Why the feds should block Comcast's merger with Time Warner Cable

[Commentary] It's a good time to delve into a development that could forever reshape the future of television: the possible merger between two of the nation's biggest cable companies, Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

A merger between these giants would threaten an open and fair market for cable television as well as Internet access.

To understand this, consider that Comcast could gain 11 million subscribers if it buys Time Warner Cable. Even if it winds up divesting 3 million subscribers to Charter Communications to gain approval from the Federal Communications Commission, the combined company will still have 30 million subscribers nationwide.

Some would say the companies don't directly compete -- Comcast has its own markets, such as in Philadelphia and Washington (DC), and Time Warner Cable has its own, such as in New York and North Carolina. The lack of overlap may temper antitrust concerns, but even geographically divergent markets can create an anticompetitive environment.

Another factor to consider is how the scarcity of a necessary resource like broadband will inevitably increase the power of monopolistic distributors while hurting content providers and consumers.

So while the merger may not be anti-competitive in terms of eliminating existing competition, it does obviate the need for both Comcast and Time Warner Cable to expand their services and aggressively compete with each other on price, quality of service, and capacity, which amounts to the same thing. The Federal Communications Commission should consider all this before approving a deal and recognize the long-term ramifications of allowing cable juggernauts to expand their footprint artificially instead of through investment and competition.

[Sanghoee is a political and business commentator]