Altice’s Suddenlink Communications has announced gigabit service for its customers in Batesville and El Dorado, Ark., Maryville, Mo., and Conroe, Tex.

“Today’s announcement is the next step in Altice USA’s Operation GigaSpeed initiative to provide gigabit broadband service to our Suddenlink customers,” said Hakim Boubazine, co-president and chief operating officer of Altice USA, in a statement.

Altice will continue to use DOCSIS 3.0 technology for most of its Suddenlink customers instead of adopting DOCSIS 3.1 in the near future. Because Suddenlink systems are all-digital, Altice is using a significant amount of its available cable bandwidth for broadband services. Customers who don’t want to pay for 1,000Mbps can also choose from 100 and 200Mbps plans, up from 75 and 100Mbps respectively.

These communities bring the number of GigaSpeed enabled cities in Suddenlink territory to 45. Here are the others, below the break:

… Continue Reading

A San Antonio homeowner was upset when she discovered two AT&T subcontractors installing a fiber line in her backyard were instead engaged in what seemed to be a fight/wrestling match/comedy routine.

“Caught this sissy ass fight on my security camera today in my backyard,” the unidentified homeowner wrote on her Facebook page. “These idiots are supposed to be installing AT&T fiber wire not getting into a lovers’ quarrel. It’s a full on chick fight, about the sissiest fight I’ve ever seen in my life. I could have done a better job at kickin’ those boys tails.”

Only in Texas.

“‘Honestly, I couldn’t tell if they were playing around and wrestling or what,” she complained. “Then I saw some sissy hair pulling and thought, ‘Oh no way! This is for real!’ Two grown men rolling around pulling hair like a bunch of sissy pants.”

An embarrassed AT&T sent the Houston Chronicle a statement about the unfortunate incident.

This involved employees of a company that was hired by one of our contractors, and obviously didn’t meet our requirements of how they conduct themselves… The contractor has assured us they will no longer use this company when working for us.

In response to the story, a local company offered the duo free fight lessons.

“If either of these guys want to learn to fight, shoot us a message,” wrote Genesis Jiu Jitsu SA. “We offer a free month of lessons on the house.”

AT&T Subcontractor Fight Club: A San Antonio homeowner’s video security system picked up this encounter between two workers that were there to install a fiber cable. She posted the fracas on her Facebook page. (1:30)

Road to nowhere?

Frontier Communications has lost more than 150,000 customers in the last six months as company executives blamed bad marketing and the on-shoring of call centers that formerly supported Verizon customers in Texas, California, and Florida.

Some 99,000 customers dropped Frontier service in the last three months, and another 77,000 departed during the three months before that. In addition to losing customers, Frontier saw a net loss of $80 million in its third quarter, up from a the $14 million the company lost during the same quarter a year ago.

A clearly distraught Dan McCarthy, Frontier’s CEO, knew he was in for a pummeling from Wall Street analysts on a conference call with investors on Tuesday.

“I wanted to assure you, that I’m focused on addressing and resolving the issues hindering our performance,” McCarthy said. “I’m fully aware that the third quarter results underscore the urgent need for our expanded business to perform at the higher level, where I know it can and should. And you have my personal commitment that we will do so.”

Frontier lost $52 million in revenue in the last three months in part because of its disastrous transition of former Verizon customers in California, Texas, and Florida and because a growing number of broadband users have realized Frontier’s endless promises of better service have rarely come to fruition and those customers chose other providers.

“This decline is unacceptable and reflects a level of performance, [and] I’m committed to change it,” McCarthy promised.

Unfortunately for customers and investors, that “change” is primarily rearranging the deck chairs with a haphazard, and likely soon-to-be-an-afterthought “reorganization,” and the usual treatment prescribed when executives fail to deliver Wall Street the results they expect: big layoffs of employees that had nothing to do with Frontier’s problems and have in fact been warning the company about some of their more boneheaded moves. The idea for quick layoffs may have come from Frontier’s newest chief financial officer R. Perley McBride, a pick McCarthy said will be “laser focused” on cost management. That’s code for cost-cutting, not exactly the best idea for a company that has shown a near-constant aversion to investing adequately in its network and on necessary broadband upgrades.

