Not as Cutting-Edge
Provided the merger gets approval from regulators, Charter will have more resources to invest in new technologies that will benefit Time Warner Cable subscribers, said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. Still, Comcast has a multiyear head start on Charter, Moffett said.
“It may take some time before the benefits of being a Charter subscriber catch up to what would have been possible out of the gate with Comcast,” Moffett said.
For instance, Comcast’s TV product, X1, which lets customers store recorded TV shows in the cloud and watch them on mobile devices, is considered to be the most advanced in the cable industry.
“Comcast has probably done the best job investing in their product and broadband speeds and investing in programming,” said Paul Sweeney, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Time Warner Cable subscribers could have anticipated an improvement with their service with Comcast. With Charter, it’s less clear that they’re better off now.”
Cable companies, facing waning demand for their traditional TV packages of dozens of channels — many of which are never watched — have been boosting their high-speed Internet services to make up for the loss of subscribers. With the transaction, Charter will almost quadruple its broadband customers to 19 million, close to Comcast’s 22 million.
Will the merger lower customers’ bills? Don’t count on it, Sweeney said.
“It’s almost unheard of for consumers’ cable bills to go down as a result of a merger,” Sweeney said.
Article Appeared @http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-26/for-cable-subscribers-little-hope-to-get-better-satisfaction