By Steven King

Insight Communications customers can expect changes to their services in the coming years.

Time Warner Cable announced the completion of its acquisition of Insight Communications last week. Some Insight customers are curious about what the acquisition will bring.

Katie Payne, a senior early childhood education major, said she hopes any changes will only improve the quality of service.

“I think Insight does a great job with customer service and helping people,” Payne said. “I just hope now that Time Warner Cable is in charge, things still run smoothly.”

Professor Donald Mullineaux teaches the Mergers and Acquisitions class for the Gatton College of Business MBA program and said any details surrounding changes to the cable provider will aim to make the company more efficient.

“They have to justify paying $3 billion to acquire the company,” Mullineaux said. “One way to do this is by cutting costs and raising revenue to increase their profits, and do anything they can to make the company more efficient.”

He said the decisions yet to be made will determine if many Insight employees keep their jobs in the coming months. The impact on Insight Customers is far from being finalized, he said.

“The deal just was announced, so it will take a long time for Time Warner Cable to make changes to the company,” Mullineaux said. “This announcement is great for shareholders, but the impact on customers is yet to be determined.”

Mary Jo Green, vice president of communication for the midwest of Time Warner Cable, said Insight customers will not see any changes to their services in the near future.

“Insight customers will have the same channels, the same rates and use the same customer service number for the time being,” Green said. “Now that the acquisition is finally completed we can get into the details of the company and find out what improvements we can make to the services.”

Green said Time Warner Cable will implement at least two new services for certain channels — the Start Over program and the Look Back program. She said a new option will appear on the digital menu called “Enhanced.”

After clicking this button, customers will be able to select the Start Over program, which enables them to view or record a program from the beginning after it starts.

The Look Back program will allow customers to view previous episodes of a program, separate from the primetime option available with the On Demand system.

Green does not have a time frame for new implementations, but she said more cable services for more people is one of Time Warner Cable’s top priorities.

“We want to bring Time Warner services to areas where people do not have cable services right now,” Green said. “We are eager to welcome new customers.”