Analysts didn’t seem to be terribly interested in Mr. McCarthy’s grand reorganization plan either, detailed in this veritable word salad:

Let me also highlight that today, we announced a new customer-focused organizational structure, and the creation of commercial and consumer business units. This change is designed to improve our execution and operational effectiveness, increases spans of control in the organization and makes us more nimble, while at the same time eliminating duplicative costs associated with our former structure. In the first month of operating our new properties, it became apparent that this change was necessary.

McCarthy

Some investors pondered if these operational problems were all so readily identifiable and apparent, why didn’t Mr. McCarthy carry out changes after assuming leadership of the company more than a year ago.

McCarthy’s realization that big changes were needed is not what he was telling investors in May, when he was downplaying the impact of the Verizon customer cutover as affecting less than 1% of customers and wasn’t material. That level of happy talk puts McCarthy dangerously close to Wells Fargo territory, where a few million fake bank accounts weren’t material either.

McCarthy loves to use catchphrases to minimize the problems experienced at Frontier, as well as countering any negative developments with aspirational talk about the future.

For example, Frontier’s decision not to carefully scrutinize customer data provided by Verizon before cutting over customers to Frontier’s systems, leaving many without service for days to weeks was the result of “imperfect data extracts and network complexities” according to McCarthy. That cost Frontier plenty as the company issued bill credits to potentially tens of thousands of customers left without service because of ‘imperfections.’ Many just decided to leave and never looked back.

In May, McCarthy told investors “After a month of operating these properties, we are very pleased with the progress we have made, and we want to thank customers for their patience during the transition period. The entire Frontier team remains focused on cultivating growth by retaining and attracting new customers. We will continue to drive Frontier’s performance to maintain free cash flow that provides an attractive and sustainable dividend payout ratio.”

Not so much anymore. This week, McCarthy hit the red alert button and suddenly declared an urgent need for a major reorganization, oddly pegging Frontier’s problems partly on organizational inefficiencies:

“Historically, Frontier was organized around a regional structure, each one of the regions had its own resources that included marketing, finance, engineering, human resources. And in doing that, we – when we were a much smaller entity, it really did serve us well at that point in time. The more we looked at it today, the less differences there are in a lot of the markets and the way we’re going to market whether it’s around a Vantage product or it’s around FiOS or it’s around next-generation broadband products. So, when we looked at it, we did a really a trade-off on it, so we’ve essentially eliminated all of that redundancy in the organization.”

The unemployment line is in the future for 1,000 Frontier employees.

So what is the “redundancy” Frontier claims it has essentially eliminated? The forthcoming layoffs of 1,000 employees nationwide which Frontier management believes will make things much better for customers, at least according to McCarthy:

The impact is approximately 1,000 individuals that will be leaving the organization, and that translates directly into cost savings. And the nice part about it too is that the enhanced focus on commercial as well as consumer and Frontier has historically been a very consumer-focused organization. We’ve done well on the commercial side, but I really believe we can do much better with more focus, more attention and really putting the resources on those opportunities and making it, that’s what they do every day when they get up and they come to work, all they’re trying to do is grow the commercial revenue base.

So that’s really what we’ve done. It does change the focus on the field operations to really be engaged with the community as well as providing excellent service to customers and being that bridge, but really sales for both consumer and commercial are more centralized in a way that we can apply better resources and do it in a more efficient manner.

So Frontier plans to become more engaged with the community and deliver better service locally by… getting rid of 1,000 local employees and centralizing its resources somewhere else, probably in another state. The cherry on top? Frontier also implemented a rate hike for customers to enjoy.

