Let the monopoly games begin anew: Comcast and Charter Edition

[Puffnstuff]

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/07/comc...reement-on-joint-wireless-efforts-source.html
Comcast and Charter reach operational agreement on joint wireless efforts which is a nice way of saying that power is about to be legally consolidated in this area. When two large ISP's get together like this it never pans out well for consumers as they are limiting choice to customers.

If one can provide cheaper service to potential customers that live in the others service area they will be locked out by this agreement holding the consumers hostage to whatever plan the controlling party wishes to provide. This eliminates competition and forces consumers to pay to play and I don't expect to see any resistance from the laissez-faire Trump administration. Will this be another of this administrations great walls?

 

[Sunburn74]

"By working with the team at Comcast, we can not only speed Charter's entry into the marketplace, it will also enable us to provide more competition and drive costs down for consumers at a similar national scale as current wireless operators," Charter Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said in a statement."

I read this sentence 4 times and it still doesn't make any sense.

If I work with my competitor, I can increase competition? What?!

 

[Puffnstuff]

The part where they agree to not market services to the other carriers customers is what raised the red flag for me.

 

[Sonikku]

Spectrum made promises about how consolidating resources with Time Warner was going to offer up unprecedented service and quality for consumers at an amazing price.

Their first act was to put the free speed upgrades Time Warner Cable was beginning to roll out on hold. Indefinitely.

But hey, that's ok! Trump's FCC picks with keep these folks honest!! Right? Right???

 

[dainthomas]

"By working with the team at Comcast, we can not only speed Charter's entry into the marketplace, it will also enable us to provide more competition and drive costs down for consumers at a similar national scale as current wireless operators," Charter Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge said in a statement."

I read this sentence 4 times and it still doesn't make any sense.

If I work with my competitor, I can increase competition? What?!

I don't think that word means what he thinks it means.

 

[Puffnstuff]

How could organized religion ever support him in the first place? Pseudoconservatives indeed!

 

[sactoking]

Except in this case isn't it true? They're talking about wireless here, a space neither of them are in. By working together, even if they choose not to compete with each other regionally, it puts a new competitor in the space against AT&T, TMobile, Verizon and Sprint.

Having them both compete nationally would be better than competing regionally but if the lack of collaboration causes them to sit out then wouldn't this be at least marginally better than the status quo?

 

[interchange]

Except in this case isn't it true? They're talking about wireless here, a space neither of them are in. By working together, even if they choose not to compete with each other regionally, it puts a new competitor in the space against AT&T, TMobile, Verizon and Sprint.

Having them both compete nationally would be better than competing regionally but if the lack of collaboration causes them to sit out then wouldn't this be at least marginally better than the status quo?

Yeah... Both of those companies rank about dead last on my support list, but if we're talking about them entering the same wireless space as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-MOBILE, etc. then this isn't a monopoly play.

 

[Jaskalas]

So the gist of the story is... they want to pool resources to earn a seat at the big boy's table.