Dallas, Texas 03/28/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Merger partners Comcast Corp. & Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) are 2 of The United States’ least-favorite cable companies, as per the new survey from the Consumer Reports. These cable giants have showed-up near the bottom of this magazine’s rankings in the survey of 81,848 TV users and Internet & phone plans users, reported the magazine. In this survey, which results are not directly comparable with the previous versions, the subscribers gave these companies very low marks for value and customer support.
Everything else in the consumer technology is getting much more affordable with every passing year, except communications services, Consumer Reports story’s electronics editor & the lead author Glenn Derene. Comcast is seeking the regulatory approval for its $45B takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) giving it the control of 30% of the current pay-TV market. This deal would help these companies to cut costs amidst the declining demand in the cable-industry, where the average bills of around $2,000/ year caused the actual number of United States pay-TV customers to drop last year for the 1st time. Susan Leepson, a spokesperson for Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) and John Demming, the spokesperson for Comcast did not immediately respond to the messages seeking their comment.
Prices are rising even with the stiffer competition from phone-carriers like Verizon Communications Inc. To a certain degree that is because the networks like CBS Corp & Walt Disney Co. are now charging the cable companies much higher fees for using their programming. The Consumer Reports cover-story shows just exactly how much this pay-TV industry has now infiltrated the wallets of customers’ wallets. The rate of the cable price rises more than doubled rate of inflation over 15 years right through 2012, said Derene. Providers of the bundled phone, Internet & cable packages have now been consistently low over the last six years, and amongst the magazine’s lowest-rated-consumer services, he said.