McCarthy claimed Frontier has been a “very consumer-focused organization,” which seems hard to believe considering how many customers are saying goodbye to Frontier for good. He also implied customer sales are down because Frontier hasn’t effectively used their call center employees to sell service and Frontier alienated customers by moving those call centers from overseas back to the United States. Really?

The executive team at Frontier shrugs off further evidence of deepening customer dissatisfaction by ignoring customer losses in their “legacy” service areas — Frontier territories served by copper yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow. But ignoring problems is nothing new at Frontier:

• It’s not a problem that customers cannot order Frontier products and services on its website because of managerial ineptitude.
• It’s not a problem that customers are still stuck with 1-6Mbps copper-based DSL from Frontier while their cable competitor offers 200Mbps or more.
• It’s not a problem that several years after assuming control over almost all landlines in West Virginia, Frontier has only accomplished broadband speed upgrades for 23% of customers stuck in Frontier’s broadband molasses, and only after the company settled with the West Virginia Attorney’s General office in December 2015. For the record, that amounts to 6,320 customers. Don’t break a sweat there. Frontier’s performance in West Virginia has been so abysmal, the settlement between the state and the company represents the largest, independently negotiated consumer protection settlement in West Virginia history, which extends back to June 20, 1863.
• It’s not a problem that customers in Connecticut are still plagued by aftershocks from the tumultuous transfer from AT&T to Frontier in October 2014. On Oct. 19, 2016 countless DSL customers were reminded of that transition when they suffered another multi-hour outage and to add insult to injury, Frontier decided the time was also right to raise rates $4 a month for its Vantage TV service, which caused another round of customer cancellations.

McCarthy called the operational reorganization a “bridge” between field operations and providing excellent service to customers. We call it just another bridge to nowhere.

We’ve written for years that Frontier’s real problem isn’t cost management, organizational structure, or where it places employees and call centers. The real elephant in the room is that Frontier’s broadband service is terrible, especially where Frontier built the network all by itself or acquired it from another phone company decades earlier.

We are convinced Frontier’s management understands this, and so do many investors, but they just don’t care. One summed up the Frontier story this way:

So Frontier buys the whole wireline shooting match in one geographic area after another (labor force, wires, customers, DSL, even FIOS) paid for with billions in junk bond proceeds. Looking at an asset base that is disappearing before their eyes, the game is to squeeze as much out of it as possible before it crumbles completely. Minimum possible maintenance, minimum possible [investment], minimum possible headcount, and less every year.

From an investor’s standpoint, the key question is to figure out when the final collapse is going to take place.

Frontier’s “High Speed” fantasies extend back to 2010 when former CEO Maggie Wilderotter was telling customers Frontier was loaded with fiber.

When Rochester Telephone rebranded itself Frontier Communications in the 1990s, it did so looking forward to the future. The Frontier Communications experience of today is like immersing oneself in the History Channel. Nearly everything about Frontier these days is about the past and a promised future that never seems to arrive. Everything surrounds a legacy network still almost entirely dependent on last-century DSL for residential customers and various acquired networks from Verizon and AT&T mismanaged at conversion, forcing customers to clean up after Frontier’s repeated mistakes.

In legacy service areas where little has changed over the last decade, the four words that come to mind are “too little, too late” as customers make one last call to permanently drop service despite promises faster speeds are coming soon.

Too little investment in suitable broadband: Frontier dwells on its dividend payout to shareholders while customers languish with internet speeds that do not come close to the FCC’s definition of broadband. Instead of spending billions acquiring Verizon’s throwaway service areas, invest that money in your network and offer truly competitive 21st century broadband service.

Too late to matter: Frontier’s commitments to broadband upgrades happen too slowly and for too few customers. Much of Frontier’s state-of-the-art networks were built by other companies and simply acquired by Frontier, which now provides sleepy caretaker service. When people think Frontier Communications, they sure don’t think of words like “modern” and “innovative” and “excellence.” They think “yesterday,” “out of service,” and “slow.” There is a good reason why cable operators eat Frontier’s market share. People don’t love the cable company more than Frontier, but at least they are no longer stuck with broadband speeds that were common during the latter half of the Clinton Administration.

