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Ask FCC / DOJ to STOP the TWC/Comcast Merger:
Comcast + Time Warner Cable = Disaster
Comcast just announced that it’s buying Time Warner Cable. If approved, this outrageous deal would create a television and Internet colossus like no other.
Comcast is the country's #1 cable and Internet company and Time Warner Cable is #2. Put them together and you get a single giant controlling a massive share of our nation’s TV and Internet-access markets.
No one woke up this morning wishing their cable company was bigger or had more control over what they watch and how they get online. But that's the reality we’ll face unless the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission do their jobs and block this merger.
Stopping this kind of deal is exactly why we have antitrust laws.
This merger would put more than a third of all cable-TV subscribers in Comcast’s hands and give it control over more than half of the “triple-play” services that combine TV, phone and Internet service. Don’t forget, Comcast already owns NBC, MSNBC, Universal Studios and tons of cable networks. That means that for most of America, Comcast could control even more of what you see and how you see it.
Putting this much power in the hands of one company is dangerous. This deal would lead to less consumer choice, less diversity and much higher cable bills.
This is a fight we can win. Tell the FCC and the DoJ to stop this merger.
Sign here:
http://act.freepress.net/sign/consol_comcast_twc/?source=share
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MORE info about this:
LOS ANGELES — Comcast Corp. has agreed to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for $45.2 billion in stock, or $158.82 per share, in a deal that will combine the nation's top two cable TV companies, two people familiar with the matter said late Wednesday.
The deal was approved by the boards of both companies and, pending regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the year, the people said.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced formally. An announcement is set for Thursday morning, they said.
The price is about 17 percent above Time Warner Cable shares' Wednesday closing price of $135.31 and trumps a proposal by Charter Communications Inc. to buy Time Warner for about $38 billion in cash and stock worth $132.50 per share.
The deal was approved by the boards of both companies and, pending regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the year, the people said.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced formally. An announcement is set for Thursday morning, they said.
The price is about 17 percent above Time Warner Cable shares' Wednesday closing price of $135.31 and trumps a proposal by Charter Communications Inc. to buy Time Warner for about $38 billion in cash and stock worth $132.50 per share.
THE REST:
http://www.wral.com/comcast-to-buy-time-warner-cable-for-45-billion/13388368/
31 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
.... from Chicago to the Pacific northwest.
The Northern Securities Case (1904), which established President Theodore Roosevelt’s reputation as a “trust buster,” reached the Supreme Court in 1904. It was the first example of Roosevelt’s use of anti-trust legislation to dismantle a monopoly, in this case a holding company controlling the principal railroad lines from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest.
In 1901, railroad builder James J. Hill of St. Paul, Minnesota, fought off an attempt by his arch rival Edward H. Harriman for control of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. Hill, who controlled the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific railroads, wanted to gain access to Chicago for his lines from the Twin Cities. After a protracted and potentially disastrous bidding war for the CB&Q, Hill and Harriman cooperated with banker J. P. Morgan and financier John D. Rockefeller to create the Northern Securities Company. Established in the state of New Jersey (which had laws favorable to this type of arrangement), Northern Securities held the majority of shares in the CB&Q, the Northern Pacific, and the Great Northern railroads, along with smaller roads associated with these three.
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt instructed his Justice Department to break up this holding company on the grounds that it was an illegal combination acting in restraint of trade. Using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the federal government did so and the Northern Securities Company sued to appeal the ruling. The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled 5-4 in favor of the federal government. Roosevelt’s action had ignored the advice of leading conservatives in the Republican Party and demonstrated his independence from party elders. It also increased his popular support and helped in his election campaign in 1904.
http://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Capitalism-and-Labor/The-Northern-Securities-Case.aspx
and 50 years ago, our Justice Department used the Clayton Act to disallow a bank merger that would have created a bank with 30% market share in the Philadelphia banking market.
http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/374/321/
So now we have a "Justice" Department prepared to sit by as Comcast buys the entire internet?
We've got to to something to break this corporate control.
Maybe if we throw enough spit balls someone will listen. 
sigh....
