Insight Cable for sale

I ran across this article that says that Insight Cable is up for sale.

I was surprised to see that they're owned by the Carlyle Group private equity firm. From the wiki about them: "Brand-name companies that Carlyle owns include: Dunkin' Brands, which owns Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, and oral hygiene company Water Pik. Carlyle, in a consortium of investors, recently acquired Hertz, the world's largest rental car corporation." Besides those companies, they have their hands in everything from nursing homes to energy to defense contracting.

You might also know them as the subject of Fahrenheit 911 a few years back.

Editorial comment: Since they're valuing Insight at $4 bil., I suspect whoever buys them will be raising our cable bills again. It's really kind of curious that even though the infrastructure's built out and there seems to be competition (Insight, AT&T, satellite), rates never seem to do anything but go up. Maybe it's time to drag the rabbit ears out or read words printed on paper (perish the thought).

Steve,

My understanding is that cable TV providers pretty much monopolize (or at least did) most areas of the country. Here it's Insight, other areas it's Comcast, etc. I've been a DirecTV guy for 10 or 12 years...so I have no idea if this is still the case or not.

Ricky: What, do you own space? No, NASA does.
[pronounces it "Nay-Saw"]
Satellite Employee: Naysaw?
Ricky: Rocket people? Perhaps you've heard of them?
Satellite Employee: It's NASA!

Ricky: What, do you own space? No, NASA does.
[pronounces it "Nay-Saw"]
Satellite Employee: Naysaw?
Ricky: Rocket people? Perhaps you've heard of them?
Satellite Employee: It's NASA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8siCAthFZw

(warning - contains language not appropriate for prudes)

Because of my recent work I find myself in many different, high end homes throughout the Louisville metro area. Out of maybe 2 dozen houses (all would have been valued at over $400 K) none had premium channels with their Insight service. All used basic, bottom of the line channel offerings - i.e. no HBO, Showtime. I guess I'm wondering if these homes could afford it and aren't willing to buy it who is?

[Robin Garr]

Because of my recent work I find myself in many different, high end homes throughout the Louisville metro area. Out of maybe 2 dozen houses (all would have been valued at over $400 K) none had premium channels with their Insight service. All used basic, bottom of the line channel offerings - i.e. no HBO, Showtime. I guess I'm wondering if these homes could afford it and aren't willing to buy it who is?

That fits us. Who needs HBO when you've got streaming Netflix, etc.?

Wont be too much longer and the cable business will be dead. They will still be in the broadband business however which will be too bad, we pay more for the crappiest slow broadband than most other countries, thanks InSight

Because of my recent work I find myself in many different, high end homes throughout the Louisville metro area. Out of maybe 2 dozen houses (all would have been valued at over $400 K) none had premium channels with their Insight service. All used basic, bottom of the line channel offerings - i.e. no HBO, Showtime. I guess I'm wondering if these homes could afford it and aren't willing to buy it who is?

That fits us. Who needs HBO when you've got streaming Netflix, etc.?

DirecTV is in the habit of "comping" loyal customers a couple of months of premium channels every year. Despite being "comped" I don't know how many times, we've yet to watch one single program on any of the premium channels...The programming is that weak.

Wont be too much longer and the cable business will be dead. They will still be in the broadband business however which will be too bad, we pay more for the crappiest slow broadband than most other countries, thanks InSight

Trust me when I say that the cable companies will find ways to make up for lost revenue to streaming videos and other delivery methods. It starts with your rates going up. Next, if you download "too much" they'll either throttle your speeds so that those HULU videos are unwatchable, or start capping bandwidth so they can cut you off if you go over their arbitrary limits. This already happens in other markets.

The real danger right now is a bad outcome of the whole net neutrality debate. If you don't already know about it, feel free to google it.

that's interesting about hertz car rental. i've been seeing their commercials a lot lately which claim that they started out as a family owned business and that they still are.

Because of my recent work I find myself in many different, high end homes throughout the Louisville metro area. Out of maybe 2 dozen houses (all would have been valued at over $400 K) none had premium channels with their Insight service. All used basic, bottom of the line channel offerings - i.e. no HBO, Showtime. I guess I'm wondering if these homes could afford it and aren't willing to buy it who is?

That fits us. Who needs HBO when you've got streaming Netflix, etc.?

DirecTV is in the habit of "comping" loyal customers a couple of months of premium channels every year. Despite being "comped" I don't know how many times, we've yet to watch one single program on any of the premium channels...The programming is that weak.

Have you seen "Dexter?" Not weak.

Have you seen "Dexter?" Not weak.

Love Dexter. I watch it online for free.
http://www.watch-dexter-online.net/about.html

The next big thing for cable providers seems to be talk of an online portal that you pay your monthly bill then you can access content from anywhere with your login.

The next big thing for cable providers seems to be talk of an online portal that you pay your monthly bill then you can access content from anywhere with your login.

AT&T U-Verse already has something like this, including a smartphone app.

Because of my recent work I find myself in many different, high end homes throughout the Louisville metro area. Out of maybe 2 dozen houses (all would have been valued at over $400 K) none had premium channels with their Insight service. All used basic, bottom of the line channel offerings - i.e. no HBO, Showtime. I guess I'm wondering if these homes could afford it and aren't willing to buy it who is?

That fits us. Who needs HBO when you've got streaming Netflix, etc.?

One word; (erm...maybe two? ) Trueblood!