How big is this?!?:
Comcast: Defeated
From: Evan from FFTF
Date: Today, 12:59:25 PM MDT
It's official: Comcast has abandoned their bid to takeover Time Warner.
It was supposed to be the largest cable merger ever. It would have combined the two largest, most hated cable companies into a single, massive monopoly with control over more than half the country's Internet users. And now, thanks to hundreds of thousands of people like you taking action, that deal is dead.
There’s still a lot of work to do to protect the free and open Internet. Comcast is attacking net neutrality in Congress and in the courts, trying to get their way by throwing huge amounts of money anywhere they can.
But today’s win is proof that the campaigns we’re running work -- and a reminder that when we come together as Internet users we wield an incredible amount of influence.
2015 has been an amazing year for Internet users because we’ve made it a terrible year for Comcast’s schemes to control the Internet. Together, we won net neutrality and put an end to their schemes to extort websites for more money. Today, we stopped them from merging with Time Warner and creating a single, hyper-powerful cable monopoly.
This victory is proof that not only can we win -- we can win consistently. No one is supposed to be able to beat monopolies twice in one year. The fact that we just did shows that the power of the Internet and the groups focused on this work day in and day out is unparalleled.
~~ more fireworks & celebration (& behind the scenes) below the free and open orange cloud ~~
CREDO:
VICTORY: The Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is dead
From: Josh Nelson, CREDO Action
Date: Today, 10:28:25 AM MDT
Because we stood up, Comcast is giving up on mega-merger with Time Warner Cable.
Huge news: Comcast just announced that it is giving up on its proposed $45.2 billion merger with Time Warner Cable.
This is a tremendous victory that shows that when we stand up for what is right and fight back against the big corporations and the rightwing, we can win.
CREDO activists have been fighting this merger since February 2014, just a few days after it was proposed. In total, more than 280,000 CREDO activists signed petitions or submitted public comments against the merger to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the California Public Utilities Commission.
With public opinion supporting them, antitrust lawyers at the DOJ were preparing to intervene to advise against the merger. And then six senators – Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal and Ron Wyden – wrote the FCC and DOJ strongly urging them to block the merger.
When liberals stand up and fight, we can win.
CREDO activists were a huge part of this victory. Here’s what we did to help make this victory possible:
* February 2014: Just days after the merger was proposed, Representative
Chellie Pingree launched a petition on CREDO Mobilize urging Attorney
General Eric Holder to block the merger because it was “not in the
best interests of American consumers and threatens the free and open
nature of the Internet.” More than 160,000 CREDO activists signed
Rep. Pingree’s petition.^2
* August 2014: More than 106,000 CREDO activists submitted public
comments to the FCC telling it to reject the merger because it would
“lead to decreased competition and higher Internet and cable costs
for tens of millions of Americans.”^3
* February 2015: More than 17,000 CREDO activists in California signed
our petition telling the California Public Utilities Commission to
stop the merger from moving forward because it would “create a
massive media conglomerate unlike anything we’ve seen before.”^4
* Just this week, responding to reports that staff attorneys at the DOJ
were leaning toward recommending that the antitrust division intervene
to stop the merger, another 24,000 CREDO activists signed our petition
urging the DOJ to do just that.^5
While this is a huge victory, it is important to recognize that it was a
defensive one. Grassroots pressure from CREDO activists and others stopped
this mega-merger from moving forward, but the cable and broadband Internet
industries remain under the control of just a handful of corporations. And
Comcast – or one of its rivals like Charter Communications – could
soon make moves to further consolidate the industry. All of us need to
remain vigilant and work to stop future mergers, as well as look for
opportunities to support independent, local and publicly owned media,
cable and Internet companies.
Beyond celebrating this victory, one key thing you can do right now is
fight for the ability of cities and municipalities to offer broadband
Internet access to their residents. There are 19 state laws currently on
the books that make it illegal for them to do so.
Senators Cory Booker and Claire McCaskill have introduced the Community
Broadband Act, which would preempt these state laws and allow
municipalities to compete directly with big cable companies by offering
their own broadband service. If you haven’t done so already, please sign
our petition in support of of the Community Broadband Act.
[3]Sign the petition ►
1. "[4]Comcast Drops $45B Bid For Time Warner Cable," NBC News, 4/24/15.
2. To view Rep. Pingree's petition to the DOJ, [5]click here.
3. To view the public comments to the FCC, [6]click here.
4. To view the petition to the California Public Utilities Commission,
[7]click here.
5. To view the petition to the DOJ, [8]click here.
4. http://act.credoaction.com/...
5. http://act.credoaction.com/...
6. http://act.credoaction.com/...
7. http://act.credoaction.com/...
8. http://act.credoaction.com/...
Now, after passing along celebratory messages from our allies and activistic leaders, here's some behind-the-scenes analysis from NYT, limited to 3 paragraph fair use ---
Once Comcast’s Deal Shifted to a Focus on Broadband, Its Ambitions Were Sunk
...
But now the $45 billion Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is dead. Comcast is folding, in anticipation of regulators rejecting the deal.
The news, which broke on Thursday afternoon, was certainly dramatic. But the air of inevitability that once hung over the deal had been dissipating for months, as the debate over net neutrality — in short, the question of whether Internet providers should be allowed to charge content providers for speedier service — played out in Washington. And a merger that had at first seemed to be primarily about cable television turned into something much different.
The government’s verdict on the merger and its stance on net neutrality were separate issues, but they were very much intertwined. At the end of the day, the government’s commitment to maintaining a free and open Internet did not square with the prospect of a single company controlling as much as 40 percent of the public’s access to it. All the more so given the accelerating shift in viewing habits, with increasing numbers of consumers choosing streaming services like Netflix over traditional TV. In this sense, it didn’t really matter if Comcast and Time Warner’s cable markets overlapped. The real issue was broadband.
Then it goes on to identify the single defining moment when the winds shifted -- when President Obama released his video last November strongly supporting Net Neutrality :)
Then they give kudos to Al Franken, John Oliver, Reed Hastings, Tom Wheeler, and our huge netroots chorus.
Read the rest -- you'll be smiling :)
And celebrating!!