This deal is drawing media attention due to the risk of Comcast creating a monopoly in a market that has little to no competition in most areas of the country.
Internet service providers are few and far between in the United States today. What little options we do have are doing everything they can to maintain their dominance in a enormous profit market. This has been made apparent with the recent overturning of Net Neutrality, meaning providers do not need to disclose an alternative to their service. They can then raise prices or lower bandwidths while not offering competitors services in their areas of influence. It's only a hop and a skip after towards complete control of the market.
Comcast has drawn criticism in these regards before with their recent takeover of NBC Universal. The company now will have a much larger control on the content that can be seen through NBC's channels and the systems on which they are viewed. Will rates increase for customers to access the Internet or watch Television as Comcast corners the market? Many feel that this amount of control and gobbling up of competitors can only hurt rather than help the consumer.
However, there is a chance the deal will not be allowed to happen. Although the FCC had relatively no concerns with the NBC Universal deal, they will deliberate on the legal repercussions of the deal. Back in 2011 the FCC along with the U.S. Department of Justice blocked the acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T on the same grounds of creating a monopoly in the cellular market. This was seen as a huge win for consumers and is a good analogy to Comcast and Time Warner.
These large scale takeovers definitely don't help the consumer. More competition will be the only way to see your television and internet bill go down, increase your bandwidths, and offer an even better experience for the consumer, not the other way around.
Related Article: Cable Deal: Comcast To Buy Time Warner
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