You’re a communications company, not the Geek Squad: While Frontier fritters away their customer base, those remaining are literally assaulted with promotions for dubious value services like tech support, virus protection, and cloud storage backup. There is a reason other phone and cable companies have not followed Frontier’s lead on emphasizing these services. They don’t matter to most customers and many of those who do have them are surprised when they find them on their phone bill because they don’t remember signing up. Sell reliable and fast phone, broadband, and video service, not gimmicks.

It is unfortunate another 1,000 Frontier employees are about to pay for the mistakes made at the top. Until that changes, customers would do well to consider their options and act accordingly. If reporting by The Hour is any indication, customers shouldn’t hold their breath. Frontier is still looking out for their most important asset: their shareholders.

If Frontier’s customer relations remain a work in progress, so does McCarthy’s job convincing investors to see the promise of his plan and that of his CEO predecessor Maggie Wilderotter to create a national broadband company from territories AT&T and Verizon have been willing to cast aside. Since closing at $6.54 on Oct. 31, 2014, on the eve of the switch [in Connecticut], two years later Frontier shares have hovered for the most part just above the $4 threshold.

With a new chief financial officer in place in former Frontier executive Perley McBride, McCarthy promised to get Frontier on track from an investor perspective, even as the company works to get its customer relations on an even keel.

As the Sept. 20 date for Charter’s introduction of new plans for Time Warner Cable customers in California looms, the Los Angeles Times published an impenetrable channel change notification applying to customers across San Diego and Los Angeles markets (the latter also being a significant service area for Charter all along).

We dare you to read it.

More accessible lists of channel changes were also published for Texas customers, and you can find them below the massive text box.

Legacy Charter customers will benefit because the smaller cable operator is taking advantage of the much larger volume discounts Time Warner Cable negotiated for both their customers and those belonging to Bright House Networks. That means you can eventually expect a lot more harmonization of channel lineups if you are an existing Charter customer, probably more in line with what Time Warner Cable customers have received all along. One interesting addition that may be coming back to Time Warner Cable customers is the former HDNet, now rebranded AXS TV. Time Warner Cable gave HDNet and HDNet Movies the boot back in May 2009 when contract negotiations broke down over price. In its place, Time Warner Cable added much cheaper networks like MavTV, The Outdoor Channel, RFD-TV and/or The Sportsman Channel.

There is speculation Charter chose Texas and Southern California first to introduce Charter Spectrum because the two cable companies have co-existed nearby in both states, sometimes operating in their own territories in the same metropolitan region. That may have made integration efforts easier than in states like New York, where Charter operates only a few forgettable cable systems, some now only being upgraded to support broadband.

