus controlling it. Time Warner announced that it will spin out Time Warner Cable in March of 2009, spinning off its 84 percent stake to shareholders.
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.
History
Time Warner Cable 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. 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.
Arena
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.
- Time Warner Cable Arena (2008-present, known as Charlotte Bobcats Arena 2005-08)
Acquisition of Adelphia
On July 31, 2006, Time Warner Cable and Comcast completed a deal to purchase practically all of Adelphia's assets for $17 billion . 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.
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 . In the Twin Cities, Minneapolis was Time Warner and Saint Paul was Comcast. That whole market is now Comcast.
Advance/Newhouse and Time Warner (Bright House spinoff)
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 partnerships 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.
Sprint Nextel Venture
In late 2005, TWC and several other cable companies formed a venture with Sprint Nextel. This caused 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.
Carriage controversies
Local stations
- Columbia University, having coordinated interests with Time Warner, prevents competing cable companies, notably RCN, from having access to most of the residential buildings the university owns. This raises issues of monopolistic practices by Time Warner, and of ethical conduct by Columbia.
- Since September 2008, Time Warner Cable is under a carriage dispute with Daystar Television Network affiliate KDTN (Denton, Texas). As an end result, it was replaced with a test pattern. As of January 4, 2009; it was pulled from its lineup.
- On September 15, 2008 LIN TV temporarily pulled the signals of its stations from TWC and Bright House Networks in a total of 15 markets. Affected stations in areas served by TWC were WIVB/WNLO in Buffalo, New York; WLUK-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin; WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana; WDTN-TV in Dayton, Ohio; WUPW-TV in Toledo, Ohio; and WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana..
- On December 31, 2006 Sinclair Broadcast Group was scheduled to pull stations off Time Warner Cable in markets TWC inherited from Adelphia. Examples of such stations are WVAH, WGME and WCHS-TV in Charleston, West Virginia.. TWC eventually came to an agreement to extend the carriage.
- On December 15, 2006, KAYU-TV, the Fox affiliate serving eastern Washington and the Idaho panhandle, was pulled from TWC subscribers in those areas. The reason given was that KAYU had not been "negotiating in good faith" for permission to carry the channel; KAYU pulled its own signal and wants reverse compensation for its carriage. Time Warner fears that such an agreement will result in higher cable bills for its subscribers. Station officials are providing free rabbit-ear antennas to access the signal. On February 1, 2008, an agreement was finally reached between the two parties that allows Time Warner to retransmit the station's feed until February 1, 2013.
- On October 15, 2006, just hours before TWC was to drop WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia, station management and TWC came to an agreement. The key was that TWC agreed to add the new MyNetworkTV affiliate, which WSAZ carries on a digital subchannel. If no agreement was reached, WSAZ, the local NBC affiliate, would have been dropped on December 8.
- On October 4, 2006, TWC reached a new carriage agreement with Fox Television Stations Group-owned stations KDFW and KDFI, respective affiliates of FOX and MyNetworkTV in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Before that, a message was scrolling on a leased access channel saying, "Please be advised that pending progress of ongoing negotiations, Time Warner may be forced to discontinue carriage of KDFW and KDFI. While we remain hopeful that further negotiations are being made to keep KDFW and KDFI programming in the lineup, we're letting customers know in advance of this issue." Had the stations been pulled as threatened, most Dallas Cowboys games would have been unavailable to TWC subscribers.
- When The CW (which is half-owned by Time Warner) launched on September 18, 2006, a number of TWC systems did not carry the digital subchannels that the CW uses as affiliates in some areas. Among the stations whose subchannels are not carried on TWC are WCBD (DT2), Charleston, South Carolina; KVIA (DT2), El Paso, Texas; WLIO (DT2), Lima, Ohio; and KESQ (DT2), Palm Springs, California.
