\n\tNEW YORK: Satellite TV provider DISH and consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge are among the organizations aligned in the newly formed “Stop Mega Comcast” Coalition, aiming to squash the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe group's manifesto states that it is committed to upholding the idea that "a competitive, dynamic and diverse media and technology marketplace is vital to America’s economy, consumers and democracy." Members are urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject the merger, on the grounds that it "threatens these ideals and runs counter to our antitrust and communications laws."<\/p>\n
\n\tThe manifesto continues: "Mega Comcast will have unprecedented power over broadband, controlling 50 percent of the residential high-speed access points across the country. This unprecedented market power will position Mega Comcast as the gatekeeper to half our nation’s broadband homes and also telecom markets such as local cable advertising, programming and pay TV, Latino, as well as critical information gateways such as set-top boxes and streaming devices.<\/p>\n
\n\t"Combining its increased cable and broadband market power with its ownership of NBCU, Mega Comcast will have the incentive and ability to stifle competition across these markets. All of this will harm, or even destroy, competing companies, and ultimately result in fewer choices, higher prices, less innovation and worse service for consumers across the country.<\/p>\n
\n\t"This much power concentrated in a single entity would be frightening even for the most trustworthy of companies. And Comcast is definitely not that. In fact, Comcast at its current size already has a well-established record of abusing its market power, ignoring merger conditions and providing historically bad service to its customers.<\/p>\n
\n\t"Mega Comcast’s concentrated market power runs counter to well established antitrust law and is plainly counter to the public interest. These facts, along with Comcast’s long history of abusing its power and disregarding its legal obligations, provide ample grounds for the DOJ and the FCC to reject the deal. It is not a close call."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK: Satellite TV provider DISH and consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge are among the organizations aligned in the newly formed “Stop Mega Comcast” Coalition, aiming to squash the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. The group's manifesto states that it is committed to upholding the idea that "a competitive, dynamic and diverse media …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n