Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., blasted Comcast’s planned buy of...

am very concerned that Comcast could use its clout in the broadband market to dictate the content consumers receive and the prices they pay, and these concerns are only intensified by Comcast’s proposal to acquire Time Warner Cable,” Franken wrote. “With more than 20 million customers, Comcast already is the nation’s dominant Internet service provider, controlling about a quarter of the national broadband market and a much higher percentage of the market in many of the local areas in which it operates. By acquiring Time Warner Cable, Comcast would extend its reach substantially, covering millions of additional customers. This would give Comcast even more leverage to manipulate Internet traffic to serve its own corporate interests.” Franken emphasized the importance of net neutrality and that the acquisition “could disrupt this balance of power, resulting in higher costs and fewer choices for consumers” when it comes to the open Internet. Franken is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which plans a hearing on the proposed deal April 2 at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen. Comcast has said the transaction would be good for consumers and merits approval. The deal “will bring millions more Americans under the Open Internet rules as soon as our deal closes,” a Comcast spokeswoman said. “We fully expect that the FCC will have in place Open Internet rules that will apply to all companies by the time our current condition from the NBCUniversal deal expires in 2018. That condition was always meant as a bridge to enforceable rules that would be applicable to all companies in the industry.” Comcast always backed the net neutrality rules since they were proposed, the spokeswoman added.