The Computer & Communications Industry Association sees many...

and not only will this merger lead to even less competition, but it would make competitive entry less likely in the future,” Black said (http://1.usa.gov/1oNT9Ez). “We are concerned that the merger will increase the quantity and enhance the effectiveness of the anticompetitive tools at the merged company’s disposal.” The combined company could degrade quality of service and raise operating costs of over-the-top content providers and charge “inflated” interconnection prices as well as withhold a bigger catalog of programming from pay-TV providers and over-the-top competitors, CCIA said. The response is “yet another indication that the proposed acquisition would stifle innovation and harm competition in the telecom industry,” Franken said in a statement. Franken also released a May 27 response from Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen on the issue of net neutrality (http://1.usa.gov/1l1jpHD). Cohen defended Comcast’s net neutrality commitments and said he believes the FCC will issue new net neutrality rules under Communications Act Section 706 by 2018, when Comcast’s obligation to follow the 2010 rules as part of its NBCUniversal acquisition will expire. Those rules are likely to survive judicial scrutiny, Cohen said. But it would be “neither fair nor appropriate” to require in this transaction “an indefinite commitment by Comcast alone” to abide by “any form of open Internet rules,” Cohen said, saying this should be an industrywide commitment. Comcast has defended the Time Warner Cable deal as one good for consumers and not likely to cause any competitive harm. Comcast had no comment on CCIA’s critique.