[Shaw Champ]

I was reading today on cartt that Rogers brought

"Compton Communications, which serves about 5,500 cable subscribers in and around Port Perry, Ont., has been purchased by Rogers Cable, the companies announced late Tuesday"

Compton has been a leader in Canadian cable, despite its size. It was an early adopter of video on demand, for example, and was the first cable company in Canada to offer a high definition digital video recorder in 2003

I never knew that about Compton, I hope Rogers will look after the employees.

http://www.cartt.ca/news/PrinterFriendly.cfm?NewsNo=11397

 

[thenewdc]

If true, i guess it was only a matter of time, the smaller players are a dying breed. Compton borders Stouffville where i live. I wonder how much Rogers paid for Compton??

 

[thenewdc]

I guess they will soon switch their customers over to the SA platform, and switch the U.S. feeds from Detroit to Buffalo too.

 

[smootherator]

well there goes another in the hole.... Bunch of layoffs coming up. Thats bad news for the employees there.

 

[thenewdc]

How do you know their will be layoffs. In the past Rogers did not layoff employees when they bought out smaller cable companies.

 

[hugh]

And how do you know that "In the past Rogers did not layoff employees when they bought out smaller cable companies."

I find that statement impossible to believe. I'm sure Rogers has reduced headcount on every buy-out. Just from a back-office perspective, it would be silly not to.

 

[Shaw Champ]

The link got updated in the first post

As part of the deal, Rogers agreed to keep all 18 of Compton’s employees for at least two years

 

[hugh]

I guess it was part of the cost of the acquisition. Nice of Compton to negotiate that clause as it gives some employees two years to find a new job.

 

[spun14]

Disappointing. Grew up with Compton Cable. Switched back after moving back to the area from Bell and have been extremely happy with the product and not to mention the pricing in compairson to what Roger's charges for similar packages.

Not looking forward to Roger's rates. Also not a fan of Roger's slow OnDemand service.

Sad sad day. Good luck to you Trav in whatever you do from here on out.

 

[Francois Caron]

Bummer. Last year, they were helping me test out my IP based broadcast delivery system for my channel. It showed a lot of promise.

Good luck to you all! Use those two years wisely!

 

[smootherator]

Very nice of Compton to negotiate that contract thinking of its employees. Wow...18 people can run a cable company and offer better prices for internet and digital tv than the big guys. Well i guess compton did not have to pay baseball salaries.

 

[ScaryBob]

Rogers has become very GTA centric in the last decade. At one time Rogers had a London office (originally it was *the* Rogers office.) Then they purchased McLean-Hunter cable here and closed that office down. Now they run the field service department out of Guelph with all other customer service and management out of Toronto. If anyone thinks that Rogers will not do the same with Compton, they are mistaken.

 

[thenewdc]

Sure, they'll likely consolidate for efficiencies. Some employees might be moved to other locations.

 

[bigoranget]

Looks like Source Cable in Hamilton and Nor-Del Cable in Nanticoke are the only independent cable systems left in Southern Ontario. Source Cable indicated that they are not for sale in the summer of '09 when Mountain Cable was sold to Shaw. They are diversifying their business with wireless internet in rural areas and home security. I do however think it's a matter of time before Source Cable sells their cable, phone and internet service to either Shaw or Cogeco.

 

[warthog]

I was a Rogers subscriber for 11 years. Found them to be terrible. Customer service was extremely poor, perpetual rate increases, in general a bloody awful experience, especially when it came time to cancel my account (house move). Unhappy customer.

I've been with Compton for just over 3.5 years. Excellent customer service, reasonably consistent rates and good services, in general very good to deal with. Happy customer.

I'm pleased for the Compton family if this is what they wanted, but as far as Rogers are concerned, this deal sucks!

 

[dougjp]

Awful

I'm with Compton and this news is the worst thing imaginable.

 

[BrenIII]

Brendan O'Hara

 

[spun14]

Scared to see the CS go, one great thing with small companies. I know from experience with transitions, once Roger's starts the transition the CS will go out the window.

The Shaw to Roger's transition was a nightmare when the territory swap happened. Could fix a customers problem on Monday, Tuesday there was somebody standing over you telling you that you no longer have that authority and move it up the chain. A 3 minute fix turned into a 72 hour call back.

Love the pricing i just checked as well. Noticed that Sportsnet HD is included with all packages. But TSN HD is a convient additional charge.

 

[dougjp]

Scared to see the CS go...

Please explain what CS is, or provide a link?

 

[hugh]

He means Customer Service