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posted by martyb on Friday April 24 2015, @07:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the bring-out-your-dead! dept.

Comcast is reportedly backing out of its planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable. What's more, Comcast will not have to pay a breakup fee... unlike AT&T after its failed merger with T-Mobile US. Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus will forgo $80 million due to the failure of the acquisition.

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Senators Come Out Against Comcast-Time Warner Merger 17 comments

Six leading Democratic senators have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DoJ) asking them to reject the proposed $45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner by Comcast.

In the two-page letter, signed by Senators Franken, Sanders, Markey, Wyden, Warren, and Blumenthal, the senators warn that "Comcast-TWC's unmatched power in the telecommunications industry would lead to higher prices, fewer choices, and poorer quality services for Americans."

Sources have told the Wall Street Journal that both the FCC and DoJ are not happy with the proposed merger, and that the FCC may hold a formal hearing into the deal soon. Bloomberg also reported that staff attorneys at the DoJ's antitrust division are prepared to recommend blocking the deal [autoplay video].

Comcast Servicing Emerging Legion of Broadband Customers 13 comments

Cable Cutters Boost Comcast Profits

Comcast has revealed that for the first time in company history they have more broadband customers than they do TV customers. In a story covered by just about everybody, Comcast Cable President Neil Smit said on a conference call that in the current period "broadband [customers] have in fact surpassed video."

Comcast reported $2 billion in profits for the first quarter, a 10 percent increase over the same period a year ago. The improved earnings were largely built on robust growth in its high-speed Internet business. Revenue increased 2.6 percent to nearly $18 billion. Profit and sales topped analysts' estimates as the broadband division posted its strongest revenue growth in more than four years. Comcast continues to generate significantly more revenue from its video business than from broadband. Video revenue was $5.3 billion for the quarter, compared with $3 billion for high-speed Internet. But the rapid growth of broadband more than offset a loss of 8,000 video customers in the first quarter, which compared with the addition of 24,000 cable-TV subscribers a year earlier.

However, there may be more "cable cutting" going on than appears at first glance. According to the Wall Street Journal [paywall]:

The popularity of "Skinny Bundles" offerings poses a threat to TV channels, because any skinny bundles necessarily leave some channels out. The trend of "cord-shaving"—people downgrading to cheaper TV subscriptions with fewer channels—is closely watched in the industry, as it has contributed to declines in the reach of many major channels into American homes.

The US is moving to on-demand streaming, a trend we've all suspected. This is a game changer, because it changes the way the industry is financed, how programming is developed, and sold. It suggests more TVs will be "smart" TVs in the future, and there will be even faster broadband connections.

Personally I suspect it signals that people are unwilling to sit through an ever increasing number of commercials. That leaves unsaid what financing arrangements will prevail in the future. Would the patronage proponents actually see a real large scale trial? Or would pirates simply have a field day? And, yes, Frojack is still worried that we don't have enough IP bandwidth to support this. But apparently, that's just me.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2015, @09:30AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2015, @09:30AM (#174584)

    I, for one, welcome the new future merger... the one that will be held in back rooms and not discussed in public until after the fact...

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Daiv on Friday April 24 2015, @11:42AM

      by Daiv (3940) on Friday April 24 2015, @11:42AM (#174604)

      Not so easy to do with publicly traded companies. Possible, but the outrage by the 1%ers who hold the majority of the stocks would likely not be worth it for those involved.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by MrGuy on Friday April 24 2015, @01:59PM

      by MrGuy (1007) on Friday April 24 2015, @01:59PM (#174652)

      There are many reasons to be distrustful of large corporations, and many shady moves to be on the lookout for.

      This is not one of them.

      There's no such thing as a "stealth" merger of public companies. Even a non-merger "coordination" of activities (for example, agreeing to coordinate their negotiating positions to content providers) would run afoul of anti-trust laws (and trust me - the content providers would be quick to complain if they suspected this).

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by AndyTheAbsurd on Friday April 24 2015, @12:14PM

    by AndyTheAbsurd (3958) on Friday April 24 2015, @12:14PM (#174610) Journal

    Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus will forgo $80 million due to the failure of the acquisition.

    According to SEC filings, the guy had a salary of $1,000,000 and a "target compensation" of $8,000,000 after all bonuses and etc in 2012. My salary, this year, isn't even up to six figures. So pardon me if I can't feel bad for him missing out on a bonus that's 10 times HIS annual salary and more than I'm likely to make in my entire working life.

    --
    Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
    • (Score: 2) by hybristic on Friday April 24 2015, @02:27PM

      by hybristic (10) on Friday April 24 2015, @02:27PM (#174664) Journal

      Yeah, but I bet if you just missed out on 80 mil, you'd be a little upset. Even at 9 million a year, 80 million is a lot of money to be missing out on. I agree though; Having not even made close to a million in my lifetime, I can't bring myself to feel for him.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2015, @02:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2015, @02:50PM (#174674)

      What is even more screwed up is his bonus WAS getting the company bought out.

      His job was to sell the company. Not run the company. Not exactly in the best interests of the workers and owners of the company. The put a salesman in charge. Not someone who could run it.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by M. Baranczak on Friday April 24 2015, @03:09PM

      by M. Baranczak (1673) on Friday April 24 2015, @03:09PM (#174677)

      Imagine how many jobs he could create if he had that $80 million.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2015, @05:02PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2015, @05:02PM (#174732)

        A pool boy and 2 gardeners!

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by MrGuy on Friday April 24 2015, @02:07PM

    by MrGuy (1007) on Friday April 24 2015, @02:07PM (#174656)

    Comcast has released an official statement [comcast.com] confirming that the deal is dead.