The public interest harms if Comcast buys Time...
The public interest harms if Comcast buys Time Warner Cable “far outweigh” the benefits, said representatives from several public interest groups in meetings with FCC commissioners and their staffs last week, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1BpTF2D)…
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in docket 14-57. Representatives from Consumers Union, Free Press, The Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation and Public Knowledge held a series of meetings with Commissioners Mike O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, along with their staff and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s Chief of Staff Adonis Hoffman, the filing said. A Comcast/TWC would be in “a prime position to extract tolls before allowing content providers to reach its massive subscriber base,” said the public interest groups. Comcast “greatly overstates” the amount of broadband competition it faces “by defining the product market improperly,” they said. “DSL and wireless broadband offerings do not serve as substitutes for advanced broadband services such as cable and fiber-based broadband.” Comcast’s claim that it will control 35.5 percent of the broadband market post-deal “is sorely misplaced,” because it counts broadband subscribers at speeds as low as 3 Mbps, the groups said. “That number fails to meet the Commission’s current definition of broadband; and the Commission itself in multiple proceedings has suggested that such speeds are woefully outdated and insufficient to meet consumers’ current and future broadband needs."