“Dish Network Corp said on Tuesday it filed a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny the proposed merger of Charter Communications Inc and Time Warner Cable, citing substantial harm to competitors and consumers,” Rosmi Shaji reports for Reuters.
“The petition said that the proposed deal would be no better for the public interest than the one proposed between Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable,” Shaji reports. “Dish also noted that a Time Warner-Charter merger would result in two broadband providers, the other being Comcast, controlling about 90 percent of U.S. high-speed broadband networks.”
Shaji reports, “Dish also quoted Sling TV Chief Executive Roger Lynch, who said the proposed merger would harm other emerging competitive online video products and services, and also affect the performance of traditional satellite television service, ultimately reducing competition and choice for consumers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The U.S. needs more competition in the broadband Internet and television content delivery, not less.
SEE ALSO:
Comcast plans to drop Time Warner Cable takeover – April 23, 2015
U.S. DOJ likely to block Comcast’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable – April 20, 2015
Well, Hell,….of course they do.
From my POV: I’ve been railing on Time Warner Cable to lose the blatant and consistent USER ABUSE. And to my total surprise, they’ve now publicly vowed to do exactly that!
At one point, while TWC were at their worst, I championed having Charter buy them specifically because Charter had a far better reputation. But now, Charter’s rep has fallen, so I don’t see the point.
∑ = I hope TWC can now stand on its own two feet again without having to stamp their customers into the ground. As ever: The Customer = Collaborator, or you’re doing capitalism wrong.
BTW: Charter’s first attempt to buy TWC was a few months before Comcast made the attempt. TWC like’d Comcast’s offer better and turned down Charter’s initial offer. After Comcast’s offer got the boot, Charter reinstated its offer.
I love Dish Network. Just sayin’.
While the USA certainly needs more competition, it’s not clear to me why preventing the merger of two entities whose service areas do not overlap in any case, and who are prevented from competing with each other, would stifle any existing competition.
Now if you’re proposing that one should be able to select their cable provider as well as their telephone provider – well, now maybe you’ve got a point. But people in Anaheim can’t choose Cox, and people in my area of San Diego can’t choose Time Warner, because the service areas are exclusive. At the moment, it’s the nature of the beast.
That should be “…would ENCOURAGE competition.”