Time Warner Cable lost another 215,000 video subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2013, leaving the company with 825,000 fewer subscribers than it had one year ago.

Customers are dropping service with the cable company because of rate increases, programming disputes, competition with AT&T and Verizon, and cord cutting.

Despite the video losses, Time Warner attracted 55,000 new broadband customers, many defecting from DSL, and 15,000 new landline customers signing up for phone service as part of a larger bundle.

Time Warner Cable’s poor results are fueling speculation that takeover offers promising increased shareholder value are potentially days away. Dr. John Malone’s Liberty Media and Charter Communications are expected to formally offer $62 billion for Time Warner as early as this week.

Malone has spent the last six weeks lining up Wall Street banks to help finance the transaction with loans that would leave a larger Charter Cable with substantial debt.

Getting Time Warner Cable’s heavily promoted reward card rebate, worth up to hundreds of dollars to customers switching providers or upgrading service, has proved a major hassle for some customers.

WFMY-TV’s consumer reporter began getting calls from people who cannot pry their legitimately requested reward card out of Time Warner Cable’s fingers no matter how hard they try.

“I have talked to 15 different people and all I get is a run-around,” Elizabeth Albright told the Greensboro, N.C. television station.

In some cases customers have waited months for the promised reward to no avail. Others believe they were cheated out of the rebate by a needlessly complicated rebate process they believe was designed to trip them up and out of luck.

The rebate process itself is complicated:

1. Time Warner Cable customers qualified for a rebate must first wait for a “rebate redemption code” to arrive, typically two weeks after installing or upgrading service.
2. With code in hand, customers are qualified to register for the reward on the company’s rebate website. But since Time Warner requires the rebate to be submitted within 30 days of installation, that two-week wait for a “redemption code” may leave customers with as little as 14 days to register.
3. Customers are then required to maintain and pay on time for cable service for at least three months.
4. After 90 days of service and on time payments, the company will start processing the rebate application, which takes an extra 1-2 months.
5. The rebate card should arrive in your mailbox within 14 days after mailing.

Failing to follow any of the steps automatically disqualifies you for the rebate reward. Once the card arrives, use it within six months to avoid “maintenance fees.” If the card gets lost or stolen, it can be replaced, but not for free. An extra fee applies.

Keeping all rebate documentation is critical if questions arise, you are rejected, or the rebate submission is lost. If Time Warner Cable refuses to honor your rebate request, offer them an alternative – credit your cable bill for an amount equal to the value of the missing rebate. In many cases, a supervisor will approve the request in the spirit of good customer relations, especially if you threaten to cancel service over the matter.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WFMY Greensboro The Process of Getting Your Time Warner Reward Card 1-6-14.flv[/flv]

Triad region residents in North Carolina are having a tough time getting their rebate reward cards from Time Warner Cable, reports WFMY-TV. (2:42)

Dr. John Malone’s Liberty Media is moving to acquire the 48 percent of SiriusXM it does not already own in a $10 billion all-stock deal that could have future implications for Malone’s interest in merging Charter Communications with Time Warner Cable.

Malone’s company has effectively controlled the satellite radio venture since bailing the company out with a loan during the Great Recession. Since assuming control, SiriusXM has raised prices and is earning more revenue from its subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.

Malone’s initial $1 billion investment is already valued at more than $10 billion, but as full owner Liberty will control a company worth $21.5 billion.

Malone

Through a carefully constructed transaction, the deal will be entirely tax-free for both companies and their shareholders. When complete, Liberty will be able to free up additional capital and flexibility which could prove useful to its ongoing investment in Charter Communications.

Should Charter formally bid for a Time Warner Cable takeover, Liberty Media may be called on to help finance the transaction expected to be worth at least $40 billion.

But don’t expect Malone’s Liberty Media to keep ownership of SiriusXM forever. Malone has a long history of increasing the value of his media assets for shareholders, usually with rate increases and cost cutting, and then spins the companies off in tax-free transactions.

Liberty Media has done exactly that with its former properties, including Discovery Communications, Starz and DirecTV.

Two years after energy conservation groups revealed many television set-top boxes use almost as much electricity as a typical refrigerator, a voluntary agreement has been reached to cut the energy use of the devices 10-45 percent by 2017.

