FCC Closes Official Comment Period for Comcast-TWC Merger
New York, NY – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has closed the public comment period for Comcast’s proposed $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable. The commission received nearly 64,000 individual pieces of input, much of it opposed to the merger, and as many as 65 groups have asked regulators to either reject the deal or impose significant conditions and restrictions.
Consumers Union and Common Cause teamed up to lobby the FCC with an extensive 48-page filing, calling the merger an “unprecedented, monumental step in the direction of further consolidation of Big Media,” which would “harm competition, impede innovation by online video distributors, threaten innovation in equipment and platforms and reduce the diversity of information sources and services to the public, all to the detriment of consumers and contrary to the public interest.”
One of the arguments that the cable companies have put forth in favor of the merger is that competition will not be reduced because the two have overlapping footprints and that therefore the transaction will not remove a competitor from any market. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio rejected that assertion outright, as did the two lobbying organizations.
Their joint statement argued that is “too narrow a view of how competition works and how it would be harmed… By the logic of that narrow view, Comcast should be free to acquire every cable and Internet company throughout the country in every market it does not already serve—amassing a nationwide monopoly.”
The acquisition, if approved by regulators, will merge the two largest cable providers in the country, creating the world’s largest broadband and pay-TV company, together reaching about one in three (30%) of American households.
“If this deal goes through, we can expect to be hit with more skyrocketing bills and worse service as Comcast gains even more control over what we see online and on TV,” added Delara Derakhshani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, introducing a 48-page petition to FCC Chair Tom Wheeler calling for outright rejection of the proposed deal. “The two companies have failed to demonstrate how the merger would serve the public interest. The benefits they claim are overstated, or elusive or don’t depend on a merger, and they are far outweighed by the harms.”
Comcast executive vice president David Cohen has argued that Big Media giants getting bigger will be good for consumers. He asserted as an example that the deal would extend the net neutrality-based ISP rules that Comcast agreed to in its 2011 acquisition of NBC Universal. That requirement was designed to ensure that the previous merger would cover what are now Time Warner customers. However, no mention was made of the FCC’s lack of authority to regulate broadband.
Comcast will file its official responses to the petitions by late September, it said.