- On May 12, 2000, ABC network owned and operated stations were unavailable to TWC subscribers for 19 hours. The pullout, in the middle of a "sweeps" period, came because TWC could not agree with ABC's parent company, the Walt Disney Company, on whether to carry some specialty channels, like ESPN Classic and SoapNet. Those tuning in to stations like WABC in New York City or KABC in Los Angeles instead saw this static message, "Disney is taking ABC away from you." Thousands of people bought antennas from Radio Shack and other stores to view ABC programs, and KABC-AM in L.A. carried the audio feed of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, then the network's highest-rated program. Amidst huge public outcry, and threats of Congressional action, TWC and ABC reached a new deal to put the ABC stations back on the systems.
Cable/on demand channels
- On August 1, 2006, Time Warner Cable removed the NFL Network from its lineup in areas it gained from its deal with Comcast to jointly purchase bankrupt cable company Adelphia's assets and to swap certain areas it served with areas Comcast served. Adelphia and Comcast had both carried the National Football League's 24-hour network on a digital tier, however, NFL claims that Time Warner Cable now insists on making it into a premium channel on its systems. As a result, NFL Network lost millions of cable households just as it is beginning a new contract to air eight regular-season games a year. On August 3, 2006, the FCC ordered Time Warner Cable to reinstate the NFL Network on those systems from which it had removed the channel, upholding the complaint that they had failed to comply with the required 30 day notice period required to be given to customers, before removing a channel. After considering its options, Time Warner Cable restored the channel at midnight on August 4, 2006, with an onscreen notice warning the viewers the channel would be removed in 30 days. Time Warner Cable issued a petition to the FCC in an attempt to reverse the decision citing "severe, immediate and irreparable harm" to Time Warner Cable and its customers, and threatening legal action if the FCC did not reach a decision by 10am on August 7, 2006. On that day, the FCC responded to Time Warner Cable's petition by upholding the Commission's initial ruling that the NFL Network remain on the air for the required period. After two extensions of the deadline, TWC finally pulled the plug on September 15, 2006. "We will continue to negotiate and remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached that is beneficial to all", the network said in a statement that flashed on the screen in place of NFL Network. TWC did agree to carry a free preview from December 24 to December 30, primarily so that local viewers could watch the Rutgers Scarlet Knights play in the Texas Bowl, but no longterm agreement has been reached.
- On November 1, 2006, Starz! On Demand became available to some TWC subscribers. This came as a result of settlement of a long running dispute over its carriage. Starz! required this to be free to their subscribers, however, Time Warner Cable insisted on packaging all Premium On Demand channels in a separate tier which would require an additional monthly fee for Starz subscribers. The channel is still not available in the "Capital Region" around Albany, New York, among other places.
- In another on-demand development, TWC had to modify "Dodgers on Demand", a joint venture with the Los Angeles Dodgers, on its systems in the Los Angeles area. In September 2006, Major League Baseball ordered TWC to remove the service, saying that MLB Advanced Media has rights to all interactive content taken from its games. TWC and the Dodgers responded by removing most highlights, excluding those from the team's 2006 Division Series loss to the New York Mets, which came from a newscast on KCBS.
- Time Warner Cable was the only major cable or satellite TV provider not to offer GolTV (soccer channel) until it was added on August 6 2008 in the New York area.
- The MTV Digital Suite networks (MTV Hits, MTV Jams, VH1 Classic and VH1 Soul) are unavailable on most Time Warner and Bright House Networks systems. Only former Adelphia systems carry the channels under Time Warner management, likely to fulfill the Adelphia contract; the channels were taken off for two months and then placed on a new tier of service when the systems were taken over.
- As of December 31, 2008, Time Warner and Viacom were unable to come to an agreement to renew any Viacom channel beyond the end of the year. Therefore, Time Warner and Bright House Networks would have lost all 19 Viacom channels (including Comedy Central and Nickelodeon) starting on January 1, 2009. This blackout was narrowly avoided when a zero-hour deal was reached shortly after 12 Midnight ET on 1/1/2009.
