Charter will axe the Time Warner Cable brand
Now that Charter is closing its acquisition, it's getting rid of an infamous name.
As of today, Charter officially owns both Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks... and the newly expanded telecom giant isn't wasting much time making changes. A spokesman tells Bloomberg that Charter will eventually drop both the Bright House and Time Warner Cable names. Yes, that's right: Time Warner Cable, a name that's synonymous with terrible customer support and sub-par service quality, is going away. It's largely a symbolic move, but likely a welcome one -- especially if you're still trying to remember that Time Warner and Time Warner Cable are separate companies.
The real question is whether or not this will lead to any structural changes. It's not as if TWC's support system will change overnight, and the cable infrastructure will likely remain largely untouched. If you have slower-than-promised speeds now, that probably won't change under Charter. And it's not as if Charter is a stellar example of putting the customer first. The company isn't that far ahead of TWC in satisfaction rankings, so its policies may only lead to slightly less miserable appointments and phone calls. Buyouts like this are more about expanding influence than improving your experience, and the end to the TWC brand is unlikely to usher in the quality-of-service revolution you might be hoping for.
