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Charter to buy Time Warner Cable (& continue with BrightHouse acquisition)

Thundershock MN

By Thundershock MN
in General TV

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bgiesing Assignment Editor

bgiesing 46

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Oh god no. No. No. That actually sounds awful. Why can't these channels revert back to their original names or at least a new name? I rather see NY1 go back to actually being called NY1 and that's it. Not "NY1 News Spectrum" or the other way around or anything else. Holy god.

 

Just keep it as NY1 News and I rather see Charter News than Spectrum News. As much as they're trying to push Spectrum now, I think they should just keep the names for those networks as Charter.

 

Probably good odds that Charter just dumps the standardization with NY1 and just goes with 'NY1' most of the time and then 'NY1, the Spectrum news channel for the five boroughs exclusively on Charter & FIOS (and whatever else they're on)' in the copyright liner. Charter is one for simplicity in all of their branding.

 

Charter has slowly been abandoning Charter as a brand for a few years now. The only thing that keeps the Charter name (for now) is their consumer service which uses Spectrum as a sub-brand. For instance their business service is now Spectrum Business, media analytics division is now Spectrum Reach, etc and none of them mention Charter at all other than the copyright to Charter Communications at the bottom of the page. I suspect they are planning on changing the company name soon to something like Spectrum Communications or Spectrum Inc.

 

I personally think Spectrum News sounds way better than Charter News but that's my opinion.

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Thundershock MN News Director

Thundershock MN 169

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I just read that Charter plans to retire the Time Warner Cable name tommorow, alongside the closing of the sale.http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2016/05/17/twc-to-officially-become-charter-communications-on-wednesday.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-17/so-long-time-warner-cable-charter-to-retire-much-maligned-brand
The TWC name/brand won't disappear with the snap of the fingers. From the linked Bloomberg article: "Charter has decided to phase out the Time Warner Cable name over time, according to Alex Dudley, a company spokesman. Included in the rebranding effort is Bright House Networks LLC, the cable provider Charter bought in conjunction with Time Warner Cable."

 

I would suspect one reason they're retiring the Time Warner Cable brand is that they are licensing the "Time Warner" portion of the name from Time Warner, Inc. (and, I assume, making ongoing payments to do so).

You are correct. Time Warner, Inc. owns not just the "Time Warner Cable" name but the logo, too. And, Time Warner, Inc. licenses the name/logo to Time Warner Cable. However, I don't believe Time Warner, Inc. charges a "license fee" to Time Warner Cable, though...if they do it must be a super low fee. If they were paying some exorbitant fee they likely would have changed their name some time ago. My guess is Time Warner, Inc. is/was simply licensing the name in order to maintain control of the "Time Warner" brand.

 

Charter has slowly been abandoning Charter as a brand for a few years now. The only thing that keeps the Charter name (for now) is their consumer service which uses Spectrum as a sub-brand. For instance their business service is now Spectrum Business, media analytics division is now Spectrum Reach, etc and none of them mention Charter at all other than the copyright to Charter Communications at the bottom of the page. I suspect they are planning on changing the company name soon to something like Spectrum Communications or Spectrum Inc.

Nah, I don't see a name change coming any time soon. Charter will be the name of the company. But, they will use the Spectrum branding for their services. They have already been doing this and it basically mirrors what Comcast is doing with the Xfinity branding for their services.

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IndyNewsOpens AM Anchor

IndyNewsOpens 83

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Say hello to "Spectrum News" So far Texas & Antelope Valley (CA) has changed their name and twitter handles. The websites' logo has changed to include both logos.

Austin:[MEDIA=twitter]778176485681143808[/MEDIA]

NY1: th_image_27.png

 

Going to twc.com also takes you to a mix of TWC and Charter's site. Wonder if a new site is coming along.

 

Nothing with Bright House yet, though BHN is removing support via DSLReports, as part of their merger also.

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mrschimpf Station Group CEO

mrschimpf 2059

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I like it. No major changes except for getting rid of the TW hieroglyph, NY1 is still exactly that and two syllables before 'news' instead of five. What's not to like?

