Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is a bad deal
[Commentary] Can we block a merger just because the two companies involved are jerks? I bet you know which merger I’m thinking of: the one where America’s most hated company wants to join forces with America’s second-most hated company (Time Warner Cable and Comcast, in no particular order).
Don’t just take my word for it, though I did have to reset my Comcast modem three four times while writing this column. Consumers are more likely to swear while on the phone with their TV provider than with almost any other company they call, according to an analysis of 1.2 million customer call recordings conducted by Marchex. And in pretty much every ranking of customer service, satisfaction or reputation, Comcast and Time Warner Cable clock in at last place or very close to it.
Time Warner and Comcast, of course, argue that their marriage would be unambiguously “pro-consumer” and would “generate significant cost savings and other efficiencies.” But they have also effectively acknowledged that those alleged efficiencies wouldn’t be passed on to consumers. During a conference call shortly after the merger announcement, a Comcast executive told reporters, “We’re certainly not promising that customer bills are going to go down or even increase less rapidly.” This should be enough to concern the antitrust regulators at the Justice Department. But remember that the Federal Communications Commission, which must also approve the merger, has a broader mission beyond just trust-busting: Regulators there are supposed to judge whether mergers are “in the public interest” before waving one through (or at least imposing conditions on it). Traditionally “public interest” has included factors including competition, localism and diversity. Perhaps a solid record of screwing over millions of customers should be a consideration, too.