With mega-merger, TWC-Comcast should make Aereo into an ally

Comcast faces an uphill battle in getting its $43 billion merger with Time Warner Cable approved by antitrust regulators. Speaking broadly, there's the issue of the "unprecedented gatekeeper power" that the combined company will have. TWC and Comcast will be the country's largest Internet service provider, largest video provider, a top phone provider, as well as a movie studio, a broadcaster, and it will control many cable channels. Some have predicted that the FCC will use network neutrality enforcement as a bargaining chip in the antitrust approval process, since Congress was not able to pass net neutrality as a law on its own. On the broadcast side, Time Warner and Comcast will have to show that they don't compete. They don't actually operate in overlapping areas, and so the merger isn't going to consolidate power in any one region. But on a national level, they might have to show that there are other, non-Comcast, non-Time Warner options for consumers. Enter an unlikely ally: Aereo.

Aereo's service was previously a threat to the broadcasters. Broadcasters have repeatedly sued Aereo for unauthorized retransmission, including Comcast's NBC. But the merger news changes things. Because Aereo offers consumers an alternative to Time Warner and Comcast, it might serve as a "maverick" for lawyers. Comcast is basically arguing that the existence of many content options such as Aereo means a little $42.5 billion merger among friends is no big deal.