Britt: Time Warner Will Focus More on Customer Service
Challenges Remain in Upgrading Former Adelphia Systems
By Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 9/18/2007 5:09:00 AM MT
NEW YORK – Time Warner Cable chairman Glenn Britt told an audience at an investor conference Tuesday that the second largest cable operator in the country will focus more on customer service in the coming year, partly in response to what has turned out to be a difficult integration of former Adelphia Communications properties in Los Angeles and Dallas.
TWC acquired those properties and others as part of its joint $17.6 billion acquisition of Adelphia with Comcast last year. At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference here, Britt said that while the integration is moving ahead, it’s not something that is going to be completed overnight.
“The next 12 months are going to be about execution,” Britt said at the conference, adding that in its legacy systems that means continuing to sell the triple play of voice, video and data and at the newly acquired systems, continuing the integration process.
Britt added that the third arm of its strategic plan will be improving customer service, although he offered no detail as to how that will occur.
“We want to focus a little more on customer service next year than we have in the past,” he said.
While Britt said that competitors like telcos and satellite companies have understandably targeted areas like Dallas and Los Angeles, which are undergoing the most difficult transitions, he added that the cable industry in general has to improve its perception in the consumer community.
“If you don’t have the triple play, you face the triple play,” Britt said.
But Britt said that the upgrade in Dallas will be finished by the end of the year. And in addition to being able to roll out new products like telephone and high-speed data, completing the upgrade will allow TWC to focus on improving its image in the market.
“These properties are going to take a while to get to where we want them to be,” Britt said. “You don’t turn one of these things around overnight.”
Britt added that upgrades, while necessary, also disrupt service, which can harm a cable company’s perception in the market.
While TWC is making headway on that front, Britt added that it’s “going to take a long time to improve the image of cable in a lot of those markets.”
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i dont think time warner realized the condition of the systems they picked up from adelphia in...
coyboy - 2007-19-9 02:06:00
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