Search:  

 
 
   News
newer
story category Time Warner Cable Learns From Negative Attack Ads
In battle against AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS
04:05PM Sunday Oct 05 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: competition · cable · RoadRunner Cable
Ad Age explores how Time Warner Cable (TWC) is taking aim at AT&T and Verizon by taking a page out of the negative political attack ad playbook. Their new ads and website feature Comedian Mike O'Malley, and jab Verizon on things like complicated billing and the occasional dug up azaleas. Like political ads, truth is also sometimes optional; the cable company oftenblurring the line between last mile and core network fiber. But TWC chief marketing exec also touches on how they've tried to avoid Comcast's rep for poor service among the media and blogs by keeping their eye on customer satisfaction:
The blogosphere is strong, and people's tolerance for terrible service is low. When we survey our customers, its very clear they're pleased. They're even reasonably tolerant of stuff not working. But unfortunately with Comcast Must Die, it's probably they're being picked on because of their size but particularly there might've been a threshold crossed. In our case we haven't crossed that threshold and certainly must not.

Related:
  1. Time Warner Cable To Launch DOCSIS 3.0 In New York
  2. Time Warner Caps: Behind The Numbers
  3. Time Warner Cable Says They're Ready For FiOS Rumble
  4. Time Warner Cable Eyeing NYC Network Sale?
  5. Long Awaited Japanese Caps Arrive: 930GB Per Month
  6. Time Warner Cable Using Fine Print To Foist Caps On Customers
  7. Time Warner Cable Upgrades To Be 'Surgical'
  8. Time Warner Cable Beats Back AT&T, Verizon
Forums » Time Warner Cable Learns From Negative Attack Ads
view: topics flat text 
Post a:

punker
deleted by moderator
Premium
join:2004-06-21
Palmdale, CA
clubs:

edit:
October 5th, @04:18PM

FREE HD------IS not free

that will Cost you 160$ of hidden fees

sattalite may charge 100$ for hd for one year

but TWC say it's free from them

BUT when you pay for that HDbox it's 16$/ a month = over 192$ per year

hiddenman

@rr.com

Re: FREE HD------IS not free

All companies have hidden fees such as franchise fees ect...

Steve Mehs
Go Sabres

join:2005-07-16
It's free HD programming genius, not hardware.

JTM1051
MVM
join:2000-07-08
Moorpark, CA

Re: FREE HD------IS not free

said by Steve Mehs See Profile :

It's free HD programming genius, not hardware.
Not just "hardware". Its $5.50/month for the Digital receiver (or $6.50/month HD DVR) and remote, plus $10.00 service fee per month.

The thing is, TWC's main cable pricing ads I've seen (mailers and online) only states "Free HDTV Local Channels" -- there's no "*" thereafter to indicate anything additional is required. Hence by TWC's ads I can see why people would be think that the "Free HDTV Local Channels" would be free.

Only until you get deeper into the cable pricing you'll see the additional costs to get the "Free HDTV Local Channels":



Dogfather
Altitude is your friend
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA
·Cox HSI
·Verizon FIOS
·MegaPath
·Cox VOIP
·Verizon west (ex G..
·ViaTalk
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable


edit:
October 5th, @08:15PM

Re: FREE HD------IS not free


$10 is only for asterisked DVR HW options
Read it again. That's for DVR services. Just like TiVo charges $12.95 for DVR service, Time Warner charges $10.00 per month for DVR service. DVR is not HD and DVR Service is not hardware.

If you have a standard HD receiver you don't pay the $10.

punker
deleted by moderator
Premium
join:2004-06-21
Palmdale, CA
clubs:
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable

Re: FREE HD------IS not free

said by Dogfather See Profile :

Read it again. That's for DVR services. Just like TiVo charges $12.95 for DVR service, Time Warner charges $10.00 per month for DVR service. DVR is not HD and DVR Service is not hardware.

If you have a standard HD receiver you don't pay the $10.
in this area it's 16$ permonth for HD DVR

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: FREE HD------IS not free

said by punker See Profile :

said by Dogfather See Profile :

Read it again. That's for DVR services. Just like TiVo charges $12.95 for DVR service, Time Warner charges $10.00 per month for DVR service. DVR is not HD and DVR Service is not hardware.

