Comcast-TWC Merger Now Opposed by Massive Coalition of Companies & Consumer Groups

[dgstorm]

You know you've pissed off a lot of people when a massive team-up of companies and consumer groups have rallied together and created a hate site to stop you. Such is the fate of Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) who are attempting a $45 Billion merger. A coalition of companies and groups formed for the express purpose of stopping the merger. This includes Dish Network, the Parents Television Council, Public Knowledge, the Consumer Federation of America and the Writers Guild of America, West and many more.

This coalition is called StopMegaComcast, and its web landing page was designed to educate the public about this cable company nightmare scenario. The StopMegaComcast’s website (found here) shares,

“A competitive and diverse media and technology marketplace is fundamental to the health of our economy and our democracy. The Comcast-TWC merger threatens competition, runs counter to our antitrust and communications laws and should be rejected by federal regulators. This much power concentrated in the hands of one company would be frightening even for the most trustworthy of companies. And Comcast is definitely not that.”

Of course, Comcast responded to the website with some "questionable" logic and veracity,

"“Hundreds of community organizations, programmers, lawmakers and diversity groups have praised the pro-consumer benefits of this transaction. It is no secret that some companies that want billions of dollars in higher fees for consumers are paying lobbying firms to organize against this transaction.”

Sadly, this new coalition of opposition may not have much affect on the outcome because these same organizations have already been lobbying individually to stop the merger. Right now it's simply in the hands of regulators like the FCC. These regulatory agencies have indicated they plan to address the merger sometime in the first quarter of 2015.

Source: Comcast Opponents Team Up to Kill Time Warner Cable Deal Re code

 

[johnomaz]

And like everything else, it will all depend on who throws the most money at the politicians.

 

[UrbanBounca]

Comcast is easily the worst company I've ever dealt with. This would essentially kill all competition, leaving us with pathetic Comcast.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Sydman]

All hail Google Fiber, laying pipe as I type, now I just need to move into the inclusion zone. So Say We All!

 

[Vepaot]

Lol I like how there's a large sum of Congressmen and Senators that are lobbying against it...but only 4 of them are Republican.

 

[xeene]

Cable companies are afraid of online streaming. The way things are going, there will be less and less cable subscribers each year.

Enter Google fiber. For the fraction of the cost of cable bill it delivers 20x faster Internet, and basic broadband is free! Goodbye Comcast, timewarner, brighthouse and uverse. Channels will be pay for only what you watch and everything will streamed.