, Columnist
Comcast Pretends to Be on Your Side
The 174-page report Comcast Corp. filed yesterday with the Federal Communications Commission to support
its merger plan pretends to offer many gifts to the public interest, but each has a cost.
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When David L. Cohen, the executive vice president of Comcast Corp., buttonholes policy makers to talk up his company's proposed $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable Inc., the first thing he says is that the deal won't reduce competition in any U.S. geographic market. He's right, at least when it comes to pay-TV services. After all, the large cable companies long ago divided the country among themselves so that no two of them compete in any one market.
But then, Comcast is adept at making a virtue out of a highly suspect premise. The 174-page public-interest report it filed yesterday with the Federal Communications Commission to support its merger plan is replete with examples of its skill.