In focus: A merged Comcast-Time Warner
Some mergers have relevance to people’s lives says antitrust attorney Allen Grunes, and the proposed Time Warner-Comcast deal is one of them. Grunes, with the firm GeyerGorey, says the internet will be a focal point as the combined company would have at least 40 percent, and as much as 50 percent, of the fastest high-speed internet service market.
There are concerns the deal would make it harder for the next Netflix or Hulu to stream content, because it would have to pay the combined company more. But there are also concerns about what the deal will mean to individual access to the internet.
“We need to make sure these companies are more accountable to consumers around other things as opposed to the future of the internet,” says Nicol Turner-Lee, with the Minority Media and Telecom Council.
Comcast, in a filing ahead of the federal review, says as part of the deal it would expand its program to provide more access to low-income communities.
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