Comcast/TWC Deal Would Harm Competition, Say Comptel, NTCA, ITTA
Approval of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal and the transfer of licenses between Comcast and Charter Communication, would “severely harm competition” and slow the growth of new technologies and networks, representatives of Comptel, NTCA and the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications…
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Alliance told FCC officials, including General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, in a March 12 meeting, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 14-57 Tuesday. Restricting innovation and competition “could impact job creation, consumer prices, and economic growth,” the filing said. Among those attending the meeting were Comptel Chief Advocate Angie Kronenberg and Assistant General Counsel Mary Albert; NTCA Vice President-Legal and Industry Jill Canfield; ITTA Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Micah Caldwell; Global Economics Group Principals Richard Schmalensee and Howard Chang; and Markham Erickson and Andrew Guhr of Steptoe & Johnson. On the claims about competition, the filing pointed to a separate Steptoe & Johnson filing the same day, which said Comcast/TWC would give Comcast "unprecedented market power" over video distribution, "both as an owner and/or controller of content and as a buyer with tremendous leverage to extract even lower prices for unaffiliated content." The deal would also harm innovation in the set-top box market, the filing said. TWC before the deal had been trying to enable third parties to develop innovative devices for its cable system, the filing said. Comcast, rather than encouraging third-party innovation, "has spent significant resources" developing its own proprietary, closed platform," the Steptoe filing said. "The immediate result of this transaction would be to limit, rather than expand, consumer access to competitive set-top boxes. The demise of FanTV immediately upon the announcement of Comcast’s announced purchase of TWC, suggests that the transaction has already had a chilling effect on innovation." Comcast didn't comment.