U.S. Consumer Groups Ask FCC to Block Comcast-TWC Merger

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Consumers Union and Common Cause have sent a joint letter of opposition to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to reject Comcast's deal with Time Warner Cable.

The groups claim that while Comcast and TWC say that they already face competition and will continue to do so, consumers do not see it that way. "Widespread consumer complaints of high prices, poor service, and no choices are unmistakable hallmarks of an absence of meaningful competition. Comcast and TWC already dominate television and broadband service in most of the key parts of the country, and this merger would only expand and strengthen and solidify that dominance."

It rejects claims from Comcast and TWC that their merger would not harm competition because they currently serve subscribers in different geographic areas, meaning that consumers in a given area cannot choose between Comcast and TWC. The group says that this, too, is "unconvincing. That is too narrow a view of how competition works and how it would be harmed."

"This merger would give a single company unprecedented control over key video programming, together with unprecedented control over the means by which video programming is distributed to American consumers, and create a national 'gatekeeper' of the Internet," the letter argues. "These harms cannot be prevented or fixed by isolated divestitures, or by imposing conditions that ask Comcast to refrain from taking advantage of its power to enrich itself by blocking competition from others. The only effective response to the application, the only response that will serve the public interest, is to deny the application."