If you have a standard HD receiver you don't pay the $10.
in this area it's 16$ permonth for HD DVR
here its 18 a month then the fees to make it work are extra then the cableco slush fund fee[aka gateway fee]
--
When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee
Joe12345678

join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL

said by punker See Profile :

that will Cost you 160$ of hidden fees

sattalite may charge 100$ for hd for one year

but TWC say it's free from them

BUT when you pay for that HDbox it's 16$/ a month = over 192$ per year
$100 on sattalite gets you hbo, stars , sho , max , and tmc
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

.. so tell us.. if you were to purchase your own HD capable box, or DCR TV.. how much would that cost? About $400 for the box and about the same for the TV.

SOME providers do charge for an HD tier and I think that's plain flat wrong. You're already paying for the programming. To be charged for an HD tier is to be paying the bill to upgrade their system.. again, that's wrong in my book. Those upgrades should come from subscriber fees.

Some providers only charge for the hardware which is where my main point comes in. Comcast, for example, charges just for the box. The basic HD Box fee is about $7 on top of the standard converter. Divide $7 per month into what you'd pay to purchase your own equipment and I think it's a bargain. Not to mention, THEY maintain, repair, or replace the equipment if it goes bad, AND when something new comes out, there's no upfront cost to replace it either.

Some people don't care and would rather own but others see the value in renting/leasing so it's choice.

Further, your $16 a month also includes the basic box rental fee which you'd pay for anyway, so you have to be fair and subtract that from your $16/month and $192/yr comparison. And, isn't the $16 per month price also the DVR box which is Box+DVR+HD?
moonpuppy

join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: FREE HD------IS not free

Some people prefer to own as in the case of those with Tivo boxes but they do have to rent either 1 or 2 cable cards.

I wish I could have gotten HD channels from Comcast without a box using my TV tuner but all I got were the locals which Comcast seemed to want to move every couple of months for some reason.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

said by punker See Profile :

that will Cost you 160$ of hidden fees

sattalite may charge 100$ for hd for one year

but TWC say it's free from them

BUT when you pay for that HDbox it's 16$/ a month = over 192$ per year
Same on cox. the stuff the fees for the "free hd" into box rentals.
--
When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee

bobjohnson
Premium
join:2007-02-03
Titusville, FL
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·Vonage

Re: FREE HD------IS not free

said by dvd536 See Profile :

said by punker See Profile :

that will Cost you 160$ of hidden fees

sattalite may charge 100$ for hd for one year

but TWC say it's free from them

BUT when you pay for that HDbox it's 16$/ a month = over 192$ per year
Same on cox. the stuff the fees for the "free hd" into box rentals.
Bright house charges you the fee for the digital box and if you upgrade it to HD the fee doesn't change...
--
Any unauthorized copying or distribution of the opinion above constitutes stupidity and you should probably be punished


dasdeqe

@mindspring.com

'... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

That is one big lie.
As bad as TWC saying that they have deployed fiber for more than 10 years.

Not crossing a threshold?
There are many anti-TWC websites on the Internet.

This representative of TWC is living in his employer's fantasy world.

punker
deleted by moderator
Premium
join:2004-06-21
Palmdale, CA
clubs:
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

said by dasdeqe :

That is one big lie.
As bad as TWC saying that they have deployed fiber for more than 10 years.

Not crossing a threshold?
There are many anti-TWC websites on the Internet.

This representative of TWC is living in his employer's fantasy world.
if you want FTTH

it will cost you to run a fiber line

about 5k to 10k

then you will have fiber from TWC
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

Um, TWC HAS been deploying fiber for over 10 years.

There is plenty of crap to go around on both sides. Verizon is implying "our service is fiber" as to insinuate that the other providers don't use fiber which is not necessarily true.

TWC is saying they deploy fiber which is true. Their fiber runs to the node and concerts to coax for the last 1,000 feet.

