Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable: Say goodbye to the public interest (LAT)

[jsr]

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-comcast-20140212,0,4158731.story

Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable: Say goodbye to the public interest
By Michael Hiltzik

The deal would combine the nation's biggest and second-biggest cable firms. Comcast, already No. 1 in subscribers, would end up with about 30 million video customers, a net gain of 8 million (following a reported commitment to divest 3 million subs). It would put that subscriber base together with its ownership of NBCUniversal -- the network, the film studio and several other cable channels.

Let's get to the bottom line. There's no way this combination can conceivably be in the public interest. The deal is a blunt challenge to the Federal Communications Commission and its new chairman, Tom Wheeler; the question is whether the FCC will fold against the economic and political power of these two behemoths.

As the leading provider of Internet services to American homes, Comcast has already shown that it's not above using its effective near-monopoly on Internet connectivity in its service area to stifle competitors. The FCC slapped its wrist after it was caught engaging in this illicit behavior in 2007, but then inexplicably waved through Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011.

The acquisition of Time Warner Cable will simply expand the geographical area subject to its ruthless competitive practices. (Comcast is committed to adhering to standards of net neutrality, which forbid its discriminating among Web services in carrying them to subscribers' homes, until January 2018. That was a condition of the NBCUniversal deal, but after that date the shackles are off.)

[hlthe2b]

1. Damn I hate this... Everyday, the Corporations take over more and more...

[NYC Liberal]

2. Funny how just weeks ago the FCC's net neutrality rules were

struck down because "consumers have plenty of choice" for Internet service...