Newsletter
Yesterday, it was rumored – coming out of Bloomberg – that Comcast was dropping the merger with Time Warner Cable, after it appeared that the FCC and Department of Justice were not going to allow the merger to happen. First thing this morning, both Comcast and Time Warner Cable released press releases stating that the merger will not happen. Comcast Chairman and CEO, Brian L Roberts stated,
“Today, we move on. Of course, we would have liked to bring our great products to new cities, but we structured this deal so that if the government didn’t agree, we could walk away. Comcast NBCUniversal is a unique company with strong momentum. Throughout this entire process, our employees have kept their eye on the ball and we have had fantastic operating results. I want to thank them and the employees of Time Warner Cable for their tireless efforts. I couldn’t be more proud of this company and I am truly excited for what’s next.”
The merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have brought the number one and number two cable providers into one big company. The merger would bring about half of the country’s broadband into one company, with one CEO. Which, that’s not good for competition. Think about it like this, it would be like Verizon and AT&T merging in the mobile world. It just won’t be allowed to happen. Comcast had plopped down about $45 billion to buy Time Warner cable. That’s not a small amount.
However, it appears that Comcast isn’t done acquiring companies. According to Fortune, Comcast is in talks with Vox Media, who owns and runs popular news sites such as SB Nation and The Verge. It will be interesting to see where Comcast goes from here. But one thing’s for sure, they won’t be hurting for money. However we might see that data cap getting enforced again soon, which is gonna suck.
So what’s next for Comcast? Tough to say. But I’m sure we’re going to see prices go up, or data caps getting enforced again, so that Comcast can make that cash back from that deal with Time Warner Cable that fell through.