Legal Notices: Time Warner Cable’s agreements with programmers and broadcasters to carry their services and stations routinely expire from time to time. We are usually able to obtain renewals or extensions of such agreements, but in order to comply with applicable regulations, we must inform you when an agreement is about to expire. The following agreements are due to expire soon, and we may be required to cease carriage of one or more of these services/stations in the near future. 5 StarMax East, ActionMax, Azteca America, Cinemax, Cinemax East, Cinemax On Demand, GMA LifeTV, GMA PinoyTV, HBO, HBO 2, HBO 2 East, HBO Comedy, HBO East, HBO Family, HBO Latino, HBO On Demand, HBO Signature, HBO Signature East, HBO Zone, Max Latino, MoreMax, MoreMax East, MovieMax East, Music Choice, Outdoor Channel, POP, TeleN, ThrillerMax, TV One, YouToo, KBEH DT7 Tele-Romantica, KEYT ABC. In addition, from time to time we make certain changes in the services that we offer in order to better serve our customers. The following changes are planned: On or around September 20, 2016 the following changes will be made. The following services will added: AXS TV, channel 299; One World Sports, channel 414; SonLife Broadcasting Network channel 470; Retroplex, channel 622; HD Net Movies, channel 640; Cable Noticias, channel 839; ULTRA Docu, channel 849; Tele El Salvador, channel 861; Super Canal, channel 870; Telemicro, channel 871; TV Dominicana, channel 872; WAPA America, channel 874; Antena 3 Internacional, channel 877; Ritmoson, channel 911; Telehit, channel 912; Ultra Fiesta, channel 915; Ultra Familia, channel 918; Ultra Kidz, channel 919; Semillitas, channel 922; BabyFirstTV SAP, channel 928; Baby TV SAP, channel 929; Nat Geo Mundo, channel 931; HITN, channel 933; Mexicanal, channel 935; El Garage TV, channel 936; Ultra Macho, channel 937; TBN Enlace, channel 946; Ultra Mex, channel 983; Ultra Cine, channel 984; Ultra Clasico, channel 985; Crime & Investigation, channel 137; pivot, channel 115; Family Net, channel 468; MoviePlex, channel 620; IndiePlex, channel 621; RFD-TV, channel 297; Lifetime Real Women, channel 174; Military History Channel, channel 141. Additionally, in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach & Redondo Beach the following services will be added on the channel number listed. Estudio 5 842, Multimedios 843, Teleformula 845, Sur Peru 853, TV Chile 855, Caracol 856, Nuestra Tele 857, Centroamerica TV 860, Ecuavisa Internacional 865, TV Venezuela 867, Bandamax 910, Discovery Familia 924, AYM Sports 962, Cine Mexicano 972, De Pelicula Clasico 979, De Pelicula 980 and Viendo Movies 982. The following services will be added on the additional channel number listed. Each will also remain on the current channel number. Air Force Village West – Lakeview – Perris; Chino – Pomona – San Bernardino County; March Air Force Base & Moreno Valley and Hemet: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 34, FOX Sports 1 50, Investigation Discovery 75, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, TCM 94, BBC America 95, GSN 96 and SEC Network 97. Beaumont-Redlands-East San Bernardino and Rialto: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 34, FOX Sports 1 50, Investigation Discovery 75, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, TCM 94, BBC America 95, GSN 96, SEC Network 97, Oxygen 98 and LMN 99. Temecula: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 34, FOX Sports 1 50, Investigation Discovery 75, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, TCM 94, BBC America 95, GSN 96 and SEC Network 97. San Bernardino – Ontario: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 34, FOX Sports 1 50, Investigation Discovery 75, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, TCM 94, BBC America 95, SEC Network 97 and Oxygen 98. San Gabriel Valley: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 31, Investigation Discovery 52, FOX Sports 1 54, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 80, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, BBC America 95, SEC Network 97 and GSN 98. Brea, La Habra, La Habra Heights, Yorba Linda: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 31, Investigation Discovery 52, FOX Sports 1 54, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 80, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, BBC America 95 and SEC Network 97. Anaheim: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 31, Investigation Discovery 52, FOX Sports 1 54, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 80, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, GSN 94, BBC America 95, SEC Network 97 and TCM 99. Buena Park, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Santa Ana: Animal Planet 10, NBCSN 20, Investigation Discovery 52, FOX Sports 1 54, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 80, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93 and SEC Network 94. Antelope Valley & Edwards Air Force Base: NBCSN 35, Investigation Discovery 76, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, BBC America 95, FOX Sports 1 96, SEC Network 97 and Animal Planet 98. Santa Clarita (East) & Tujunga: Investigation Discovery 44, NBCSN 59, National Geographic 68, FOX Sports 1 78, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, BBC America 95, SEC Network 97 and Animal Planet 98. Beverly Hills: WGN America 16, NBCSN 69, Investigation Discovery 95, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, BBC America 95, FOX Sports 1 96, SEC Network 97 and Animal Planet 98. Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles: Animal Planet 10, Investigation Discovery 34, NBCSN 70, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, BBC America 96, SEC Network 97 and GSN 98. Calabasas: Animal Planet 10, Investigation Discovery 34, NBCSN 50, Disney Junior 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, BBC America 96, SEC Network 97 and GSN 98. City of Los Angeles and Marina Del Rey: Animal Planet 10, WGN America 16, Investigation Discovery 34, NBCSN 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, BBC America 96 and SEC Network 97. East San Fernando Valley: Animal Planet 10, WGN America 16, Investigation Discovery 34, Oxygen 52, NBCSN 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, BBC America 96 and SEC Network 98. West Hollywood: WGN America 16, Animal Planet 20, NBCSN 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, SEC Network 96 and Investigation Discovery 98. Agoura-Moorpark-Santa Paula: Animal Planet 12, Investigation Discovery 50, NBCSN 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, BBC America 96, Oxygen 97 and SEC Network 99. Camarillo, Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley: Animal Planet 12, Investigation Discovery 50, NBCSN 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, Disney Junior 94, FOX Sports 1 95, BBC America 96, Oxygen 97 and SEC Network 99. Oxnard & Port Hueneme: Animal Planet 12, Investigation Discovery 50, NBCSN 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 94, SEC Network 96 and Oxygen 97. Ventura: Animal Planet 12, FOX Sports 1 44, Investigation Discovery 50, NBCSN 69, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, Disney Junior 94, SEC Network 99, BBC America 96, and Oxygen 97. Hollywood – Westchester and Inglewood: Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Covina, Pomona, Corona & Riverside County: Fox Business 35, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, BBC America 86, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97, SEC Network 98 and GSN on 99. Claremont: Cartoon Network 57, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, BBC America 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Homeland & Romoland: Fox Business 35, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, BBC America 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, TCM 94, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97, SEC Network 98 and GSN on 99. Costa Mesa: Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, BBC America 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Tustin: Fox Business 35, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, BBC America 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, GSN 94, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Artesia: Cartoon Network 57, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Fox Business Network 86, Animal Planet 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Bell & Cudahy: Fox Business 35, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, BBC America 86, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Carson: Fox Business Network 36, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, BBC America 86, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Compton, Athens, Florence & Willowbrook: Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96 and Velocity 97. Cypress & La Palma: Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, SEC Network 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96 and Velocity 97. Harbor, Lomita: Harbor City, San Pedro, Wilmington: Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96 and Velocity 97. Hawaiian Gardens – Southeast Cities: Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, BBC America 87, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, Velocity 97 and SEC Network 98. Lakewood: Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, Velocity 97 and NBCSN 98. South El Monte: Fox Business Network 35, Investigation Discovery 71, National Geographic 75, Animal Planet 78, Disney Junior 87, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, FOX Sports 1 95, NBCSN 96, SEC Network 98 and GSN 99. Canyon Country and Santa Clarita & Stevenson Ranch: NBCSN 34, Fox Business Network 66, Investigation Discovery 67, National Geographic 69, Animal Planet 76, FOX Sports 1 78, Velocity 79, SEC Network 80, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, Disney Junior 95, BBC America 96 and GSN 97. San Fernando: NBCSN 34, WGN America 35, Fox Business Network 66, Investigation Discovery 67, National Geographic 69, Animal Planet 76, FOX Sports 1 78, Velocity 79, SEC Network 80, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, Disney Junior 95, BBC America 96 and GSN 97. West Valley: WGN America 35, Fox Business Network 66, Investigation Discovery 67, National Geographic 69, Animal Planet 76, FOX Sports 1 78, Velocity 79, NBCSN 80, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, and BBC America 96. Orange County: National Geographic 72, Investigation Discovery 73, GSN 74, Animal Planet 75, SEC Network 76, NBCSN 77, Velocity 78, FOX Sports 1 79, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92 and FX Movie Channel 93. Torrance: WGN America 16, Investigation Discovery 66, Animal Planet 71, National Geographic 72, NBCSN 77, FOX Sports 1 79, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91 and Velocity 92. South Bay: WGN America 16, Investigation Discovery 66, Animal Planet 71, National Geographic 72, NBCSN 77, FOX Sports 1 79, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, Velocity 92 and FX Movie Channel. San Marino & South Pasadena: WGN America 16, Investigation Discovery 59, National Geographic 72, Animal Planet 75,NBCSN 77, Velocity 78, FOX Sports 1 79, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93 and Fox Business Network 95. Santa Monica: WGN America 16, Investigation Discovery 59, Animal Planet 71, NBCSN 75, Velocity 79, Fox Business Network 80, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, BBC America 95, FOX Sports 1 95, BBC America 96, SEC Network 96 and SEC Network 97. Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach & Redondo Beach: WGN America 20, Investigation Discovery 54, Animal Planet 61, NBCSN 69, FOX Sports 1 72, Velocity 77, Fox Business Network 86, Hallmark Channel 88, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 89, INSP 90, OWN 91, WE tv 92, FX Movie Channel 93, BBC America 95, Disney Junior 96 and GSN 97. EVINE Live will move from channel 15 to channel 194 in Beverly Hills, Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Calabasas, City of Los Angeles, East San Fernando Valley, Marina Del Rey and West Hollywood. It will move from 16 to 194 in South Bay and Torrance. It will move from 20 to 194 in Air Force Village West – Lakeview – Perris; Beaumont-Redlands-East San Bernardino; Bradbury, Glendora, La Verna, San Dimas; Chino – Pomona – San Bernardino County; Hemet – Temecula; March Air Force Base & Moreno Valley; Rialto; San Bernardino – Ontario and San Gabriel Valley. It will move from 24 to 194 in San Marino & South Pasadena. It will move from 28 to 194 in Artesia, Bell & Cudahy, Carson, Cypress & La Palma, Hawaiian Gardens – Southeast Cities and South El Monte. It will move from 29 to 194 in Compton, Athens, Florence & Willowbrook and South Los Angeles. It will move from 31 to 194 in Harbor, Lomita, Harbor City, San Pedro, Wilmington; Hollywood – Westchester and Inglewood. It will move from 33 to 194 in Lakewood, Santa Clarita (East) and Tujunga. It will move from 36 to 194 in Agoura-Moorpark-Santa Paula; Camarillo, Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks; Claremont; Costa Mesa; Covina, Pomona, Corona & Riverside County; Homeland & Romoland; Oxnard & Port Hueneme; Simi Valley; Tustin and Ventura. It will move from 37 to 194 in Orange County. It will move from 38 to 194 in Antelope Valley & Edwards Air Force Base. It will move from 39 to 194 in Anaheim, Brea, La Habra, La Habra Heights, Yorba Linda and in Buena Park, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Santa Ana. It will move from 42 to 194 in Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, Stevenson Ranch; San Fernando and West Valley. It will move from 45 to 194 in Santa Monica. It will move from 49 to 194 in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach & Redondo Beach. It will also remain on 487 in all lineups. HSN will move from 8 and 81 to 176 in Artesia; Bell & Cudahy; Carson; Claremont; Compton, Athens, Florence & Willowbrook; Costa Mesa; Covina, Pomona, Corona & Riverside County; Cypress & La Palma; Harbor, Lomita, Harbor City, San Pedro, Wilmington; Hawaiian Gardens – Southeast Cities; Hollywood – Westchester; Homeland & Romoland; Inglewood; Lakewood; South El Monte; South Los Angeles, Santa Clarita (East), Tujunga and Tustin. In all other lineups it will move from 81 to 176. It will also remain on 483 in all lineups. QVC will move from 6 to 159 in Antelope Valley & Edwards Air Force Base; Artesia; Bell & Cudahy; Carson; Claremont; Compton, Athens, Florence & Willowbrook; Costa Mesa; Covina, Pomona, Corona & Riverside County; Cypress & La Palma; Harbor, Lomita, Harbor City, San Pedro, Wilmington; Hawaiian Gardens – Southeast Cities; Hollywood – Westchester; Homeland & Romoland; Inglewood; Lakewood; South El Monte; South Los Angeles and Tustin. It will move from 14 to 159 in Agoura-Moorpark-Santa Paula; Air Force Village West – Lakeview – Perris; Anaheim; Beaumont-Redlands-East San Bernardino; Beverly Hills; Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles; Bradbury, Glendora, La Verna, San Dimas; Brea, La Habra, La Habra Heights, Yorba Linda; Buena Park, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Santa Ana; Calabasas; Camarillo, Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks; Chino – Pomona – San Bernardino County; City of Los Angeles; East San Fernando Valley; Hemet – Temecula; Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach & Redondo Beach; March Air Force Base & Moreno Valley; Marina Del Rey; Oxnard & Port Hueneme; Rialto; San Bernardino – Ontario; San Gabriel Valley; Santa Monica; Simi Valley, Ventura and West Hollywood. It will move from 24 to 159 in Santa Clarita (East) and Tujunga. It will move from 39 to 159 in Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, Stevenson Ranch. It will move from 48 to 159 in Orange County. It will move from 51 to 159 in South Bay and Torrance. It will move from 68 to 159 in San Marino & South Pasadena. It will move from 98 to 159 in San Fernando and West Valley. It will also remain on 480 in all lineups. Jewelry Television will move from 83 to 188 in all lineups. I will also remain on channel 499.

