CWA: Regulators Should Scrutinize Comcast-Time Warner Details

CWA: Regulators Should Scrutinize Comcast-Time Warner in Terms of Cost, Competition and Public Interest

Washington, D.C. --The bid by Comcast Communications to acquire Time Warner Cable in a $45.2 billion deal must be carefully reviewed by federal regulators.

A merger of this size, which would combine two of the four biggest cable operations, raises concerns about quality jobs, competition, consumer cost, market structure and more.

The two companies have a high bar to meet to demonstrate that the merger would be in the public interest.

Because the deal would result in significant concentration in the industry, the Communications Workers of America believes that regulators must review several critical issues, including:

•    The effect on market power for content providers and consumers, in what would be a significant horizontal merger.

•    The impact on innovation and market structure in the industry.

•    The effect on jobs.

•    The effect on consumer cost and options; the cable television industry already is known for high costs.

CWA also urges regulators to make expansion of broadband service and speed a critical goal for network policy makers.

CWA represents about 5,000 workers at Comcast nationwide, including technicians and employees at NBC Universal, and at Time Warner. We will be engaging them on this issue and discussing this deal further with regulators and management.

Regulators should scrutinize Comcast-Time Warner in terms of cost, competition and public interest (CWA news release, Feb. 13, 2014)