CEO DATELINE - New coalition urges public to oppose ‘mega cable'
CEO DATELINE - New coalition urges public to oppose ‘mega cable'
- January 21, 2016 |
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Walt Williams
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A new coalition has launched to stir up opposition to a proposed merger between Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.
The Stop Mega Cable Coalition counts two associations among its founding members: US Telecom and the Rural Broadband Association. They join businesses such as Dish Network and advocacy groups like Consumers Union in urging regulators to reject the merger, which would create the second largest cable operator after Comcast.
In fact, on its website, the coalition gleefully compares the proposed company to Comcast, which generates more customer complaints to the Federal Communications Commission than the three next largest cable companies combined, according to a 2015 analysis of federal records by the technology news site Ars Technica.
The merged company would be "a national giant that will dominate some of the country's largest local markets, own its own pay-TV services and control valuable programming," the coalition states. "Sound familiar? Yup, Mega Cable will look an awful lot like Comcast."
The coalition alleges the merger would give Charter-Time Warner a near monopoly on high-speed broadband services for two-thirds of the subscribers in the companies' current footprint. The new company would dominate the markets in New York City, Los Angeles, Orlando and other large cities.
Kevin Rupy, vice president of US Telecom, said the merger demands "the highest degree of scrutiny."
"The stakes of this merger are too high—for both consumers and the future of the broadband marketplace," he said. "Regulators and elected officials must ensure that the threatened harms to consumer choice, competition and innovation are fully addressed."
The coalition's website is www.stopmegacable.com
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