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Time Warner Cable separates; shuffles O.C. office

March 13th, 2009, 11:12 am · 12 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

It’s official: Time Warner Cable is no longer part of Time Warner — not that any cable TV customer should notice, says the company.

The cable division separated from Time Warner last night at 8 p.m., a significant event for investors, said Alexander Dudley, a Time Warner Cable spokesman. For cable TV customers, there was no impact on channels, prices or services, he said. Even the monthly cable bill will look the same.

“People’s reaction when the separation was first announced (two years ago) was, ‘Oh no, my cable company is going to change again,’ But no, nothing really changes for the customer,” Dudley said.

But a reorganization, which resulted in the loss of 1,250 jobs last month (see “Time Warner Cable losing lots of money, cuts jobs“), did impact Orange County and the company’s Southern California operation.

Fred Stefany (pictured on left), president of the O.C. division since 2006, is out. Also, it looks like Jeffrey Hirsch, who headed up the Los Angeles Metro division, is gone. I haven’t received confirmation on this yet. UPDATE, 1:30 p.m.: Hirsch moved to a new role within the company in New York. Hirsch oversaw the launch of digital phone service and Dodgers on Demand in the Southern California area.

Debi Picciolo, who was division president in the Los Angeles North, takes over all three divisions to become President of Residential Services. Picciolo was not available for an interview.

“We have had a company-wide reorganization, and this was completely independent of the spinoff. We implemented this reorganization in order to improve operational efficiencies and ensure the future success of our organization. As part of this reorganization, we consolidated the three Los Angeles-based divisions North, Metro and South. This will allow us to simplify our operational structure and ultimately, improve the customer experience,” said Darryl Ryan, a Time Warner spokesman for the Southern California region.

In the past 18 months, the company whittled down 30 divisions to 22 and then down to 5 last month. Stefany, who was responsive to my inquiries and those of readers’, left in January, according to Ryan.

Stefany opened up to readers last fall and offered us a tour of the local plants. He oversaw the integration of Comcast and Adelphia cable systems into Time Warner’s local operation. (Read “Time Warner still cleaning up cable merger mess in O.C.“) That has been a long and difficult process, which has left cable customers in O.C. with different channels, prices and services. Stefany is credited with improving customer satisfaction scores during this time, Ryan said.

(Earlier: “Time Warner Cable’s new features finally coming to O.C.,” and “Time Warner’s new HD channels and why Costa Mesa, Tustin get them first.”)

Reached at home Friday, Stefany said his plans are right now to spend more time with his family and promote charities that are important to him, such as the  American Diabetes Association, where he is a local board member.

He declined to talk about leaving the company but told me this: “I am very proud of what our OC Team has accomplished in the last 2.5 years since the Adelphia acquisition.  We raised the Adelphia BBB rating from D to A-, our field installers were ranked #1 in the nation for Time Warner for a period last year and we were able to bring our call centers back locally. I wish the team luck as I prepare for the next challenge.”

Time Warner Cable, meanwhile, is still on track to unite the Southern California region, so that every customer has the same set-top box, number of channels and prices, Dudley said. The mess created confusion not only for customers but customer service representatives who had to remember the details of all the various options. The recent reorganization and spin-off should not delay this but no completion date was available.

“Yes, that’s the goal to minimize the difference between neighborhoods and provide uniform information,” Dudley said.

UPDATE: For those wondering… As for Time Warner Cable investors, the company did a 1-for-3 reverse stock split yesterday. So yesterday’s price of $8.33, ended up today at $25.52. Then again, when the spin-off was announced last year, Time Warner Cable’s stock price was at $31.29. Nevertheless, at least one research company puts the upside on the spinoff at 31 percent.

Recent Time Warner Cable news:

Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services.

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MORE HOT TV TOPICS: * Time Warner Cable * Cox Cable * Verizon FiOS * AT&T U-verse * DirecTV * Dish Network * Web TV * All TV
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 12 Comments

  • k.o. says:
    March 13, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    “”But no, nothing really changes for the customer,” Dudley said.”

