The recent news that Comcast bought out Time Warner for $45.2 billion in stock happened relatively quietly, but the acquisition has major implications for our country’s growing digital divide. The New York Times blog post describes the inner workings of the deal. Evidently, Time Warner executives approached Comcast, and an agreement was brokered as Comcast’s CEO Brian L. Roberts was in Sochi, Russia, where he was wining and dining with Vladimir V. Putin at the Olympics (Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which has the exclusive broadcast rights to the Olympic Games). Comcast, which was already the biggest media company in the world, took an even stronger grip on the US broadband internet and cable market with the purchase.
Roberts went on a CBNC interview show and argued that this merger is a “pro-competitive” move, a ridiculous and somewhat insulting statement to make. The cost of broadband internet and cable has skyrocketed, and Comcast’s stock value has quintupled since 2009, mostly because of its growing monopoly.In now way does the concentration of broadband infrastructure into the hands of one company improve our country’s overall access to broadband connections. Yes, the deal will likely allow Comcast to offer higher quality connections to some customers, but only those who can afford it. As early as 1890, the United States recognized that the concentration of goods and services into the hands of one company is a bad idea. As a New Yorker blog post argues, we need a new competition policy that opens basic infrastructure to competing service providers.
Almost all of the readings we looked at this week trace a direct connection between access to the internet and cost. The digital divide in the United States isn’t an issue of age or generational difference; rather, there’s an entire segment of society that’s being left behind because they cannot afford access to a stable internet connection. Many well-known politicians, including former presidential candidate John McCain, have argued for more government regulation of communications company. But now it seems as if we truly have a “fox is guarding the hen house” scenario. Tom Wheeler, the new head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), was a former lobbyist for cell phone and internet companies.
The merger announcement between Comcast and Time Warner should have received more news coverage than it did. It has direct implications on our country’s access to information.