 

Well, I'd like Charter to extend NY1 to nationwide coverage, but that's a wish I'm sure is low on their list right now (for one thing they still have to add the TWC local sports channels to their Charter systems).

 

Going to twc.com also takes you to a mix of TWC and Charter's site. Wonder if a new site is coming along.

 

As someone on the Charter side, they're beginning to push everyone towards spectrum.net through their web ads and cablenet advertising. Should be soon for TWC. Also Spectrum basically subsumed Time Warner Cable's US Open sponsorship; their logo was all over courtsides.

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LoadStar News Director

LoadStar 363

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Yup, Spectrum News and Spectrum Sports are better than the very wordy Time Warner Cable News/Sports.

 

I just want them to move a little more quickly with actually merging the two business groups. I hate this interminable honeymoon period. I hate that in Milwaukee, we got the all-digital upgrade, but didn't get any internet speed increases or any other changes that were promoted as being associated with the digital upgrade. But I digress.

 

I just flipped on Time Warner Cable Spectrum Sports Milwaukee for the first time in a long time. They're still branding it as Time Warner Cable Sports; the change hasn't made it to on-air yet. It's still a very low budget production, but at least the graphics don't look totally amateur hour like they did when the channel first launched. It looks like they're trying to put out a good product with the limited funds they're given.

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ToriElectra News Director

ToriElectra 291

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I'm wondering when they're gonna rebrand Bay News 9 and (Central Florida) News 13 to- I'm guessing here- Spectrum News Tampa Bay and Spectrum News Orlando. They've been largely independent because of being under the Bright House umbrella, and now they're all part of Charter. I really wish they'd approach JC Burns to do the graphics for the new Spectrum brand- he's got history with nearly all the nets. And I love that name- it fits, given how they have a spectrum of news and sports channels all over the place.

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William1111 Weekend Anchor

William1111 41

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Telling by the new logo on TWC's website, I have some feeling Charter will market Spectrum as a brand of TWC in the respective ex-TWC markets (and possibly Bright House as well). ex: "Spectrum by Time Warner Cable" in NYC, and existing Charter markets will continue to have "Spectrum by Charter"

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LoadStar News Director

LoadStar 363

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Telling by the new logo on TWC's website, I have some feeling Charter will market Spectrum as a brand of TWC in the respective ex-TWC markets (and possibly Bright House as well). ex: "Spectrum by Time Warner Cable" in NYC, and existing Charter markets will continue to have "Spectrum by Charter"

That's only as a transition thing. Long term, they're definitely going to be ditching the Time Warner Cable name. Not only does it have some serious baggage attached to it, the "Time Warner" portion of the name is under license from Time Warner, Inc.

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nomadcowatbk Managing Editor

nomadcowatbk 144

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I like it. No major changes except for getting rid of the TW hieroglyph, NY1 is still exactly that and two syllables before 'news' instead of five. What's not to like?

 

Well, I'd like Charter to extend NY1 to nationwide coverage, but that's a wish I'm sure is low on their list right now (for one thing they still have to add the TWC local sports channels to their Charter systems).

 

 

 

As someone on the Charter side, they're beginning to push everyone towards spectrum.net through their web ads and cablenet advertising. Should be soon for TWC. Also Spectrum basically subsumed Time Warner Cable's US Open sponsorship; their logo was all over courtsides.

 

NY1 is available on TWC systems in NC

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nomadcowatbk Managing Editor

nomadcowatbk 144

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That's only as a transition thing. Long term, they're definitely going to be ditching the Time Warner Cable name. Not only does it have some serious baggage attached to it, the "Time Warner" portion of the name is under license from Time Warner, Inc.

 

 

and Time Warner Inc doesn't even own Time magazine anymore

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mrschimpf Station Group CEO

mrschimpf 2059

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NY1 is available on TWC systems in NC

 

That's how I found out it had availability outside the Tri-State when I visited the area (and loved it). Even if it was on the Spectrum Gold tier (yes, get used to the Gold-Silver-Bronze tiering, and nope, you can't decline one premium channel just because you don't watch it) and you had to buy the Filipino tier or something unusual to get it (ONE World Sports and Willow are very odd in allowing you to get them with a language package), it would be a good value add for Spectrum overall, though if they would expand it, sell advertising for it rather than becoming a PSA Hell outside of programming due to New York ads not needing North Carolina ad dollars.

