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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe monopolization continues: Comcast Set to Acquire Time Warner Cable for $45 Billion
Comcast is expected to announce on Thursday an agreement to acquire Time Warner Cable for more than $45 billion in stock, a deal that would combine the biggest and second-biggest cable television operators in the country.
For Comcast, which completed its acquisition of NBC Universal, the television and movie powerhouse, from General Electric less than a year ago, the latest deal would be its second big act to radically reshape the media landscape in the United States. And the merger is almost certain to bring to an end a protracted takeover battle that Charter Communications has been waging for Time Warner Cable.
For Time Warner Cable, the deal provides a neat solution to its problems. It will receive just about the $160-a-share price it said was its true value, and possibly more. It will no longer have to slog ahead with a turnaround plan being run by a new chief executive, Rob Marcus. And it will allow it to become part of the company that is already the dominant force in cable television services.
Despite combining the two largest cable operators in the country, a merger may have little impact on consumers. Comcast and Time Warner Cable compete in very few markets. As a result, few consumers will see their choices of cable operators reduced.
Nonetheless, regulators will surely look carefully at the impact on the deal to consumers, and may also focus on whether the combined company will have additional power in negotiations with cable networks, a recent source of tension in the industry.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/comcast-set-to-acquire-time-warner-cable/?_php=true&_type=blogs&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140213&_r=0
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I can't blame Comcast for acquiring this company if it was for sale. I have Verizon Fios but have heard a lot of complaints about Comcast. Hopefully they get their act together.
ananda
(28,859 posts)I want to sign some petitions.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)Media consolidation has gone too far. It has become a threat to our fundamental, 1st Amendment rights.
-Laelth
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)Where is FDR when we need him?
livingwagenow
(373 posts)TRoN33
(769 posts)To take a big hit. Comcast, DirecTV, and Verizon will dominate the cable market and they aren't interested in giving us the most opium option for speed of internet. That is why Vermont is considering to allow people of state to publicly own the internet market.