Comcast Spars With Anti-Transaction Coalition in Final Comments on TWC Purchase
A review of the record in Comcast’s proposed buy of Time Warner Cable leads to the conclusion that it will deliver public interest benefits and generate no “cognizable competitive harms,” said Comcast in reply comments filed Tuesday, the last day docket 14-57 would be open for comments. Though Tuesday was the deadline for commenters to file, Comcast filed its own rebuttal. “We can think of no previous merger in which an Applicant has felt compelled to take this kind of action,” said Amanda Keating of Stop Mega Comcast Coalition, a group of opponents to the deal. The group held a press call Tuesday morning to highlight the evidence against the transaction.
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“The benefits are de minimis, if any, and no condition can alleviate the harms,” said Dish Network Deputy General Counsel Jeff Blum on the call, speaking for the Stop Mega Comcast Coalition, which along with Dish includes the Blaze, Consumers Union, NTCA, Public Knowledge, Sportsfan Coalition and others.
Comcast’s characterization of the deal as not affecting competition is false because of the power the new company would hold over broadband, said Public Knowledge Senior Staff attorney John Bergmayer in filed comments and on the press call. “If Comcast combines with Time Warner Cable, its overwhelming dominance as a distributor … provides ample antitrust grounds to block this merger,” said Public Knowledge’s filing. Comcast would control 54 percent of all broadband over 25 Mbps in the country after the merger, which Bergmayer said would make it “dominant on the dominant technology.”
That argument is “based on improper definitions and ignores market realities and established principles of economic analysis and prior FCC and [Department of Justice] precedent,” Comcast responded. The objections of Public Knowledge, Consumers Union and other public interest groups are “the same worn and unconvincing theories of harm that they have raised in virtually every industry transaction over the past two decades,” Comcast said. In its comments, Public Knowledge pointed to the AT&T/MediaOne case as setting “a clear precedent” that broadband distribution is a market for antitrust purposes.
Comcast’s control over broadband could be used to stifle competition, said Comptel, Dish and other commenters. “The markets for video programming through cable and the Internet, as well as those for streaming devices and set-top boxes, are in fact national markets,” Comptel said. Comcast is already using its power to block HBO Go from being accessed on several devices, Comptel said. The trade association is “attempting to achieve their parochial business interests” and “making half-hearted efforts to try to find a link to the Transaction,” Comcast said. The cable giant said it doesn’t have any incentive to block access to content, and there is “no basis in fact” for allegations about HBO Go. Comcast recently reached a deal with Rook over access to the service, Comcast said.
ABC, CBS and Fox affiliate associations filed “further reply” comments proposing merger conditions “to which Comcast does not object” that would satisfy their concerns about the deal. The conditions bar Comcast from discriminating during retransmission consent negotiations. “It is respectfully requested, that these Conditions be incorporated into any Commission order or decision approving the [Comcast/TWC] Transaction."
Consumers Union and other opponents of the merger submitted close to 600,000 public comments opposing the transaction, the groups said in a news release. “Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to this disastrous merger,” said Policy Counsel Delara Derakhshani in the release. In its comments, Comcast listed its own base of supporters. “The record includes nearly 600 substantive comments from a wide range of parties who support the Transaction,” including Chambers of Commerce, 30 programmers and nearly 200 diversity groups, Comcast said.