FCC Staff to Get Comcast, TWC Merger Update

U.S. Federal Communications Commission officials studying the proposed merger of Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc are scheduled to brief FCC commissioners' staff on their review on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

It was not certain whether the briefing would disclose the specific way the FCC reviewers would recommend for the agency to rule on the proposed $45 billion merger but it would unveil the regulators' latest thinking about the concerns raised by critics of the deal.

The merger briefing was also expected to address the pending $48 billion deal between AT&T Inc and DirecTV, according to one of Reuters sources.

Comcast's merger with Time Warner Cable would combine the nation's two largest cable companies, which do not directly compete against each other in any markets. Opponents, however, have particularly focused on the combined company's broadband market reach, worried about its potential gatekeeping power.

Meanwhile, The Boston Herald is reporting Comcast and Time Warner Cable executives are meeting with officials at the Department of Justice on Wednesday to talk about the merger. According to a source, that meeting was scheduled before a report from Bloomberg on Friday that DOJ attorneys were leaning against the merger. Opponents have expressed concern over the combined company's power over distribution of video programming as well as its share of the market for Internet service.

Staff attorneys in the DoJ's antitrust division are preparing to recommend blocking the $45.2 billion deal on the grounds that the creation of a nationwide cable giant would hurt consumers, people familiar said last week.

A group of Senate Democrats is ramping up pressure on the DoJ and FCC to block the deal. "Comcast-TWC's monopoly power to dictate the terms of transactions with programmers will also force companies from across the country to reevaluate their business models, including the content they produce and the prices they charge," they wrote.

The letters went to FCC chair Tom Wheeler and AG Eric Holder. The effort was spearheaded by Sen Al Franken (D-MN) and signed by Dem Sens Elizabeth Warren (MA), Ron Wyden (OR) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) as well as Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Franken wrote an op-ed Monday calling for the public to mobilize against the deal.

The DoJ and FCC must determine the deal is in the public interest and doesn't harm competition in order for it to go ahead. As noted in the letter, the merger would give the company a majority share of the broadband internet market and 30% of the cable market (so it doesn't do me any good as a consumer).