Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

online.wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 332 posts

Re: Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

#11

Post by suprgeek »

If this merger goes thru, (and the AnitTrust people would have to be really asleep at the wheel for that) two things are certain:

1) Americans can expect some of the worst Cable price gouging they have ever seen

2) NetFlix, Amazon Prime et al will become really popular as a result of all the customers saying "FU ComcastWarner"

Re: Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

#14

Post by rhizome »

bryanpaluch wrote: post #10
iandanforth wrote: post #5

I was proud of the DOJ Antitrust division when they objected to the ATT/T-Mobile merger. I can only hope they do the same here.

It's a bit different in this situation. Comcast and Time Warner do not currently compete with each other.

Something tells me that if that's the linchpin for the deal going through, it's not an accident.

Re: Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

#15

Post by delucain »

Will this really matter in the long run? I mean don't most cable companies have a local monopoly anyway? I don't think there are many Comcast subscribers who can switch to TWC. I know there's still a diversity of offerings across the market that will change, but that seems a minor thing compared to the fact that most broadband users don't have a choice who they get their broadband from anyway.

Re: Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

#16

Post by logn »

bryanpaluch wrote: post #10
iandanforth wrote: post #5

I was proud of the DOJ Antitrust division when they objected to the ATT/T-Mobile merger. I can only hope they do the same here.

It's a bit different in this situation. Comcast and Time Warner do not currently compete with each other.

Sad but true. They should deny the acquisition and then launch a lawsuit for unfair competition/collusion.

Re: Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

#17

Post by rhizome »

suprgeek wrote: post #11

If this merger goes thru, (and the AnitTrust people would have to be really asleep at the wheel for that) two things are certain: 1) Americans can expect some of the worst Cable price gouging they have ever seen 2) NetFlix, Amazon Prime et al will become really popular as a result of all the customers saying "FU ComcastWarner"

3) Centralizes putting the neutrality screws to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Itunes, et al.

Re: Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

#19

Post by delucain »

suprgeek wrote: post #11

If this merger goes thru, (and the AnitTrust people would have to be really asleep at the wheel for that) two things are certain: 1) Americans can expect some of the worst Cable price gouging they have ever seen 2) NetFlix, Amazon Prime et al will become really popular as a result of all the customers saying "FU ComcastWarner"

I don't think your second premise is entirely true, since Comcast doesn't provide enough bandwidth for streaming services like Netflix and YouTube already. Those services are going to become harder and harder to use if anything.

Re: Comcast Acquiring Time Warner Cable In All Stock Deal Worth $45.2 Billion

#20

Post by axus »

suprgeek wrote: post #11

If this merger goes thru, (and the AnitTrust people would have to be really asleep at the wheel for that) two things are certain: 1) Americans can expect some of the worst Cable price gouging they have ever seen 2) NetFlix, Amazon Prime et al will become really popular as a result of all the customers saying "FU ComcastWarner"

Does Comcast compete with Time Warner? I thought they had geographically separate monopolies
Post reply on HN