NYC Mayor warns feds on Comcast merger

Comcast’s $45 billion merger deal with Time Warner Cable could lead to worse service, slowed innovation and higher advertising rates, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told federal regulators.

The mayor sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler warning that the cable merger would have “far-reaching impacts” on his city and the rest of the nation. For one, the deal could lead to higher prices and worse service from the company, since it will have no major competitors to fear, he said. “This is alarming given both Comcast’s and Time Warner Cable’s already poor customer satisfaction ratings,” Mayor de Blasio warned. Additionally, the post-merger Comcast could “come to exert unprecedented influence over what Americans are able to create, distribute and access online,” he wrote. And because Comcast will have a large control of the firm that is used to place national advertising, the deal may “make it make difficult and expensive” for local companies to buy ads, he warned.