Texas customers: Selected channel notification announcements begin after the jump.
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Thanks to one of our readers who also happens to be a TWC employee, here is the latest update to Charter/Spectrum’s list of first year promotions, taking effect in California and Texas (9/20) this month.

We expect it will be rolling out to other TWC and BH regions over the next few months. Unless you are compelled to change packages, if you are on a current Time Warner Cable or Bright House promotion or retention deal, we recommend you keep it until it expires. You can then enroll in one of these promotions, almost certainly at these prices, extending the length of your savings.

We expect Charter’s retention department to deliver a tougher line on retention packages and promotions than Time Warner Cable gave customers. Once these promotional prices expire, your rates will step up each year for two years thereafter until you reach the “rack rate” — Charter’s regular pricing. Your ability to secure new customer pricing again will probably require you to bounce between providers or cancel/come back as a new customer. I am told by long-time Charter customers that Charter’s retention prices are usually not as good as new customer pricing.

We have some corrections to our earlier coverage on this last month: broadband-only customers will pay a promotional rate of $39.99 a month for the first year for 60Mbps service, $79.99 a month for 100Mbps service (100Mbps or 300Mbps in existing TWC Maxx territories), not the $60/99 rack rate. We have received word Earthlink will continue to be another option for customers to consider for broadband service, which can be a good way to secure extended promotional pricing. Another change: phone service is now an extra $10 a month, not $20, as part of a triple play package. We notice Charter only lists free calling to U.S. numbers on this sheet. Time Warner Cable includes free calls to Canada, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, India, The EU, Norway and U.S. territories. We are unsure if this represents an omission or a downgrade. Also, the Wi-Fi fee is waived for Spectrum Ultra, which corrects our earlier piece where we thought this fee would apply to both broadband packages. Multi-DVR service pricing is still confusing on this chart. We’ve heard Charter intends to ditch TWC’s Whole House DVR service and give subscribers the option of multiple standalone DVR units instead. DVR pricing is: $4.99 for each DVR box + an $11.99 DVR service fee (if you have only one DVR). If you want multiple DVRs, they are each $4.99 a month with an all-inclusive monthly service fee of $19.99, regardless of how many extra DVR boxes you rent.

Obviously, we will be looking for money-saving opportunities for our readers once we get a better handle on Charter’s way of doing business.