I'd like to second that. Glenn Britt is the CEO of Time Warner Cable, Jeff Bewkes is CEO of Time Warner, Inc.

Darren, this is being picked up and redistributed around the Web as though it were fact. Please correct this.

Thanks,

Jeff Simmermon
Director, Digital Communications
Time Warner Cable
Twitter: jeffTWC

I neglected to identify myself in that comment above -- I'm the director of digital communications at Time Warner Cable.

Darren, I'm sorry to see you fall for Viacom's absurdly reductive reasoning here. We're not talking about couch-cushion change here. This is millions and millions of dollars, a rate increase that's nearly triple the increases set out in our last agreement. Referring to this sum of money as a few cents a day is like telling a drowning man he's gargling a little water.

Nobody watches MTV unless they're on a treadmill at the gym and can't catch a Simpsons rerun, and Viacom knows it better than anyone else. Sure, Viacom's got Colbert and the Daily Show, but they're available online for free. It's Bizarro-world economics. In what other world would you pay more for something that's free somewhere else?

Darren, I'm sorry to see you fall for Viacom's overly reductive "

Hi -- I'm the director of digital communication at Time Warner Cable, and I'd like to clarify a few things here.

We're rolling out up to 20 HD channels over the next several months, depending on the division. Different technical issues apply to different divisions, preventing us from doing a massive simultaneous channel deployment. Hence the staggered rollout times -- but rest assured that we want to give everyone as many HD channels as we can as soon as we can. It's part of staying competitive in this business, and it's important to us.

Here are the channels that will roll out over the next several months. Some will appear on Wednesday, and the entire list should be completed by sometime in January --

Greensboro:

Speed HD
BIO
FSNS HD
Cinemax E
cinemax W
Starz!
TMC
PPV
Weather Channel HD
FX HD
Hallmark HD

We're also adding Sprout and MLB in Standard Definition.

******************

Columbia, SC

Speed HD
BIO
Weather Channel HD
FX HD
Hallmark HD

We're also adding Sprout and MLB in Standard Definition.

*****************

Raleigh, NC

Speed HD
BIO
Discovery Channel
ESPNU
Planet Green
CNN
Disney Channel
History
Animal Planet
ABC Family
Lifetime
ESPNews
Learning Channel
FSNS HD
Cinemax E
Cinemax W
Starz!
TMC
PPV
Weather Channel HD
FX HD
Hallmark HD

We're also adding Sprout and MLB in Standard Definition.

*****************

Charlotte, NC

Speed HD
BIO
Discovery Channel
ESPNU
Planet Green
CNN
Disney Channel
History
Animal PLanet
ABC Family
Lifetime
ESPNews
Learning Channel
FSNS HD
Cinemax E
Cinemax W
Starz!
TMC
PPV

******************

If you have any further questions, feel free to e-mail me at jeff.simmermon@twcable.com, or follow me on Twitter at jeffTWC ...

@Boo Radley -- I'm the director of digital communications here at Time Warner Cable, just so you know. Our price increases reflect a number of costs -- ops costs, regulatory fees, and programming. We don't control the cost of the gas we put in our trucks, the costs of the copper in the cables, or the rents at our buildings across the country. But we're managing programming costs the best we can, because if we cave now it's going to get a *lot* more expensive later. And we're kind of drawing the line at paying for programming that's been free for over 6 decades.