Hey FCC, Comcast-TWC merger is bad news for Netflix, says Netflix Netflix has formally petitioned the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the proposed $42.5bn tie-up between US cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC). The web vid upstart provided the FCC with a 256-page petition [PDF] outlining its feelings on the matter and making the case for the watchdog to shoot …
Since cable orgs are generally granted monopolies over their areas, there should be little to no overlap between the two, so consumers don't have a choice between comcast and time warner in a given market.
I'm against the merger myself as well since I think they would be too big, and I like the concept of separating content creation (NBC Universal etc) from distribution. But anyway I don't see the reasoning behind broadband competition.
I do find it somewhat amusing some folks though they whine and complain about lack of competition when often enough there is multiple broadband providers in their area whether it is DSL, mobile internet, sattelite or something like that. Then they say "oh yeah well all those suck, they are too slow". Which basically means cable companies are doing a good job at providing competitive service.
Some folks (I was one at one point) want the cable isps to be regulated like common carriers. But again look at the state of the DSL market -- you're likely to see the cable internet market go the way of that if they are regulated in a similar manor.
For me - I use cable internet from I guess what you could call a "municipal" provider - they serve the city I'm in of ~41k people only (and I'm spitting distance practically from Youtube's HQ, I walk by it on the way to work). Other ISPs in my area include AT&T Uverse, and a couple others. The broadband offered by this small cable provider is somewhat on par with what I got with Comcast before I moved here, though there is no business class offering(that I know of anyway) that can give me faster upload speeds (I have a server at a local colo and it would be nice to have faster upload to it - as-is I get about 2Mbit - if I paid more the most I could get is about 5Mbit upload).
I won't do Uverse at least in part because last I checked(just now actually) it was not compatible with my Tivo S3 or S4, and I have no interest in using their DVRs in place of Tivo, even if Uverse was free. That doesn't stop them from sending me stuff in the mail to sign up at least once a week seems like.
Perhaps it is time to implement company size limits. One they reach a certain size in $MARKET, implement some sort of deferment,taxes or something. I don't know what...but you get the idea.
The problem if you think about it, is there is a finite number of competent people in the world. We all know that implicitly and as the Dilbert author points out, "every company says we hire the best, look around you and see what you think".
This is probably what has happened in tech. Google, Apple, FB etc... attract much of the top talent through "rock star" economics. You all know what I mean, it's "cool" to work here, rather than, "sod this grind, get my 40hrs and go home" which is many companies.
Basically being an ISP is a solved problem. Being a good one, less so. Comcast and TW can have a much less efficient enterprise, as they have been given monopoly patches to farm.
So what does everyone else think? Is there a sane mechanism for stopping companies becoming crap as they become bigger? Is it simply the psychopathic principle, that corporations are basically evil "people" by design - profit above all?
P.
Outside of large cities in the United States, the consumer doesn't have ANY choices when it comes to broadband providers anyway. You either have the Cable TV Provider (if one exists) OR (rarely is there an "and" to this option) the Telco both of which have "regulated utilities" designations which is little different than having a Monopoly to hire as a provider.
Oh sure, there is a "committee" of elected or appointed people to "regulate" the Utility but very seldom do they take the "customers" into consideration for rates and services thus bowing to the "needs" of the Utility first and foremost.
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