Comcast/Time Warner Critics: Neutrality Condition Would Not Sweeten It

Groups that don't like the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger still don't like the merger, and would not like it even if it had a net neutrality condition that applied the new rules regardless of their court status.

37 groups (including the Benton Foundation) that have been criticizing the deal sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler reminding him of how much they don't like it. Now that the FCC's new Open Internet rules have been taken to court by cable and telecommunications company operators, one line of thinking is that approving the deal with a net neutrality condition would mean that a company serving between and a third and a half of broadband subs would be subjected to the rules no matter what happened in court, as was the case with the net neutrality condition on the Comcast/NBCU deal. But the groups are saying that should not make the deal easier to swallow. "Your steadfast commitment to competition would risk being eviscerated if Comcast were allowed to control over 50 percent of high-speed residential broadband connections nationwide. No condition, including but not limited to a 'net neutrality' provision modeled on the Open Internet order, can address the myriad ways a combined Comcast/Time Warner Cable would be able to thwart competition and convert its massive network into a closed system of preferential treatment for its own content or the content of a select few," they said.

The letter signatories included Dish, Consumers Union, the Writers Guild of America, West, and Free Press.