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NEOMatrix Station Group CEO

NEOMatrix 1295

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That's how I found out it had availability outside the Tri-State when I visited the area (and loved it). Even if it was on the Spectrum Gold tier (yes, get used to the Gold-Silver-Bronze tiering, and nope, you can't decline one premium channel just because you don't watch it) and you had to buy the Filipino tier or something unusual to get it (ONE World Sports and Willow are very odd in allowing you to get them with a language package), it would be a good value add for Spectrum overall, though if they would expand it, sell advertising for it rather than becoming a PSA Hell outside of programming due to New York ads not needing North Carolina ad dollars.

Speaking of tiers, how do the tiers work at Charter compared to TWC? Also, I wonder if Charter is going to cook up an advanced cable platform similar to X1 so that no one will have to suffer through the indignities of I-Guide anymore.

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ToriElectra News Director

ToriElectra 291

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Speaking of tiers, how do the tiers work at Charter compared to TWC? Also, I wonder if Charter is going to cook up an advanced cable platform similar to X1 so that no one will have to suffer through the indignities of I-Guide anymore.

According to their website, they have two different "Spectrum Guides" in some markets, plus i-Guide, Passport, SARA and apparently their MOXI boxes still function somewhere out there. Add in TWC's Navigator to the mix and you've got a mess on Charter's hands. They need to just pick one guide and stick with it.

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Weeters Station Group CEO

Weeters 1811

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That's only as a transition thing. Long term, they're definitely going to be ditching the Time Warner Cable name. Not only does it have some serious baggage attached to it, the "Time Warner" portion of the name is under license from Time Warner, Inc.

 

Saw a van wrapped with the Spectrum logo while I was driving around today, no mention of TWC anywhere on it.

 

Looking forward to all my older relatives who hate TWC asking me if I've heard about "this new Spectrum company".

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LoadStar News Director

LoadStar 363

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I think this will be a longer re-branding process. Probably not nearly as long as the AirTran -> Southwest merger, but probably something similar in execution.

 

You'll probably see anything permanent (signs on stores and facilities, vans, etc) rebranded to "Spectrum." While this is going on, anything temporary (marketing materials, TV ads, websites, etc.) will carry "Time Warner Cable" and "Spectrum" co-branding

 

I think this process could take a year or more to get everything cut over to the Spectrum branding and for the Time Warner Cable name to finally die.

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mrschimpf Station Group CEO

mrschimpf 2059

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Speaking of tiers, how do the tiers work at Charter compared to TWC? Also, I wonder if Charter is going to cook up an advanced cable platform similar to X1 so that no one will have to suffer through the indignities of I-Guide anymore.

 

Basically Bronze is what used to be described as basic cable, and Silver is pretty much that along with the newer digital cable channels, though the distinction has begun to blur (FXX obviously went from the sports pack to basic when it switched from Fox Soccer, for instance); Silver is also HBO, Cinemax and Showtime; Starz is a bit extra. Gold is everything, including those oddball HD networks that haven't been re-classed to regular channels yet, along with Starz, Epix and the rest of CBS/Showtime's premiums. They also have a 'stream-only' platform for cord-shavers where a Roku and a download of the Spectrum app there gets you about 20 channels and SD locals for $25/month

 

The Spectrum Guide has been their X1 competitor, but it's been in beta for a long time (it's using a cloud backbone, but said backbone is still very, very slow). Like Spectrum27 said, they have so many platforms and iterations out there on Motorola/Arris, Cisco/Scientific Atlanta, including i-Guide (circa 2007) and SARA (which...why? March into the customer's home and pull that ancient box!) that it's going to take awhile to get it all sorted; I only use i-Guide on the lower boxes in my house, but TiVo is my daily driver (the Rovi purchase/guide conversion has been a pain though).

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