Consumers Union Debunks Comcast’s Five Biggest Promises about Time Warner Cable Merger

As the February 13th anniversary of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger announcement approaches, Consumers Union is pointing to five of Comcast’s biggest promises and how they fail to hold up:

1. "We'll improve customer service if the merger is allowed.": As is all too familiar to consumers, bigger often does not mean better when it comes to customer service.
2. “We’ll help poor and rural communities if the merger is allowed.”: It’s all too easy for a company to promise to do good works when seeking approval for a merger, and then go back to business as usual. If Comcast really wants to help bridge the digital divide, there is certainly more it -- and Time Warner Cable -- can do. But they don’t need another merger to do it.
3. “We won’t restrict access to choice programs we control if the merger is allowed.”: More cable and broadband coverage in more cities equals more opportunities for Comcast to restrict access by competing distributors to the programs Comcast controls.
4. “We’ll provide plenty of sports programming for local fans if the merger is allowed.”: This merger would do nothing to reduce this sort of gamesmanship. It would only increase it -- and that would be strike three for many sports fans.
5. “The merger wouldn’t harm competition -- in fact, it couldn’t.”: From local monopoly to national gatekeeper. Welcome to Comcast Country -- literally.