US companies offer free calls to the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - US residents can call and text their relatives and friends in the Philippines for free for the rest of the month, thanks to US companies AT&T and Time Warner Cable.

Telecommunications giant AT&T said it is offering international calling and texting relief efforts for U.S. residential wireless and wireline customers trying to connect with loved ones in the Philippines, in the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda.

From November 8 to 30, AT&T wireless postpaid customers will not be charged for:

International long distance usage for calls placed from an AT&T wireless number in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and U.S.V.I. to the Philippines.

Text messages to the Philippines, originated from an AT&T wireless number in the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S.V.I.

For any of the above activity, customers will see no charges reflected on their monthly statement for the period November 8 to 30, 2013.

For AT&T wireline and U-verse Voice customers, we are also waiving charges up to 60 minutes for direct dial calling to the Philippines, effective November 8 through November 30. Customers will either see no charges for these calls reflected on their monthly statement, or they will receive a credit in a later
statement.

"We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in the Philippines in any way we can... Connecting with family and friends is most important at times like this and we want to make it as easy and worry free as possible for our customers," said Mark Collins, senior vice president, Data and Voice Products, AT&T Mobility.

AT&T is also making a $25,000 contribution to AmeriCares, an organization that has been providing medical and humanitarian aid to the Philippines.

At the same time, Time Warner Cable said all calls placed by its Home Phone and Business Services customers to landline and mobile numbers in the Philippines will be free through November 30, and is retroactive for all calls placed since November 8.

"It is a difficult time for those who have loved ones in the Philippines and our thoughts go out to those impacted by Typhoon Haiyan. To help the Filipino-American community keep in touch with family and friends, we are making all calls placed to the Philippines free for our phone customers," said Rob Marcus, Time Warner Cable President and COO.

TWC Phone customers who make calls to the Philippines during the eligible time period do not need to make any changes to their accounts. Customers who were charged on or after November 8 will automatically be credited.

Time Warner Cable has also made The Filipino Channel (TFC) available at no additional cost to digital TV subscribers through November 15 to help customers better connect to news and information recovery efforts in the Philippines.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Time Warner Cable signs two Lakers deals as clock ticks

Time Warner Cable, under pressure to sign TV distributors to cover the costs of its deal to carry Los Angeles Lakers games, reached agreements with Charter Communications and Verizon four days before the basketball team's first home game, the companies said on Friday.

"Charter is the first provider of this brand new programming in our service areas, and we know that the addition of these networks especially pleases our customers in Southern California," said Allan Singer, Charter's senior vice president of programming.
Time Warner Cable also said late on Friday that its month-old Time Warner Cable SportsNet and companion Spanish-language sports channel Time Warner Cable Deportes had agreed to terms with Verizon's Fios TV service. The cable operator said details would be announced in the coming days.

Los Angeles-area cable and satellite operators had balked at paying the average monthly fee of $3.95 per subscriber it was charging for the two regional sports networks, which will air local broadcasts of the National Basketball Association's Lakers and Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy.

Time Warner Cable needs distributor fees to help pay for the contract it reached with the Lakers in February 2011. Barclays analyst James Ratcliffe has estimated that the local broadcasting rights will cost about $2 billion over 20 years.

Until Friday's agreements, the only fans able to watch local broadcasts of new Lakers stars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash were the 2 million who subscribe to Time Warner Cable and subscribers of the small Bright House Networks in Bakersfield, Calif.

Verizon has about 461,000 pay TV subscribers in the Los Angeles market while Charter has about 292,000, according to data from SNL Kagan.

Besides Charter, Time Warner Cable needs to sign contracts with satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish Network and with Cox Cable to carry 53 of the Lakers' 82 games carried by Time Warner Cable. The rest are national games that will be telecast by ESPN, TNT and ABC.

On Oct. 24, Cox, which has 1.2 million subscribers in Southern California, said it was rebuffed in its offer to carry the two channels on a specialty tier that would offer a portion of its customers other sports channels.

"We are committed to meeting the needs of all Cox customers, not just sports fans," Cox said in a statement. "The price for the Lakers is one of the highest wholesale prices that we have seen."

source: abs-cbnnews.com