I say there should be one big condition to the merger: that Comcast spin off NBC Universal. If they want to be the biggest end-user communications company in America, they'll have to do it as a DUMB pipe. No more favoritism, which means no more vertical integration.
FCC not quite sold on Comcast TWC gobble
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is requesting more information from cable giant Comcast on its planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC). The Commission sent a letter (PDF) to Comcast's regulatory and legislative office asking the company to provide details on just how its subscriber networks align with …
COMMENTS
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Saturday 23rd August 2014 16:23 GMT Anonymous Coward
ALL broadcast properties, not just NBC
They should have to spin off all broadcast properties, including all the regional sports networks owned by Comcast and TWC, and not be allowed to own any broadcast properties in the future. They have been using those as leverage to steal customers from other providers, and would likely go all-in on that strategy after this merger gives them a near national footprint.
They should impose the same conditions on Directv/AT&T, though AFAIK AT&T owns none and Directv owns only a handful of minor sports networks.
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Monday 25th August 2014 01:18 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: ALL broadcast properties, not just NBC
NO!
You can't split the broadband and the cable TV delivery side. They both use the same wire. How exactly could you accomplish such a split, and what would it accomplish other than make both companies uncompetitive?
They just need their broadcast properties stripped. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a company that delivers TV and delivers internet. Is there a conflict of interest over stuff like Netflix? Probably, but that's true for every cable company, along with Verizon, Google Fiber, and AT&T Uverse. Unless you're going to try to split them all up, and make everyone run more wires, messing with this is a terrible terrible idea.
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Monday 25th August 2014 14:42 GMT Tom 13
Re: They both use the same wire.
Irrelevant.
I live in one of the few areas of the country where Verizon and Comcast compete head to head with a couple of other players also in the market. Guess what? Comcast and Verizon both have their fibers laid right past my house.
Now, that it unfairly impacts them vis-a-vie Verizon and AT&T, yep there's valid point. But it has multiple solutions.
Bigger issue might be that all the profit is likely to be located on the IP side, not the delivery side. I'm not sure how that one really breaks down or what to do about it.
But those issues have nothing to do with the service running on the same wire.
And there's one other thing I know. For as bad as service and competition are now, removing TWC from the equation cannot make it better.
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Monday 25th August 2014 16:44 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: They both use the same wire.
Its not irrelevant. There are economies of scale using the same infrastructure to deliver broadcast TV and broadband. That why you pay less if you bundle them together. If you want to end up paying more, fine, require that ISPs can't provide content in any way, but don't complain when you get the bill.
You'd also see less incentive for fiber upgrades in the places that don't have it, because it would be more difficult for ISP only or TV only companies to make enough money from laying the fiber to make it worth it. Hell, even Google isn't laying fiber for internet only, but also offer TV. Should Google be forced to stop offering TV and offer internet only? What do you think taking away the profit of the TV side would do the speed and breadth of their fiber rollout?
The solution to the issue you're presumably worried about is net neutrality. If Comcast has to treat all traffic the same, you don't have to worry about them trying to hamstring Netflix to increase the number of people getting VoD from them.
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Monday 25th August 2014 14:55 GMT MacGyver
"One nation, under Comcast, with limited justice for all."
Own all the pipes you want, but no media or production ownership, ever.
Who can't see that one GIGANTIC company owning not only the pipes, but also the content as well as the news outlets won't end in a dystopia.
"Your ONLY choice in news, television, movies, telephone, and internet. Warn-cast"