Cable Clusters
- Alabama Cluster
- Alabama - Cullman, Dothan, Enterprise, Ft. Payne, Hanceville/Garden City, Warrior/Blountsville
- California Cluster (700,000 customers)
- The Carolinas Cluster (1.763 million customers)
- Colorado Cluster
- Colorado - Gunnison, Telluride
- Florida Cluster
- Georgia Cluster
- Hawaii Cluster (401,000 customers) (Operating as Oceanic Time Warner Cable)
- Kansas Cluster
- Kansas - Kansas City, Liberal
- Kentucky Cluster
- Indiana - Terre Haute, Madison, Newburgh, Rockport
- Illinois - Shawneetown
- Kentucky - Dixon/Clay, Morganfield, Owensboro, Ashland, Lexington metro (suburbs only)/Central KY
- Ohio - Ironton
- Virginia - Richlands/Tazewell
- Mississippi Cluster
- Missouri Cluster
- Missouri - Chillicothe, Kansas City, Kennett, Marshall
- New England Cluster
- Nebraska Cluster
- New York Cluster
- New Jersey - Bergen County, Hudson County
- New York - Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Delaware County, Greene County, Mount Vernon, New York City (Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, most of western Brooklyn), Orange County, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Sullivan County, Syracuse, Ulster County
- Massachusetts - Athol, North Adams, Orange, Pittsfield and Williamstown
- Northwest Cluster
- Idaho - Bonners Ferry, Coeur d'Alene, Moscow, Mountainhome
- Montana - Libby, Troy
- Washington - Friday Harbor, Pullman
- Ohio Cluster (1.476 million customers)
- Oklahoma Cluster
- Texas Cluster (2,076,000)
- Texas - Austin, Beaumont/Port Arthur, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Harlingen, Killeen/Temple, Laredo, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Waco, and Wichita Falls
- West Virginia Cluster
- West Virginia - Clarksburg
- Wisconsin Cluster (566,000 customers)
- Wyoming Cluster
Divisions
Time Warner Cable's 22 Divisions, from and from official website.
- Oceanic Time Warner Cable (Hawaii)
- Time Warner Cable Albany
- Time Warner Cable Austin
- Time Warner Cable Charlotte
- Time Warner Cable Eastern Carolina (Wilmington)
- Time Warner Cable Greensboro
- Time Warner Cable Kansas City
- Time Warner Cable Los Angeles
- Time Warner Cable Mid-Ohio (Columbus)
- Time Warner Cable National (non-clustered systems)
- Time Warner Cable New England (Portland, ME and Berlin and Keene, NH)
- Time Warner Cable New York and New Jersey
- Time Warner Cable North Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth) (formerly Comcast)
- Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio (Akron)
- Time Warner Cable San Antonio
- Time Warner Cable San Diego
- Time Warner Cable South Carolina (Columbia)
- Time Warner Cable Southwest (El Paso, Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Border Corridor, Golden Triangle, Kerrville, Rio Grande Valley, and South Central)
- Time Warner Cable Southwest Ohio (Miami Valley & Cincinnati)
- Time Warner Cable Syracuse
- Time Warner Cable Western New York (Formerly Buffalo/Niagra and Rochester Divisions)
- Time Warner Cable Wisconsin (Milwaukee & Green Bay)
+ In August 2006, Time Warner Cable merged Dayton & Cincinnati into "Southwest Ohio" and moved much of the former Dayton customers in Northwest Ohio north of a line running from Mercer & Auglaize counties to the Mid-Ohio (Columbus) division.
Former divisions sold to Comcast
- Time Warner Cable Houma (Now Comcast)
- Time Warner Cable Houston (Now Comcast Houston)
- Time Warner Cable Lake City/Live Oak (Now Comcast)
- Time Warner Cable Mid-South (Memphis, TN, AR, and MS) (Now Comcast)
- Time Warner Cable Minnesota (Now Comcast)
- Time Warner Cable Shreveport (Now Comcast)
- Time Warner Cable St. Augustine/Palatka (Now Comcast)
Statistics
As of December 31, 2006, there were 13.4 million basic cable subscribers, 7.3 million Digital cable subscribers, 7.0 million Road Runner residential subscribers, 2.5 million DVR subscribers, and 1.9 million Digital Phone subscribers.
Time Warner Cable remains the only Time Warner division to use the Time-Warner "Eye and Ear" logo designed to symbolize TW's video- and audio-based divisions and first used briefly when the company formed in 1989.
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