The Department of Energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, the Consumer Electronics Association, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association agreed to new energy efficiency standards for cable boxes expected to save more than $1 billion in electricity annually, once the new equipment is widely deployed in American homes. That represents enough energy to power 700,000 homes and cut five million tons of CO2 emissions each year.

“These energy efficiency standards reflect a collaborative approach among the Energy Department, the pay-TV industry and energy efficiency groups – building on more than three decades of common-sense efficiency standards that are saving American families and businesses hundreds of billions of dollars,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “The set-top box efficiency standards will save families money by saving energy, while delivering high quality appliances for consumers that keep pace with technological innovation.”

DVR boxes are the biggest culprits. American DVRs typically use up to 50W regardless of whether someone is watching the TV or not. Most contain hard drives that are either powered on continuously or are shifted into an idle state that does more to protect the life of the drive than cut a consumer’s energy bill. A combination of a DVR and an extra HD set-top box together consume more electricity than an ENERGY STAR-qualified refrigerator-freezer, even when using the remote control to switch the boxes off.

Manufacturers were never pressed to produce more energy-efficient equipment by the cable and satellite television industry. Current generation boxes often require lengthy start-up cycles to configure channel lineups, load channel listings, receive authorization data and update software. As a result, any overnight power-down would inconvenience customers the following morning — waiting up to five or more minutes to begin watching television as equipment was switched back on. As a compromise, many cable operators instruct their DVR boxes to power down internal hard drives when not recording or playing back programming, minimizing subscriber inconvenience, but also the possible power savings.

In Europe, many set-top boxes are configured with three levels of power consumption — 22.5W while in use, 13.2W while in standby, and 0.65W when in “Deep Sleep” mode. More data is stored in non-volatile memory within the box, meaning channel data, program listings, and authorization information need not be re-downloaded each time the box is powered on, resulting in much faster recovery from power-saving modes.

The new agreement, which runs through 2017, covers all types of set-top boxes from pay-TV providers, including cable, satellite and telephone companies. The agreement also requires the pay-TV industry to publicly report model-specific set-top box energy use and requires an annual audit of service providers by an independent auditor to make sure boxes are performing at the efficiency levels specified in the agreement. The Energy Department also retains its authority to test set-top boxes under the ENERGY STAR verification program, which provides another verification tool to measure the efficiency of set-top boxes.

Comcast, DirecTV, DISH Network, Time Warner Cable, AT&T, Verizon, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision, Bright House Networks and CenturyLink will begin deploying new energy-efficient equipment during service calls. Some customers may be able to eventually swap equipment earlier, depending on the company.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WCCO Minneapolis Check Your Cable Box 6-27-11.mp4[/flv]

WCCO in Minneapolis reported in 2011 cable operators like Comcast may make subscribers wait 30 minutes or more for set-top box features to become fully available for use after plugging the box in. (1:50)

Time Warner Cable TV subscribers in Southern California can now access local over-the-air television signals on the company’s TWC TV app, expanding the lineup of hundreds of cable channels to now include the major network affiliates — a significant gap in the “TV Everywhere” app for most customers.

Residents in Los Angeles and San Diego join those in New York and Kansas City that can now receive local over the air programming on their home computer, tablet, game console, or Roku box. Time Warner Cable requires viewers to subscribe to both its television and broadband services to watch, and only from your home’s Wi-Fi network.

The service is designed to bring value to Time Warner’s cable TV package and offer subscribers the opportunity to watch cable programming without an additional set-top box. Current licensing restrictions keep Time Warner from offering most television programming while on the go, but the cable company is attempting to negotiate those rights when programming contracts come up for renewal.

The major networks are not waiting for cable operators to negotiate with them, however:

• ABC: The network’s Watch ABC app has been available since the spring and offers live streaming of the local ABC station in eight major markets including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Viewers must live within the viewing area to watch;
• CBS: The network has purchased part ownership in Syncbak which specializes in digital content delivery, but the network has not announced plans for a streaming app;
• FOX: In addition to Hulu/+, FOX wants to adopt mobile broadcast technology using the Dyle Mobile platform, which allows device owners to receive over the air television with the use of a special add-on antenna;
• NBC: NBC will follow ABC and offer live viewing of local affiliates over an app starting in large cities early next year.