The proposed$45.2 billion acquisitionof Time Warner Cable by Comcast — the nation ’s two big cable and home Internet provider — has once again raised the specter of monopoly ascendency over yet another American public utility . Are these reverence overblown ? Nope ! It ’s really that bad .
https://gizmodo.com/why-the-comcast-time-warner-cable-merger-is-even-worse-1522096469
Would Comcast-TWC Count as a Monopoly?
Monopolies are n’t like porn ; you ca n’t just make love one when you see it . There is actually a spectrum of competition — ranging from gross contest to nail monopoly — that each market gibe into . But in worldwide footing , a monopoly bechance when a unmarried seller curb the market , and there are no alternatives for the seller ’s production . They ’re also formed when one or more barriers to entry into the grocery store forbid other companies from compete with the dominate title-holder . Stop me when this sound familiar .
These barrier to entry can be generated from a number of factor including the exclusive ownership of a fundamental resource — like Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud , which is used by every MLB club for pick out the shine off of new baseballs — the honour of a government dealership — such as Amtrak ’s national passenger train service or the the United States Postal Service , for residential chain armour legal transfer — or intellectual attribute rights . Basically , you have to make a very good argument as to why you deserve to be the only game in town .
At this dot you might be enquire how Comcast and other ISPs get away with what feel like localized Monopoly . The argument is that when a market is better served ( in term of economies of musical scale , not how fairish your monthly bill is ) by a unmarried company , rather than a number of smaller contend firms , you have a justifiable natural monopoly . Often it is the first society to make the infrastructure investing — i.e. lay railway system course , place up telephone poles , drilling oil wells , or ply fiber eye stock — that becomes the monopolist , because it ’s simply too expensive for small company to wrench a profits at the prices the natural monopoly is capable to .
So how does Comcast condition ? As Jack Shafer ofReuters writes :
In the establish mean solar day of the industry , local municipality mistakenly insisted that cable TV was a “ lifelike monopoly ” that must be regulated like phone divine service . In nearly every case , the excerption of a cable’s length operator was a political one , with the most flattering supplicant winning the right field from city council to strand wire on service program pole and frustrate right - of - ways to betray cable service . The municipalities collected dealership fees from the cable companies , judder them down for sweetener like municipal channels and public entree studio , regulated their rate , and required the operators to wire all if not most of their jurisdiction .
While Comcast certainly had assistance from the government in its other day — not unlike Amtrak and the USPS — by the time that deregulation cause began in the 1990 ’s to open up the protected line TV market , Modern competitor faced both a regulative maze of covering and an already - established competitor . Just because the field of competition was technically opened , did n’t signify that the barriers to entry were any lower .
As for Comcast - TWC , “ It ’s not really a overseas telegram television set unification , it ’s more of a wideband Internet unification . ” John Bergmayer , a senior faculty attorney for the advocacy group Public Knowledge , distinguish Gizmodo recently . “ Both of these company sell roll up broadband and video , and both of them are bright enough to see thatthe future of television manner of speaking is draw up with broadband , so they ’re really one and the same . ”
https://gizmodo.com/how-comcast-twc-will-end-your-all-you-can-internet-buff-1523899968
Monopolies also are n’t just about market portion , mind you . They ’re also about a company ’s market power , its ability to affect the overall securities industry for its own benefit . And with this fusion , Comcast will have peck of purchase .
As Derek Turner , Senior Researcher at theconsumer advocacy grouping Free Press , writes :
If Comcast acquire Time Warner Cable , it will verify 55 percent of the U.S. market ’s salary - television / Internet cluster client . It will be the only supplier of this advance communication package to nearly four out of every 10 U.S. homes . With this much controller over the weapons platform we all use to communicate and share with the outside cosmos , the Modern normal will be whatever Comcast want it to be .
The cable company could , according to both Bergmayer and Turner , wrap up acting as a gatekeeper to the cyberspace , much the same way Ma Bell acted as gatekeeper for early phone substructure .
As Turner excuse to Gizmodo , Comcast could theoretically position itself in the center of a monopsony ( which is similar to a monopoly except that Comcast would play as the only vendee of the television contentedness Cartesian product rather than the sole trafficker ) . What ’s more , the merger would expand Comcast ’s service reach to virtually two - third of the body politic ’s home , providing the company enormous powerfulness at the local , United States Department of State , and federal level to shape the future of public insurance policy in its own figure of speech .
Bergmayer is fain to agree . Comcast “ will have substantial market office , ” he tell Gizmodo . “ I reckon that because the combined company would have control over more than 30 million households , they would be in a position to prescribe terms and people would really have no choice than to do business with them . ”
And that ’s just the start of the trouble we could be in if the Comcast merger is approve . Per thePublic Knowledge statementin response to the initial amalgamation annunciation :
If Comcast takes over Time Warner Cable , it would wield unprecedented door guard power in several important markets . It is already the country ’s large ISP , the nation ’s largest video provider , and one of the country ’s largest home telephone set providers . It also controls a motion-picture show studio , broadcast connection , and many democratic cable channels .
With this much securities industry klout , Comcast would be capable to dictate price as to how content creators , distributor , and consumers would be able to get at one another , not to mention how much each side would have to pay to reach the others . And just asAT&T stifled telephony innovationwhen it was a monopoly , there ’s not much need for Comcast — which likewise rents you your cable box , not sell — to make any investment funds in its base , equipment , or military service . That ’s why your cablebox is so unspeakable , and why it will continue to be forever and ever .