    So, pretty much we will get the same horrible customer service, clueless tech support, and non-existent help? Awesome, thanks TWC!

  • john begley says:
    March 13, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    I am a Time Warner stockholder—what does the separation do for me.

  • secert says:
    March 13, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    This is True, Fred has been gone for almost two months now, I know becuause he is a friend of mine

  • toxicnut says:
    March 13, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    So will we get more and better sports programing? NFL network and Big Ten network? Or just the same crappy service we get now.

  • Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress says:
    March 13, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    john begley – I haven’t been covering this from an investor standpoint but I added some insight/links above near the bottom of the post.

    k.o/toxicnut - Umm… you heard the man.

    secert – Fred was honest, open and reached out to me as a reporter — which set him apart from most top executives. I hope that wasn’t what did him in. Of course, he has his own motives but to me, it seemed that he genuinely was concerned about customers. All the best Fred. — Gadgetress

  • Tax Payer says:
    March 13, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    So I am still forced to pay $60 a month for crap analoug service
    One channel blasting loud while others are so quiet I cant here them, and techs who dont have a clue!
    and channels I want I cant get!

    GOD I MISS DISH NETWORK!

  • mundo13 says:
    March 13, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    I’m finally gettin rid of both my TWC boxes and service, couldn’t of picked a better time. Hard to believe their stocks are up. I should of invested in their stocks instead of their services! And I’m with you Tax Payer, I can only dream of having satellite due to my current living location, no direct view to southern skies. DARN IT!

  • Netteligent says:
    March 14, 2009 at 8:51 am

    It is a best business decision so TW Cable can move forward and break away from American On Line.

  • timewarner says:
    March 14, 2009 at 9:31 am

    Time Warner provides horrible internet services. It is always getting hacked and the DNS servers are always failing. I switched my DNS sever to the free OpenDNS, which is working much better.

  • FIOS says:
    March 14, 2009 at 9:35 am

    Switched to Verizon FIOS. Saved $50 per month. Got better services. I should have done this years ago. Bye Bye TWC craps.

  • johnb says:
    March 14, 2009 at 9:40 am

    I’m looking at cancelling my Time Warner service. It’s too expensive. You see most of your shows on HULU.com anyway. Soon all stations with be digital, so why have cable? You can rent movies cheaper from other services or even buy them on sale.

  • TWC Vendetta says:
    August 13, 2009 at 2:43 am

    (SoCal)

    TimeWarnerCable, RoadRunner, local office and ‘the office of the president’

    has an internal policy of ‘accidentally’ over-billing. Notice you have NEVER been underbilled. They limit the amount of billing adjustments for their ‘accidents’ when you catch them.

    They put NOTHING in writing. No one has the authority to make deals.

    They lie, defraud, steal, abuse… and when you refuse to pay the extortion amount, cancel service, and switch to FIOS they turn over your account to collection without making any reasonable attempt at reconciliation

    “She did not have the authority to make that modification to your account” .. how convenient for them. Even their fixes hold no weight.

    Calls on speakerphone with area managers offering verbal contracts MUST be witnessed by non-family members and RECORDED despite whatever the law is. Be sure to state your “I am recording this call for honesty assurance” while their automated system announces call recording… giving them the ’same’ opportunity to not-object

    I am clearly not alone:

    http://time-warner-cable-overcharges.blogspot.com/

    Their service “works when it works”. Constant problems towards the end of 5+ years of ’service’. Field techs are incompetent. Customer Service is a misnomer. Have a large house in a wireless saturated neighborhood? Need two cable modems? You’ll get r*ped.

    GeoIP location bothersome? TWC uses TINY netblocks to allow you to be located within a city block.

    They continued billing me for service AFTER they suspended my account during a billing dispute for three months. That’s very illegal.

    TWC crossed the wrong guy: a genius and tech savvy. By sharing my excruciating experiences with TWC they will lose far more income than their attempted unjust gouging. Had they been reasonable I would have continued to bring them business. I now champion FIOS.

    I have filed a FORMAL COMPLAINT with the Public Utilities Commission — you should too!!