The Reality, Should the Comcast/TW Merger Go Thru

[lupi]

Not really, every one with any common sense know's there is virtually no competition given the near protected monopoly regulations the lawmakers have passed. If they believed it back then it's because they were idiots.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Give us solid net neutrality, break up seperate businesses of ISP, "infrastructure", and then their content access / streaming type business. Company that owns the lines/infrastructure can make money by selling access rights or bandwidth to ISPs. Company that streams the content can compete on level playing field with Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, etc. ISP can not be a part of either other business since that would give them an unfair / anti-competitive monopolistic advantage. Should that sitation ever come to be, there should be strict legislation to encourage competition.

 

[Sonikku]

The merger can only mean the consolidation of resources and efficiency that can only help customers. Besides, I'm sure if anything were amiss with the merger the new chairmen of the FCC would crack down on the cable and internet companies with the wrath of Jesus.

 

[NutBucket]

While I don't like the merger I have to agree that I don't believe I have ever had a choice in cable operator in LA. You have what you have and that's it. If you want a choice in ISP it's either cable, telco DSL/fiber or someone reselling telco DSL. I know, satellite and LTE but that's not really viable when you have other options.

So what is going to change for me? No idea. TW decided they needed to raise rates again. If I go with uVerse I'll have a 250gig cap. Is ATT less evil than TW? Hardly. So really, we're all screwed so deal with it.

 

[olds]

I vote no.

 

[norseamd]

Give us solid net neutrality, break up seperate businesses of ISP, "infrastructure", and then their content access / streaming type business. Company that owns the lines/infrastructure can make money by selling access rights or bandwidth to ISPs. Company that streams the content can compete on level playing field with Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, etc. ISP can not be a part of either other business since that would give them an unfair / anti-competitive monopolistic advantage. Should that sitation ever come to be, there should be strict legislation to encourage competition.

how about the government handles the infrastructure

 

[CrimsonWolf]

While I don't like the merger I have to agree that I don't believe I have ever had a choice in cable operator in LA. You have what you have and that's it. If you want a choice in ISP it's either cable, telco DSL/fiber or someone reselling telco DSL. I know, satellite and LTE but that's not really viable when you have other options.

So what is going to change for me? No idea. TW decided they needed to raise rates again. If I go with uVerse I'll have a 250gig cap. Is ATT less evil than TW? Hardly. So really, we're all screwed so deal with it.

This is the key thing for Comcast-TW from their perspective. I don't think there is any overlap between them. They will argue that they are not removing a competitor from the market. Cable companies typically have exclusive service territories. E.g., where I live Cox serves people within city limits and Comcast serves those outside city limits. You don't choose, where ever you live is it. Suppose you are in Comcast's service territory. Your alternative choices are DirecTV/Dish for TV and the telephone company for DSL. That's it. Cox isn't relevant. So if Comcast were to buy Cox, no choice is being taken from you as the consumer.

The regulators would need to get more creative and look at it from a monopsony perspective rather than a monopoly perspective. E.g., Comcast/TW would have too much buying power as a purchaser of content from content providers.

All that said, Comcast doesn't know their head from their ass as far as customer service goes and I wouldn't mind if this goes down in flames.

 

[Jadow]

The govt had better block this without even blinking. if they don't we will know once and for all that govt is owned by corporations.

if you want to see some history look at how the heavy handed govt completely f'ed over Heileman Brewing in the early 80's by blocking their merger attempts. They were the 4th biggest brewer and trying to buy some smaller brewers like Pabst.

In the beer space, it's an anti trust violation to try to move up from 4th, however in broadband in 2014, one gigantic monopolistic behometh is ok?

wtf has changed in our country

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/15/business/us-to-bar-heileman-s-pabst-bid.html

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...nFIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GxIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5865,2544002

 

[blankslate]

We're already not that much better than Canada in terms of average download speeds

23.34 mbps vs. 20.86 mbps.

http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/

this merger could bring us down to that level, because increased prices could force more people to go with less bandwidth.

hell, those commie socialist French have a higher average download speed.



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