Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Franken urges Justice Department to weigh open Internet issues in Comcast-TWC review, (Mar 20, 2014)
Organizations Mentioned:Comcast Corp. | Comcast Corporation | Time Warner Cable, Inc.
By Lynn Stanton,TR Daily
Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) is urging the Department of Justice Antitrust Division to take into account the potential effect of Comcast Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable, Inc., on “the open nature of the Internet” as the agency conducts its premerger review of the proposed transaction.
“I 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 said in a March 19 letter to Antitrust Division officials. “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 said that the open Internet or net neutrality obligations that Comcast accepted to gain regulatory approval of its 2011 NBC Universal joint venture expire in 2018, “which raises the question of what happens after that time.” He added that “the FCC’s net neutrality conditions do not extend to peering arrangements.”
Comcast Vice President-government communications Sena Fitzmaurice responded to the senator’s action by saying, “The Comcast Time Warner Cable transaction will bring millions more Americans under the open Internet rules as soon as our deal closes. 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 has supported the Open Internet rules since they were first proposed and is the only company that is currently required to abide by them.”
Companies: Comcast Corp.; Time Warner Cable, Inc.
News: Antitrust AntitrustDivisionNews