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Alabama woman works to help returning citizens rebuild their lives; Marist polls: Harris leads Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin; they're tied in Pennsylvania; UAW contract negotiations at VW focus on healthcare, safety, wages; NC dentists warn of crisis due to low Medicaid reimbursement rates.

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The Teamsters choose not to endorse a presidential candidate, county officials in Texas fight back against state moves to limit voter registration efforts, and the FBI investigate suspicious packages sent to elections offices in at least 17 states.

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UW Expert: Huge Telecom Merger Will Cost Hundreds of Wisconsin Jobs

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Wednesday, June 3, 2015   

MADISON, Wis. - In a deal which would affect millions of Wisconsinites and one in every six American households, Charter Communications is proposing an acquisition of Time-Warner Cable. According to nationally recognized telecommunications expert Barry Orton, this is bad news for consumers.

While the companies involved say it will mean rates will be lower, Orton said that has never happened, and in fact the additional debt taken on by the new company probably will cause cable TV rates to rise even faster.

Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, said there will have to be downsizing, too.

"Time-Warner has a very big customer service center, a phone center in Appleton, and a smaller one in Milwaukee, and Charter has a very big one in Fond du Lac and a smaller one in Madison," he said. "They're not going to need all four of those going forward."

Orton said the two companies involved have very poor ratings for customer satisfaction. Charter has promised that customers will get better broadband service if the acquisition goes forward.

The combined companies probably would shed hundreds of jobs in Wisconsin, Orton said, in addition to closing at least two regional facilities.

"Similarly, they don't need two state directors, they don't need two heads of marketing, they don't need two accounting staffs, they don't need all that kind of middle-management stuff duplicated twice in one state," he said. "So there'll be significant - I would say in the hundreds of - job losses."

Several months ago, the Federal Communications Commission blocked Comcast's bid to buy out Time-Warner. Orton said he is not sure this deal between Charter and Time-Warner will go through, but added that it probably will happen.

"Right now the Obama administration has nothing to lose by acting strong on some things," he said, "and so it's a possibility that it's turned down. I think it should be turned down. I think the odds are probably 60-40 that it isn't."


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