Also, there are plenty of anti-NameTheProvider sites out there. For every provider, there is a group of people that hate them. (ie: comcastsuck, verizonsucks, etc)
wev567

join:2006-02-25
Pittsburgh, PA

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

said by fiberguy See Profile :

Um, TWC HAS been deploying fiber for over 10 years.
And the telcos have had major fiber deployments since the 1970s. So where is the innovation? Verizon is advertising their FiOS as having fiber that the cablecos don't have. There is no time in a 30 second commercial to explain all the complexities of how the systems work. Not perfect, but certainly more fair than implying that your network is built exactly the same as your competitors when it's not. If your network can do the same things, then sell those benefits.
iansltx

join:2007-02-19
Fredericksburg, TX
·Qwest.net
·Comcast
·magicjack.com
·BeeCreek Communica..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

Easy FiOS commercial:

1. With FiOS we run a superfast fiber optic connection to your house.
2. With cable, they run a fiber connection too...maybe...to 1,000 or more feet away! *sad trombone*
3. You share that FiOS connection with a few hundred people, so sometimes it gets very sloooow.
4. With Verizon, you share a connection, but it's with just 32 people, and that connection is over 16 times the speed of cable!
5. So what do you want? Fiber waaaaay over there, or fiber right here, from the nation's most reliable network?

That should fit into a 30 second ad. If not, definitely a 60 second one. Billing issues, yes, but I'd rather spend time on the phone correcting the bill for 20 mbps symmetric than paying about the same price per month, with a call every once in awhile, for 8/2 service. now if I was looking at an ncapped cable cnnection (like OOL's Boost) I might stick around lnger on cable, but the crap that current cable customers in most places have to put up with just doesn't cut it.

cousintim

join:2004-10-10
Dallas, TX

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

said by iansltx See Profile :

I'd rather spend time on the phone correcting the bill for 20 mbps symmetric than paying about the same price per month, with a call every once in awhile, for 8/2 service.
Not me. Calling at least once a month, every month, would get old very fast...like after the first month. I despise dealing with billing problems.
iansltx

join:2007-02-19
Fredericksburg, TX
·Qwest.net
·Comcast
·magicjack.com
·BeeCreek Communica..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

An hour on the phone for a 150% increase in download speed and a 900% increase in uploa speed is a small price to pay. But that's me...a person who would only be subscribing to internet services, so there isn't much to get wrong on the bill . Then again, I've had good luck with Sprint

GuyInSoCal

@rr.com
I think you messed up on #3 and I don't know why Verizon doesn't come out with commercials like that =/.
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

here's the thing..

Commercials are designed to reach a broad group of people, ie: broadcasting. I hear what you're saying in your post, but I'm going to counter you. The fact that WE are even here talking is pointless. Verizon has reached you. you KNOW about Verizon and FiOS already. You also know what you need to about Cable service, right?

... job done. You are no longer necessary to either of them until and unless you purchase. The fact that you know about their technology, this particular ad has served it's purpose to you.

With that, there really is no need to discuss. Consumers will purchase a service on more than one item alone. You could pump out 1gb sym service and it won't open the flood gates of customers to your phone banks. Different strokes for different folks. Some of the things people care about are:

.. Customer service
.. Established relationships
.. Product offerings
.. Reliability
.. Billing issues
.. The name of the provider itself
.. Ease of dealing with a company
.. Trust
.. Perceived value
.. Technology offered
.. Price

... and none in any particular order. I'm sure there are many more reasons too.

And HOW they should advertise.. there is never a one size ad fits all. All a commercial is designed to do is grab someone's attention in order to generate a phone call to the customer service lines, or a hit to their website. Likewise, some people here still believe that a commercial is also designed to tell the entire story of what the service is going to give you.. 30 seconds or 60 seconds is not enough... in fact, I don't think a 30 minute info-mercial would work. I mean in that case, you'd have all commercials sounding like these designer drugs.. the announcer would say the name of the drug, some happy smiles, and the rest would be an announcer reading the TOS to some happy music to make it sound good.

mdlthomas

join:2000-04-24
Nashville, TN

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

They should just end the thread here. Nail on Head fiberguy.
--
mdlt

kamm

join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
·Packet8

said by fiberguy See Profile :

Um, TWC HAS been deploying fiber for over 10 years.

There is plenty of crap to go around on both sides. Verizon is implying "our service is fiber" as to insinuate that the other providers don't use fiber which is not necessarily true.

TWC is saying they deploy fiber which is true. Their fiber runs to the node and concerts to coax for the last 1,000 feet.

Also, there are plenty of anti-NameTheProvider sites out there. For every provider, there is a group of people that hate them. (ie: comcastsuck, verizonsucks, etc)
Except it's BS as their fiber does not go to the last mile, nor the all the backbone.

