6-4-15 telecommunications expert says charter’s puchase of time-warner bad for consumers

In a deal which would affect millions of Wisconsinites, and one in every six American households, Charter Communications is proposing an acquisition of Time-Warner Cable. Nationally recognized telecommunications expert Barry Orton, a UW-Madison professor, says this is bad news for consumers. While the companies involved say it will mean rates will be lower, Orton says that has never happened, and in fact the additional debt taken on by the new company probably will cause cable TV rates to rise even faster. Orton says there will have to be downsizing, too.  “Time-Warner has a very big customer service center, a phone center in Appleton and a smaller one in Milwaukee; and Charter has a very big one in Fond du Lac and a smaller one in Madison.  They’re not going to need all four of those going forward,”  Orton said.  Orton adds that the two companies involved have very poor ratings for customer satisfaction. Charter has promised that customers will get better broadband service if the acquisition goes forward.  According to Orton, the combined companies would likely shed hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin, in addition to closing at least two regional facilities.  “They don’t need two state directors, they don’t need two heads of marketing, they don’t need two accounting staffs, they don’t need all that kind of middle-management stuff duplicated in one state,”  Orton said.  “So there’ll be significant, I would say, in the hundreds of job losses.”   Several months ago, the Federal Communications Commission blocked Comcast’s bid to buy out Time-Warner. Orton is not sure this deal between Charter and Time-Warner will go through, but says it will likely happen.