By 
Concerns about monopolies, net neutrality and competition be damned: Time Warner and Comcast will no longer attempt to close a deal that would merge the two cable giants under Comcast’s banner. The internal desire — according to the two companies, anyway — was to bring more of their “great” product to more people in more cities. Says Comcast CEO and Chairman Brian L. Roberts:
Today, we move on. Of course, we would have liked to bring our great products to new cities, but we structured this deal so that if the government didn’t agree, we could walk away.
Comcast NBCUniversal is a unique company with strong momentum. Throughout this entire process, our employees have kept their eye on the ball and we have had fantastic operating results. I want to thank them and the employees of Time Warner Cable for their tireless efforts.
But it didn’t take long for red flags to pop up all over the place. The department of justice was the biggest opponent from the get-go, and much like AT&T’s proposed buyout of T-Mobile it was hard for them to believe that this merger could do anything good for the state of the US cable and broadband market.
The landscape of competition in said market is already severely flawed, with many areas only able to choose between just one or two services. Yours truly literally had no choice other than Time Warner Cable up until a few years ago when AT&T finally rolled out DSL. You’ll find similar situations in many areas of the country where Time Warner, Cox and Comcast enjoy the fruits of being the only cable provider in town for miles on end.
Thankfully the powers that be which blocked this deal realized that this monopoly would hurt an already lopsided industry. If not for the likes of Google Fiber and Verizon FiOS, we might not have seen these companies scrambling to upgrade their customers to Gigabit speeds.
Take Time Warner Cable, for instance. They kept their Charlotte, North Carolina customers on 50 megabit packages for years at what most of them would consider “fair” prices, but it only took them weeks to upgrade those customers to 300 megabit packages after they heard Google Fiber was on the way. Comcast did the same in Atlanta, Georgia when Google confirmed plans to expand to that particular market.
It’s clear these companies weren’t (and likely still aren’t) willing to do anything to improve service and value for their customers unless they had true competition. Allowing them to merge would have done nothing to change that (and would most likely have worsened the situation beyond repair). Good on everyone to see fit to block the deal and nip it in the bud in this instance just as they did to protect the spirit of competition in the wireless industry.
[via Comcast]
“The department of justice was the biggest proponent from the get-go”
You mean opponent. Proponent means you’re in favor of something.
Yea, noticed the error right after I hit publish. You should have already seen it fixed but cache may be a bit slow to catch up.
I see it’s fixed now.
I’d celebrate if both Comcast and TWC corps actually died. Like literally keeled over, slumped, dead, no pulse, no DNR.
My feelings are described in this pic.
my . . .SEE MORE HERE—> START HERE
I run with U Verse until fiber comes to Charlotte. Then I’m gone!
These companies are triflin’. They just wanted to merge to compete against Google because they know they shady.
I always talk about my friend when he stayed in Nebraska. U-Verse people told him while he’s paying for the service he may not get it because his location. He used a VPN to make his location in Texas and he got the speeds. The moment I witnessed that, I couldn’t do it anymore. Like I literally couldn’t do it.
Ugh!! I can’t.
#NewKidGenerationModeOn #ICantEven #TheyNotBaeAnymore
This is a good day indeed.
Now that the merger is dead, let’s start breaking the monopoly that they have in most markets.
Agreed for me its either Comcast or crappy dialup or I tether my computer to my phone for internet which is just not ideal.
https://youtu.be/KMcny_pixDw?t=4s
Woohoo! So happy this was blocked.
Really, this doesn’t accomplish all that much. Until the local cable monopolies are ended, most people don’t have much choice whether these two merged or not. I’m actually fortunate to live in one of the first places FIOS came to. I switched from Cablevision as soon as I could. I really didn’t expect it to be any better. I just wanted to encourage the competition.
Cablevision, Comcast, and TW have done one thing worthwhile. They banded together to provide a lot of public WiFi and are sharing it between each others’ customers. However, I suspect this is only possible because they don’t really directly compete in most areas.
I had never heard of FIOS before reading this article. You’re right about the monopolies needing to go. Comcast should have already been razed to the ground for their terrible lack of desire to keep Internet speeds and infrastructure in line with usage habits and increases while keeping prices affordable for them.
Many of those monopolies exist because of state laws protecting them from competition.
Why would I celebrate big government interference in the market? It’s a sad day when the government can stop private industry from performing business functions.
Read more about the context of why the government should and did stop this merger. It would have made things even worse for Internet service in the U.S. Don’t b!tch about “overly involved governments” when all they’re doing is saving U.S. internet users from being put back into the dark ages in regards to service and prices.
Read it. Still don’t agree with government interference.
But you’re ok with business interfering with government.
Who is worse, the man who offers a bribe, or the man who takes it?
Read your comment. Still think you’re a self-righteous a$$ who will never be happy with anything.
I completely understand were you are going with this because the government has rigged the game, then they step in to so call save us. Net Neutrality is a perfect example of this, but this time the government uses it to take control of cyberspace.
Hello, paid employee of Comcast. Nice to meet you.
As someone who works for Comcast even I seen this as a bad thing in the long run
TWC is pretty darn good and reasonably priced. Glad Scumcast couldn’t put their paws on it.
Am I the only one who actually like Comcast? I have 50 mb/s HBO and the second highest cable channel selection with all the sports channels and I pay just under $100 per month with no contract. At&t is higher for less speed and wow can’t even compete in our area
How long have you had that package?
About 6 months or so, since I don’t have a contract if they raise the price after a certain time length I just call and “change” my plan and it goes back down to around the same price.
This last time I switched plans is how I got all the extra channels and I paid about $8 extra per month but still under $100. I’ve been with them almost 3 years like this
And you don’t see a problem with this? If their prices are fair why do you need to call back on a regular basis to renegotiate?
Not at all. I’d be happy to call when I save money get double the channels, at least the one worth watching, and triple the internet speed. But if you’d rather pay a consistent higher price for less for a 2 year contract, I guess there would be a problem
Yes, you are.
I have only one choice for broadband Internet where I live, and that’s Charter Communications. There isn’t any other competition. I pay about 80.00 a month for 100 Mbps.
Yay!
Ding, dong, the witch is dead!
no the witch is paying dead – she will be back to destroy all who would not allow her to get fatter!
I never really understood why this merger was so bad when they don’t compete in the same markets. It’s not like anyone’s choices were being reduced.