One year later, Comcast’s megamerger faces unknown fate, dubious public

On Feb 13, 2014, Comcast announced it had signed an agreement to buy Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion, merging the nation's two largest cable companies. At the time, Comcast said it expected to get all necessary government approvals and close the transaction by the end of 2014. Six weeks into 2015, the merger is still facing scrutiny, and it isn't clear whether Comcast, already the biggest home Internet provider in the US, will be allowed to expand its empire. Comcast has suffered a year's worth of bad publicity as wronged customers aired their many grievances, often with recordings to show how poorly Comcast employees treat subscribers.

The Federal Communications Commission has given no indication as to whether it will approve the merger, with or without conditions. But FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has made a series of proposals in other proceedings that angered Comcast and other Internet providers. Chairman Wheeler has shown himself to be a far bigger skeptic of telecommunications companies than one might have guessed, given that he used to be a lobbyist for the cable and wireless industries. Comcast's TWC deal is in some ways simpler than its NBC buy, but in others more complicated, the Comcast spokesperson said. While Comcast/NBC brought up vertical integration issues between the cable company and a massive content provider, Comcast and TWC is a horizontal merger joining two companies providing the same services.