Analyst: Something Has Got to Give

The rising number of media mergers expected to fall on the Federal Communications Commission’s doorstep could force the regulatory agency to consider blocking at least one of the mega-deals before it, influential media analyst Craig Moffett wrote.

In his report, Moffett noted that all of those deals -- and probably several more that haven’t been announced yet -- trace their reason for being to the enormous scale and power that Comcast/TWC will have over the television and broadband industry. And that, Moffett wrote, is why at least one of them could be blocked by the agency.

But which one will get the boot? Moffett isn’t speculating -- he added that the anti-trust case against Comcast/TWC is weak, the companies’ footprints don’t overlap and no competitor would be eliminated. But he noted the combined company would control about 40% of the broadband customers in the country, a figure that could raise eyebrows.