First it was net neutrality rules, now it's shooting down one of the biggest mergers ever, and consumer advocates believe they've spared mankind a major bullet by fighting Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
It was a massive merger that many consumer advocate groups were fretting about for months: if the cable behemoths Comcast and Time Warner Cable were allowed to merge, it could create a monopoly beyond anyone’s control.
Fortunately for them, however, that’s not what happened, and Comcast gave up on the merger, meaning there are a lot of winners out there, according to an Associated Press report.
The resulting company would have created a lumbering Internet and TV mega-corporation that would have served 30 percent of video subscribers and 55 percent of all broadband homes in the United States, giving it huge power over what can be downloaded and watched by Americans.
Online video providers are one of the big winners of this development, and indeed a bigger Comcast that could choke out the online video industry was one of the major concerns for regulators.
Dish, a satellite TV company, also benefited from the decision, as it had recently introduced its on Web TV program that it was dubbing Sling TV. Dish had even helped back a group called Stop Mega Comcast that hoped to kill the merger, and Netflix joined them in that effort.
Consumer advocates also won big, and its the second battle they’ve scored a victory in, with the first being a push to get the FCC to enact what are known as “net neutrality” rules that would keep broadband providers from creating Internet fast lanes that would give preferential treatment to certain companies who pay the price.
Finally, it’s good news for competitors such as DirecTV, and for media companies who would have less power to negotiate prices with the cable companies.
