back to article Comcast flees $45bn monster-merger with Time Warner Cable

Comcast has admitted it has given up on its $45bn acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC). Comcast, America's biggest cable giant, announced in the past few hours that it will end the pursuit of its largest rival amid stiff opposition from government watchdogs and other telcos. "Today, we move on," declared Comcast CEO Brian …

  1. Aedile

    Hey Comcast,

    There is nothing stopping you from bringing your "great products to new cities" other than the fact you may have to compete.

    But thank you for your honesty in saying you will continue to not compete with TWC and instead continue to cling to your regional monopoly.

  2. Rick Giles
    Mushroom

    And yet, I'm stuck with the Bastards

    Comcast that is.

    We did have TWC in Memphis until about 2007(?) and Comcast cam in and screwed it all up.

  3. John Gamble

    It does say something that Comcast actually improved to its currently terrible level of service only because it started to engage its customers via the "Comcast must die" site. Yes, Comcast customer support had to bypass its own bureaucracy via a hate-Comcast site.

  4. Tom 13

    I'm just about ready for somebody to sue the right way and end all this.

    1. Buy service with a known transmission fiddler.

    2. Purchase services from one of the Netflix/Hulu type operations.

    3. Work with Netflix/Hulu to document the transmission fiddling, at each point contacting fiddler to troubleshoot problems. Before each call announce it is being recorded and record them.

    4. When the fiddler fails to fix the problem, sue under FTC instead of FCC.

    5. When the court finds in favor of the plaintiff, argue that no rebates or court oversight can correct the problem: the content division MUST be separated from the ISP or the natural conflict of interest will remain.

    6. After judge splits the company along those lines, watch the fun.

    I'd do it myself except my name isn't the one that's officially on the bill and my roommate doesn't want that sort of publicity.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: I'm just about ready for somebody to sue the right way and end all this.

      "5. When the court finds in favor of the plaintiff, argue that no rebates or court oversight can correct the problem: the content division MUST be separated from the ISP or the natural conflict of interest will remain."

      That hinges on the court finding in favor of the plaintiff. Suppose some under-the-table bribing makes the court rule in favor of the fiddler instead, setting a precedent?

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: I'm just about ready for somebody to sue the right way and end all this.

        "That hinges on the court finding in favor of the plaintiff."

        Agreed. If there was a chance of the plaintiff winning it would never get to court. There'd be an out of court "settlement" to make it go away. That's standard big business practice. They will keep paying out "small" amounts to anyone prepared to take them on rather than risk an adverse precedent. On the other hand, if they were sure of a win, they'd be in faster than shit off a shovel to establish their allegedly shonky practices as a legal precedent.

        1. Charles 9

          Re: I'm just about ready for somebody to sue the right way and end all this.

          "Agreed. If there was a chance of the plaintiff winning it would never get to court. There'd be an out of court "settlement" to make it go away."

          That only works if they don't encounter an "untouchable" who's determined to set the precedent and won't settle for less than a full trial. And before you say they don't exist, one man once sued a company for $1 (and won it, too) just to put the company he sued over the coals.

  5. asdf

    hmm

    I would have less problem with the merger if #1 Comcast was never allowed to buy content creators in the first place and #2 Comcast was treated like the common carrier they are. Still very glad the government didn't go 0 for 3.

  6. Stoke the atom furnaces

    Adios Comcast

    We switched from Comcast to phone company internet at the start of this year, ditching ad laden cable TV in the process.

    We were concerned that Verizon internet would not be fast enough to stream video across, but its performance seems similar to what we were getting from Comcast cable at a fraction of the price, so we made a good move :-)

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