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

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

#321

Post by chalst »

talmand wrote: post #277
chalst wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might want Netflix to survive in some form so as to avoid awaking the sleeping antitrust dogs. Same way as Microsoft found the Mac a useful argument against the "desktop monopoly" argument in the 90s.

I seem to remember that pointing at the Mac as a defense against desktop monopoly charges didn't work out too well for them in the end.

What happened to MS in the alternate universe where MS openly vowed to crush Netscape and were as good as their word, after Apple went bankrupt in the early 90s?

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

#322

Post by midas007 »

EpicEng wrote: post #140
midas007 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ma bell of internet (TV's just about dead, and they depend on partnering with Verizon for mobile) In other areas, AT&T dominates horizontally and vertically.

"Just about dead" is quite the overstatement. They did $32B+ last year in advertising revenue. I hope they do die a quick death, but it's going to be a while before most people cut the cord.

You're dead wrong. U.S. TV ad revenue is shrinking fast > 3% year on year and totals only $67 Billion USD for the entire industry. Also, you're looking at the wrong attribute as a proxy for relevance. The quality of the eyeballs (monetization worth, net worth) and sustained interest are far better on the web and in mobile games. Only a few rare people that don't have computers or smartphones are UHWNIs. So I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader to figure out what kind of customers watch TV.

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

#323

Post by teh_klev »

__david__ wrote: post #301
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also see police on the roads, that prevent random lunatics from driving while tripping balls and ramming into my ass at 150 km/h during my morning commute. I think that's also a function of government. Secondly, if you think the "no trucks over 3 tons" signs impinge on your "liberty", then go ahead and drive a 25 ton truck down that road, see what happens. I'm having this discussion about "liberty" versus common se…

I certainly never said "no trucks over 3 tons" impinges anyone's liberty. I was implying that "no trucks over 3 tons" is equivalent to saying "no one is allowed to consume more than X amount of bandwidth" on my public pipe, which is exactly how the network providers are going to couch their arguments when trying to strangle Netflix.

There is probably a good technical reason as to why there is a 3 ton limit, i.e. the road (or bridge this road crosses) can't support >3 tons and will probably collapse under the weight of a heavier vehicle. There are also good safety reasons such as not wanting 25ton 18 wheelers using the road past your local primary school as a rat run. That's where your analogy fails.

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

#324

Post by FedRegister »

ahomescu1 wrote: post #304
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you trust the Federal government to dictate what goes down the road and who is allowed to drive? I recommend blind trust in nobody, as a rule. But with the government, at least there's the option of voting against the current office holders. Whereas when a Comcast-TimeWarner super-juggernaut takes over the whole market, what are my options? My lawyers versus theirs? Yeah, that would end up "well".

With the government, at election time, you have the option to vote between one corrupt asshole or the other. With corporations, you can just choose to not buy from them (therefore starving them of money).

Then do the constituents of your city, county, state, and country a service and either stand for election, volunteer time for a candidate that's not an asshole, or donate money to the campaign of a candidate that's not an asshole so they get on the ballot. Otherwise you get what you deserve.

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

#325

Post by talmand »

chalst wrote: post #321
talmand wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to remember that pointing at the Mac as a defense against desktop monopoly charges didn't work out too well for them in the end.

What happened to MS in the alternate universe where MS openly vowed to crush Netscape and were as good as their word, after Apple went bankrupt in the early 90s?

They lost their antitrust case, which most of the harshest judgements were reduced or overturned later in appeal. In the end it was determined that they were a monopoly, the results of which include the things you mentioned, and some of their long held business practices had to be changed. After that Netscape eventually came back, and better, as Firefox and Apple doesn't seem to be doing so badly these days.

I'm not understanding your point about an alternate universe in your statement. I must be missing something.

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

#326

Post by ensignavenger »

valas wrote: post #85
SEJeff wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has threatened to go nuclear over net neutrality and open up their dark fiber network should things get ugly. Google has more fiber than most any one single company in the us and could be a legitimate threat should comwarner try to call their bluff. I have a feeling google would win that fight

Citation? There is no use for Google to participate in long-haul wholesale. There is a lot of supply there. The real issue is last mile, where consumers have no choice.

Really? The last time I checked, the cost for fiber optic back-haul was ridiculous! I need to get some new quotes within the next few months, though- we shall see.

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

#327

Post by wpietri »

ahomescu1 wrote: post #319
wpietri wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people really, in a practical sense, do have to have the Internet, and at reasonably high quality. Work and school being two common cases. The 'rational actor' model is to economics what spherical cows [1] are to dairy farms. It is a simplifying assumption that is useful for certain general cases, but if you ever find yourself depending upon it in an argument, you're working at too shallow a level. In this case,…

> Many people really, in a practical sense, do have to have the Internet, and at reasonably high quality. Work and school being two common cases. Work and school are economic investments with concrete returns; financially, you get more out of Internet access than you pay. If you didn't need Internet for either of these, and just used it for Netflix or World of Warcraft (or any kind of recreation), would you reconside…

Sorry, I'm not interested in jumping through your theoretical hoops. As a non-Comcast user who does need the internet, that doesn't seem like an interesting game to me.

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

#328

Post by samelawrence »

gobengo wrote: post #195
serge2k wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your solution to defeating a monopoly is to form a monopoly?

Google is already positioning similarly with YouTube, Google Fiber, and plays for wireless service here and in floating balloons around the planet. Tripilolopopy

From Tripoli to Gallipoli.

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

#329

Post by midas007 »

serge2k wrote: post #178
midas007 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix partnering with, or potentially acquired by, Amazon to take on other platforms makes sense. There needs to be consolidation and I think Bezos could do a better job bringing in bigger licensing deals.

So your solution to defeating a monopoly is to form a monopoly?

Netflix can hardly be called a monopoly. I cancelled in 2013 because it had such a tiny catalog.

Besides, if it doesn't equal bittorrent, what is an amoral person going to choose? I think I'll choose s/stealing/borrowing/.

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

#330

Post by midas007 »

bennyg wrote: post #207
adnam wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon already have a film-on-demand service called LOVEFiLM.com.

That's U.K.; for America at least, we have Prime instant video.

Are either any good? Better than NF or Hulu+? Cost?
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