Monday, February 24, 2014

Comcast and Time Warner Merger


Two of the largest US TV providers are planning on forming a merger that seems a bit... illegal? Comcast a proposed to purchase Time Warner for a staggering $45.2 billion making it the largest network TV provider in the US. It sounds an awful lot like a monopoly is being formed yet for some reason the deal is going through. It really makes you wonder if this is actually a fair merger or if politics are involved. It leads one to wonder who is getting a nice paid vacation to allow for this to happen. At the same time there may be an angle of this that I'm overlooking and this agreement is perfectly savvy.
 This new conglomerate would allow for Comcast to hold a lot of power amongst any media contract that could be formed. Comcast seems to believe this merger will prove beneficial to the customers in that it will allow for them to impliment their new cloud system and faster broadband speeds. Personally I could live with out these new benefits if that means not increasing my monthly cable fee but I don't think that really matters. It seems that anything really is possible in this country if you have enough money and power. This isn't the first time Comcast has pulled a stunt like this. A few years ago they ventured to purchase NBC for $17 billion dollars and were successful. Where is the line drawn? When it comes to this kind of control it's not just about the the viewers but also the advertisers. I'm assuming you understand that by practically having a monopoly Comcast can charge advertisers virtually any price they want to be on their programs (or as much as the law allows). In conclusion it I am not a fan of this acquisition and hope that someone puts a stop to it. An example needs to be made showing that there is a limit to how large a market an individual business can control.

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