Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is no longer viewed as inevitable

Comcast's bold move to buy rival Time Warner Cable in a $45-billion deal once seemed inevitable. Now, it is unclear whether the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission will give Comcast their blessing.

"They've had a lot of trouble, more than they thought they would -- and rightly so," said Gene Kimmelman, a former top lawyer in the Justice Department's antitrust division who now leads advocacy group Public Knowledge, which opposes the Comcast-TWC merger. Comcast's acquisition was originally viewed as a combination of huge cable TV providers. But opponents have painted Comcast as a potential gatekeeper of the Internet, raising the stakes as regulators wrestle over how best to regulate the Internet.