Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) were eager for a merger, and it was dubbed as a megamerger by the cable industry. But things look bleak for both companies because the new Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler, who in the past has been an advocate of cable industry is standing in the way. The chairman insists that the merger between two of the biggest cable companies of the country will be unfair to the public. Tom Wheeler is adamant that one company controlling major proportion of the cable industry is unfair to the competitors on the market. It creates a monopoly and the rates charged by the company will be unfair.

Tom Wheeler almost stopped the merged between Sprint and T-Mobile for the same reasons, along with saying that reducing the wireless carriers from 4 to 3 isn’t good for the wireless industry of the country. Tom Wheeler insists that the public opinion is against the merger and things are fine as they are. Merger between Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) will only complicate the industry and the merged company will be largely dominated by the one with most shares. So this would in essence mean that the industry will be ruled by either Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) or Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA).

Tom Wheeler is pro individuality of the companies and advocates more wireless carriers in the country rather than creating a solvent out of a two companies by merging them. Time Warner Cable Inc.  (NYSE:TWC) and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) realize that the merger is unlikely to fall through, however both of these companies are still hopeful that Tom Wheeler will stop swaying to the public opinion and let the regulations pass as they have in the past.

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) realize that they are being tested by the Federal Communications Commission with rules and regulations in order to scare them away from merging. But the merger is on the cards for both the companies, as far as the management of both the companies is concerned. Let’s see if the Federal Communications Commission prevails with its persuasion tactics or Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC)’s and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)’s patience wears out Tom Wheeler.

The good thing about all this fiasco is that the cable industry is still in the news. There are desperate attempts to revive it because it is on the verge of extinction. The Federal Communications Commission is doing what it can to bring back the golden era of cable, which in all honesty, is unlikely and impossible. The technological innovation and the evolution of trends have made things harder for cable to survive. The whole experience of television has changed; it has become more personal, more individualized and more convenient (portable). The wireless streaming is taking over television and amidst all this TV cable is dying a slow death.

Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) is waiting to get its approval from the FCC for its merger with Comcast. The total deal price has been recorded to be at $45 billion. Meanwhile, the company has found a sneaky way to gather some more cash from the pockets of customers through its latest billing strategy.

The company will be charging its customers a rate of $2.75 for all the sports programs, according to the report of Charlotte Observer. This new subscription fee will be implemented from the first month of next year.  Moreover, what is interesting to note here is the fact that the customers will not be given any option to opt out the sports programs; meaning that the company gets extra cash without providing any additional services. 

But wait, this is not it. Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) has also planned to charge its customers with the old TV broadcast fee. This fee will range from $2.25 to $2.75 monthly. The company reported its quarterly reports a couple of weeks back. The revenue spiked up by 3.6 percent and the OIBDA saw an increase of 2.4 percent on yearly basis. Justifying the increase in subscription fees, the company said that increased programming costs had to be balanced out.

The spokesman of Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC), Scott Pryzwansky, told the media that the increased fees are the result of increasing costs that the cable providers have to bear in order to provide sports programs to the customers. Scott further mentioned that the total costs of broadcasting sports networks have increased by 91 percent over the last 6 years whereas the subscription fees have been raised by 60 percent only.

The management of the company said that the increase in fees is just a fraction of what Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) has to pay for the sports networks’ broadcasts. The company has lost a lot of subscribers over the last two years; however, it has maintained its profitability by charging more to the ones who are still with the company.

The residential division of Time Warner saw a decrease in the cable and video revenues on yearly basis. This decrease resulted due to a smaller subscribers’ base. The decline was balanced out by an increase in the average revenue for each customer, which resulted due to premium pricing.

By increasing the prices, the company offset the loss of $103 million that it saw in its cable segment. The total revenues of this segment declined $2.49 billion on yearly basis. The rise in prices, however, added $1.62 billion in the revenue, thus narrowing the gap.

Coming to the stock prices of Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC), the company, during the last trading session of December 28, 2014, started its stocks at a price of $151.51 and closed at an increased price of $152.83 . As far as the total market capitalization of the company is concerned, the figures currently stand at $42.87 billion.

Further growth of the company’s subscriber base has already been built with the addition of some 340,000 new Internet customers for this year through Q2. Moreover, the roll-out of Time Warner (NYSE: TWC)’s Cable Maxx, a broadband connection with data speeds of up to 300 megabits per second, is expected to bring in an estimated six million more subscribers in the coming months. In addition, the cable giant has been preparing to release Cable Maxx to seven more markets in 2014’s second half and into 2015.
Higher average revenue per user (ARPU) drives revenues and margins further up, so higher earnings are expected as well with the presumed increase of subscribers in the subsequent quarters. While Q2’s monthly ARPU in residential high-speed data already saw an increase of 9.7% to $46.92, it is expected to increase further in Q3.

The company’s stature in the coming quarters is expected to be affected by the continuous advancement and growth in the industry. Looking into current values, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) has a P/E (Price-Earnings Ratio) of 19 which is far below the industry average P/E of 31.

In contrast with an industry competitor such as Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) seems to be a better option, trading at about 19 times its earnings like Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA). Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH), on the other hand, trades above 29 times earnings. Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC)’s expected P/E come 2015’s year-end is only 17 times while that of Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH)’s is predicted to be over 33 times. Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) also has the upper hand against Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) with respect to profit margins, debt to equity, and quarterly earnings growth.

A definitive merger to combine under Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA)’s name has been agreed upon by Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and the former. All of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC)’s shares are to be converted into Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA)’s at a rate of 2.875, with each Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) stock priced at about $153 per share at current prices. This already sees a 7% increase from their stock price of around $147 currently.

This collaboration is approximated to generate $1.5 billion in efficiencies and cost savings according to Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) CEO Brian Roberts.
The merger has been voted to move forward unanimously on October 9.
In the event that the merger does get completed, investors are most likely to stick around long-term. Nevertheless, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) on its own currently is a good play.

Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) itself has admitted to its failure to file the complaints of the network outage documents and failing to do so they have indeed violated the Commision’s and jurisdiction laws and regulations. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stated that Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) has realized its mistake; it was mentioned in a resolution presented on Monday.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires suppliers of secure and stable Internet connections or voice-over-Internet-Protocol calling to promptly report any network outages that go up to thirty minutes or more; especially if such outages prove to be a hindrance to emergency response 911 service or the ones that affect enough consumers and cause a collective disruption of 900,000 minutes of phone and internet usage.

The proper procedure requires the company to file an initial notification of its outage issue after which a follow up has to be done, which at times requires filing the initial report; however a final report has to be submitted in every case within a period of 30 days of outage discovery.

According to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) it is very important to have immediate access to important information regarding National Telecom Networks’ operations and workings; this type of information is crucial to stop interruptions that could prove to be threatening to public’s safety, stability of the US economy or Homeland Security.

Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) was warned in September’2013 by the agency that the company failed to come up with and file its final report about the outage even though an initial notification was reported.

It was stated in the order for this week that further investigations into the matter by FCC revealed that Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) was guilty of not filing quite a few initial or final reports of different outages of VoIP network and reportable wireline.

According to Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) had submitted all missing and crucial reports by November 8, 2013.

FCC informed the reporters that after Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) itself admitted that it did violate the necessary requirements for network coverage, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s Enforcement Bureau and the company consented to a settlement with monetary civil penalty and a three-year acquiesce strategy plan to properly and accurately report all upcoming network outages.

A Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) spokesmen said on Tuesday that Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) looks forward to partner up with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that for the future all reporting rules and procedures are followed and implemented properly in order to avoid any unwanted situations.