Stop spreading BS, please.
--
[BQUOTE=[user=bicker]]Waaaa waaaa waaaa. You just want what you want and don't care to factor in what is right or true. Your perspectives are un-American, and deserve far more ridicule than I'm prepared to pile on them.
[/BQUOTE]
redhatnation
Premium
join:2005-06-02
Woodbridge, VA
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

said by kamm See Profile :

said by fiberguy See Profile :

Um, TWC HAS been deploying fiber for over 10 years.

There is plenty of crap to go around on both sides. Verizon is implying "our service is fiber" as to insinuate that the other providers don't use fiber which is not necessarily true.

TWC is saying they deploy fiber which is true. Their fiber runs to the node and concerts to coax for the last 1,000 feet.

Also, there are plenty of anti-NameTheProvider sites out there. For every provider, there is a group of people that hate them. (ie: comcastsuck, verizonsucks, etc)
Except it's BS as their fiber does not go to the last mile, nor the all the backbone.

Stop spreading BS, please.
What? Are we supposed to take your word for it?

kamm

join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
·Packet8

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

said by redhatnation See Profile :

said by kamm See Profile :

said by fiberguy See Profile :

Um, TWC HAS been deploying fiber for over 10 years.

There is plenty of crap to go around on both sides. Verizon is implying "our service is fiber" as to insinuate that the other providers don't use fiber which is not necessarily true.

TWC is saying they deploy fiber which is true. Their fiber runs to the node and concerts to coax for the last 1,000 feet.

Also, there are plenty of anti-NameTheProvider sites out there. For every provider, there is a group of people that hate them. (ie: comcastsuck, verizonsucks, etc)
Except it's BS as their fiber does not go to the last mile, nor the all the backbone.

Stop spreading BS, please.
What? Are we supposed to take your word for it?
What? Are we supposed to take his word for it?
--
[BQUOTE=[user=bicker]]Waaaa waaaa waaaa. You just want what you want and don't care to factor in what is right or true. Your perspectives are un-American, and deserve far more ridicule than I'm prepared to pile on them.
[/BQUOTE]
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

Re: '... Customer satisfied with TWC service ...'

I'll take my word over it any day over your POC statements. You are so full of yourself it's not even funny.

First off, if you knew ANYTHING about what was being talked about, you'd crawl back into your hole and STFU.

For ANY advanced cable system to work today, the entire system is at least a hybrid fiber/coax system.

Second, no where in the advertisement does TWC say they run fiber to the home.

So, with that, why don't you take your head and put it back up your place where you grow mushrooms.. troll.

kfsutops
Premium
join:2002-08-19
Brandon, FL
clubs:

edit:
October 5th, @08:04PM

Why don't they advertise the limits they are "testing"

I can't wait to see those adds......

Somehow I doubt we ever will..
mrvid

join:2007-06-19
Levittown, NY


edit:
October 6th, @06:12AM

difference between reliable system and non reliable by design..

Make no mistake, I am not a fan of TWC cause it seems it always takes a ton of competition for them to upgrade their system. TWC, however, must be fairly reliable by design cause the years I lived in NYC, and friends I know that have TWC who live in NYC find them to be very reliable. It hardly, if ever, goes down; thats is important to me if my phone is going to be working off of it. Bear in mind though.

Verizon is very reliable too and now their in NYC, my experience in the past was pretty much both companies being pretty much equally reliable so it will be interesting to see how they battle for customers.

MrBradTX

join:2001-05-23
Carrollton, TX
·RoadRunner Cable

occasional dug up azaleas my foot

Just after Verizon's contractors were done lighting up my street, burying fiber in the utility easement, my neighbor alerted me to a lagoon forming in my front yard. Turns out some sprinkler PVC was damaged during the work.

I was ready to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they didn't know they had damaged the pipe, until I discovered the PVC wasn't just damaged, it was missing. They had taken a 4-foot section of PVC with them, including a sprinkler head, and hadn't bothered to tell anyone.
Forums » Time Warner Cable Learns From Negative Attack Ads


Thursday, 20-Nov 23:41:58 Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo | feedback | contact
over 9 years online! © 1999-2008 dslreports.com.