Free Press: Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger Would Be a Disaster for Consumers

WASHINGTON — According to press reports late Wednesday night, Comcast is preparing to announce a $44 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable. The proposed takeover would unite the nation's largest cable TV and Internet service provider with the second-largest cable company. The combined companies would offer service to two-thirds of U.S. homes. The deal would have to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department.

Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron made the following statement:

"In an already uncompetitive market with high prices that keep going up and up, a merger of the two biggest cable companies should be unthinkable. This deal would be a disaster for consumers and must be stopped.

"This deal would give Comcast control of more than a third of the U.S. pay-TV market and more than half of the U.S. triple-play market for video, voice and Internet service. Comcast will have unprecedented market power over consumers and an unprecedented ability to exert its influence over any channels or businesses that want to reach Comcast's customers.

"No one woke up this morning wishing their cable company was bigger or had more control over what they could watch or download. But that — along with higher bills — is  the reality they'll face tomorrow unless the Department of Justice and the FCC do their jobs and block this merger. Stopping this kind of deal is exactly why we have antitrust laws.

"Americans already hate dealing with the cable guy — and both these giant companies regularly rank among the worst of the worst in consumer surveys. But this deal would be the cable guy on steroids — pumped up, unstoppable and grasping for your wallet."