Wall Street Knows Darn Well That FCC's Net Neutrality Rules Won't Harm Broadband: Stocks Went Up

from the in-case-you-were-wondering dept

Tue, Feb 10th 2015 2:36pm — Mike Masnick

For all the hubbub from the big broadband players about how having the FCC regulate broadband connections under Title II would kill off investment and harm their ability to innovate, Wall Street has always known that's hogwash. While saying scary things to the press, all the big broadband companies were quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) telling investors that Title II wouldn't really change anything. In the last couple months, I've seen a few different Wall Street analyst reports all basically saying that they don't think the FCC's rules will really have any impact at all on the bottom line for broadband players.

And, indeed, it appears the stock market acted accordingly. Following Tom Wheeler's official announcement that the FCC would move to reclassify under Title II, all the key broadband players saw their stocks jump up, not down. If it was really that bad, you would have seen the opposite.

Now, you could argue that the market was already pretty sure what the FCC was going to do and had priced that into the stock prices -- and it's a fair argument as many of the stocks did see some decline at the beginning of the year as the likely rules became clear. But the idea that this was going to create some sort of bloodbath for investment and the internet doesn't seem to be supported by the folks investing in those companies.

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Filed Under: fcc, investment, net neutrality, title ii, wall street
Companies: at&t, comcast, time warner cable, verizon

15 Comments

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lars626, 10 Feb 2015 @ 3:58pm

Career?
Checked out the IMDB listings. I have never heard of any of the things she was in. None. I looked at a few and they are minimal entry items. Most had a one sentence synopsis.

She should not have sued. If I were a small film maker I would stay far away from her, she's not playing with a full deck.
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- Mason Wheeler (profile), 11 Feb 2015 @ 7:00am
  
  Re: Career?
  ...wrong article?
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2015 @ 4:01pm

Time Warner's Profit Margin on Internet Service? 97 Percent

http://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/02/09/1135243
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- Justin Olbrantz (Quantam), 11 Feb 2015 @ 12:59am
  
  Re:
  Careful with that statistic. That doesn't count employees, only operational costs. Employees are lumped together in a separate figure, not broken up by service type and included in cost of revenue numbers.
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cypherspace (profile), 10 Feb 2015 @ 5:38pm

Let's put on my conspiracy hat
I suspect that there is an ISDS tribunal in the works. Despite admitting otherwise, suspect telecoms could sue for 'lost profits' under Title II regs.
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Rudyard Holmbast, 10 Feb 2015 @ 6:15pm

Jesus Christ, this site's crusade on behalf of the FCC has gotten truly pathetic. Tech stocks go up on this particular day, so clearly "Wall Street" supports "net neutrality" rules. Give me a fucking break. And on the days most major tech stocks are down, something that will inevitably happen, soon?

On the issue of "net neutrality", this site has entered into a Tanya Cohen-esque realm of parody.
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 10 Feb 2015 @ 9:06pm
  
  Re:
  It is quite standard when there is big news likely to impact a company or industry for the stock to react accordingly. That doesn't mean every up or down swing means something but reactions to big meaningful news is standard.
  
  You are confusing (purposely?) a then b as b then a in your statement about tech stocks. I'm not saying all movement is meaningful but meaningful news does move stocks.
  
  And for months we've been told that Title II would be a disaster for these companies. So if that were really true you'd see Wall Street run for the hills. But they didn't. That says a lot.
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  - Justin Olbrantz (Quantam), 11 Feb 2015 @ 1:00am
    
    Re: Re:
    You're both right. It's totally standard practice to measure and interpret it that way. It's also at least part bullshit.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2015 @ 11:47pm
  
  Re:
  Wipe that AT&T cum off your face. You're not fooling anyone.
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Mr Big Content, 10 Feb 2015 @ 10:54pm

Thats Because Their All Liberals
Look at the proper CONSERVATIVE Markets, NOT Wally Street, where the REAL smart Money is, and youll see people who KNOW how bad this Communist Dictatorial so-called Net Nutrality really is for business. Pearl Harbor was neutral, but that didnt stop Hitler invading. Itll be like that "Peace In Our Time" crapola all over again!!!
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- sacredjunk (profile), 11 Feb 2015 @ 5:16am
  
  Re: Thats Because Their All Liberals
  While attempting to relate an unrelated topic, at least try to get the attacking country right!
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Violynne (profile), 11 Feb 2015 @ 3:19am

Golly gee, Beave. You almost cussed in that title.

But you know, it would look a helluva lot better if you actually used the word "damn". See, check it out:

Wall Street Knows Damn Well That FCC's Net Neutrality Rules Won't Harm Broadband: Stocks Went Up

Yeah, baby. Get Eddy over here and let's go to a rumble.

>:]

I'm not sure why anyone would think stocks wouldn't go up on a few companies which own respective monopolies while increasing prices, daily, to consumers.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2015 @ 8:47am

My only fear about reclassification is the FCC somehow trying to censor content with their new power.
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- John Fenderson (profile), 11 Feb 2015 @ 9:48am
  
  Re:
  Three points about that: first, there's little reason to think that they would. Second, even if they did try, the effort would fail on first amendment challenges. Third, in the absence of some sort of regulation the major ISPs will certainly attempt to engage in censorship anyway -- so even if your fear is realized, it isn't a worse situation than would exist without regulation.
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 11 Feb 2015 @ 11:17am
  
  Re:
  My only fear about reclassification is the FCC somehow trying to censor content with their new power.
  
  Can you point to what, in Title II, would give the FCC the power to censor the internet?
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