So yes , Comcast - TWC would be a monopoly . And the upshot of that would be even more roughshod than what you ’re currently live with .
We’re Already Seeing the Effects
https://gizmodo.com/report-netflix-agrees-to-pay-comcast-for-access-to-bro-1529115565
That deal does n’t violate net disinterest , as some have hypothesize that it might . It just edit out out a center man to Comcast ’s advantage . But while the ISP colossus is technically under debt instrument until January 2018 to abide by theFCC ’s Open Internetrules — one small Ag lining from its NBC acquisition — Turner explains , “ This deal with Netflix shows that all they have to do is move the shenanigan up the Ernst Boris Chain a small ” and obviate FCC oversight completely .
And with no FCC oversight , things can get ugly , quickly . Without regulation , any semblance of net neutrality that is n’t already dead will be . After its ceasefire swipe in less than four class , Comcast could in hypothesis , decide that Comcast - owned NBC subject , could get priority over other TV channels . It could resolve that 4 K Netflix run are taking up “ too much ” of its bandwidth and throttle that dealings unless consumers and distributors give an extra fee . Just like it already has .
The other side of Comcast ’s new erected Internet price booth is n’t any better , either . The caller has latterly begun implement a system of rules ofcaps and overage fee for customersthat go over their dictate 300 GB of data each month . It ’ll be a rude waking up for TWC customers , who currently do n’t live under any such restrictions , and the combined size of it of the two companies would be enough to standardize broadband data crownwork . It ’s only a topic of time until they ’re they norm .
https://gizmodo.com/you-can-burn-through-your-entire-broadband-data-cap-in-1524579598
But Will It Go Through?
On the one hand , the U.S. government — both at the land and federal level — has steadily press against market place hegemony since the days of the Industrial Revolution using antimonopoly statute design to break up an offending company ’s market throttlehold . On the other helping hand , today ’s FCC is chickenshit .
The mickle likely wo n’t be officially filed with the FCC until March , at which distributor point both the FCC and the Justice Department will commence refresh the dealings . The DoJ ’s proceedings typically happen behind closed doors . The FCC , on the other script , will hold public legal proceeding where those potentially affected by the unification can talk out either for or against it . TheSenate Judiciary committeehas already position a March 26th date to retrospect the proposed merger .
If late chronicle is any usher , we ’re in trouble .
When Comcast seek to mix with NBC in 2010 , the FCC ’s decision process was heavily lobbied by both side . And while the FCC did finally allow the learning to go through by a vote of 4 to 1 , the agency attach alitany of conditions — guaranteeing the unexampled company would n’t discriminate against its computer programing , distribution , or ISP rivals — that Comcast would have to abide by for seven year .
But even these unco long term damage may not have been solid enough . As the lone dissenter from the FCC , senior popular commissioner , Michael J. Copps , assure the NYT , “ The Comcast - NBCU joint venture start the door to the cable - ization of the receptive Internet . The potential for walled gardens , bell John Wilkes Booth , content prioritization , access fee to reach end exploiter , and a stake in the heart of independent contentedness production is now very real . ” And it appear like Comcast is going to do it again .
Even more distressing is the revolving door insurance policy that appear to exist between the the FCC and the industry that it regularise . For example , after sign off on the Comcast - NBC batch , then - FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker pass on the agency for , you guess it , Comcast . And it would come out that the regulatory guile will carry on during the Comcast - TWC approval process as well . TheRepublic Report notesthat at least two top current regulatory officials , those in charge of oversee antitrust action , have uncomfortably close ties to the company they ’re supposed to manage :
The recently installed head of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division , William Baer , was a lawyerrepresentingGE and NBC in their push for the merger with Comcast . At the time , Baer was an attorney with the firm Arnold & Porter . To his cite , Baer saidlast monththat he is skeptical of further consolidation of the cable market . revealing survey by Republic Report show that Baer willcontinue receivingpayments from Arnold & Porter for the next eleven years as part of his retreat packet .
Maureen Ohlhausen , one of four commissioners on the Federal Trade Commission , which oversee antitrust enforcement , provided legal counsel for Comcast as an attorney just before joining the FTC . She also correspond NBC Universal in the yr before before becoming a commissioner in April of 2012 . NBC Universal completed its unification with Comcast in January of 2011 .
And while Congress does n’t directly adjudicate on the merger , Bergmayer points out , “ they do monitor the FCC and DoJ — they go for the pocketbook strings — so they have a draw of influence even if it is indirect . ”
So what can be done ? Your good bet is to start yelling at Congress , and at the FCC . “ A wad of people are very cynical about money in politics , however the purpose of money in political science is ultimately to determine voters , ” Bergmayer told Gizmodo . “ If the elector are incensed about something , very often that overcomes money on the other side because representatives are not going to estrange their constituency . ” you could find impinging entropy for your representativehere .
trusted , the threat of rankling voters does n’t always sour . But if it ’s your only guess , it ’s one deserving taking . [ LA Times , Public Knowledge1,2 – Free Press – About – Investopedia – Wikipedia – Stanford – Federal Communications Commission – Republic Report ]
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