Despite Throwing Money At Congress, Comcast Finds Merger Support Hard To Come By

from the money-can't-buy-you-love dept

Tue, Mar 24th 2015 1:36pm — Karl Bode

Poor Comcast. Despite throwing millions of dollars at think tanks, consultants, PR reps, editorial writers, various front groups and a myriad of other policy tendrils, genuine, meaningful support for the company's $45 billion Time Warner Cable acquisition is still apparently hard to come by. You might recall that last year top Comcast ~~lobbyist~~ "Chief Diversity Officer" David Cohen proudly crowed that support for the company's merger was "pouring in" -- though he failed to mention that Comcast was paying people for that support, and that said support largely consisted of regurgitated form letters.

Despite the money spent however, it appears that actual support in Congress for the deal is tepid to non-existent. Comcast's hometown paper the Philadelphia Inquirer points out that whereas the NBC deal saw major support efforts by members of Congress, politicians appear to want nothing to do with this latest merger attempt:

"When Comcast made its move to buy NBCUniversal, more than two dozen letters from Congress - including one from 22 Republicans - landed at the Federal Communication Commission early in its review. Dozens more, from key chairmen and rank-and-file members of both parties, arrived before that deal was approved in 2011. The vast majority supported the merger, including one signed by 97 House members and several from minority lawmakers who hailed Comcast's commitment to diversity. But as the Philadelphia giant now pushes a merger with Time Warner Cable, Comcast has had little congressional support, and almost none outside its home state."

While politicians are happy to take Comcast's money, it appears that few actually want to be publicly associated with a company with the lowest consumer approval rating in any industry. Even Comcast's sleazy tactic of paying minority groups to parrot support (to create the illusion of diversity in Comcast policy support) isn't working very well anymore:

"Meanwhile, more than 50 black, Hispanic, and Asian members of Congress have expressed concerns about the impact of this deal and others, warning in a letter to the FCC that recent media "mega-mergers" show that "even the most reasonable conditions and diversity pledges" have proved difficult to enforce."

Most analysts meanwhile see the chance of the DOJ and FCC merger getting approval dropping by the week. The FCC has been on an uncharacteristic consumer-friendly tear of late, whether that's raising the definition of broadband to 25 Mbps, crafting new net neutrality rules or fighting for municipal broadband. As such, approving the Comcast deal without some tougher-than-usual conditions just doesn't seem likely. I personally think the deal will be approved, it will just be saddled with conditions heavily focused on keeping Comcast's bad ideas far away from internet video. Whether those conditions actually work or are enforced will be another issue entirely.

Meanwhile, it's kind of amusing to see telecom companies failing to recognize their own hubris isn't helping their case. As we saw when the DOJ rejected AT&T's attempted acquisition of T-Mobile, there really is a limit to the amount of bullshit you can push before you reach the point of diminishing returns. Using astroturf, claiming that killing competitors creates competition and lowers prices -- or that everyone who opposes your deal is ignorant or irrational -- clearly crosses that particular Rubicon. If you're already one of the most hated companies in the country, that only adds insult to injury.

It remains frequently uttered because it's true: money just can't buy you love.

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Filed Under: congress, mergers, politics, support
Companies: comcast, time warner cable

13 Comments

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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 1:57pm

What was that quote...
...from the ex senator now MPAA chief (paraphrased) "Damnit, when you buy a congresscritter, they should stay bought."
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 2:40pm
  
  Re: What was that quote...
  Wasn't that quote from House of Cards?
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That One Guy (profile), 24 Mar 2015 @ 2:12pm

Well, it would seem some congresscritters have realized the power they have here, and are bucking for a 'raise' from Comcast. Once Comcast realizes this however I fully expect the glowing recommendations and support for the merger to start pouring in though, few things are more obviously for sale than politicians after all.
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- Oblate (profile), 25 Mar 2015 @ 8:32am
  
  Re:
  My thought on this is that currently they are (or may be) receiving 'donations' from Comcast and TWC, but if they approve the merger there would only be Comcast for future contributions. Also, if the merger is approved then Comcast may not even need to pay off as many of them, and not for as much. The longer they can string this out, the more they can get from Comcast/TWC. I don't see how the congressional 'supporters' of the merger have any incentive for the merger to actually be approved.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 2:44pm

it shouldn't just be Comcast and it shouldn't just be mergers that are hard to get backers for! every single company is out to make money, obviously, but when those companies are backed by politicians who do the opposite of what would be right, what would be good for consumers, they need weeding out and removing! there shouldn't be anything to stop customers being first, provided the companies are profitable but when profits are first and controlling politicians to make those profits first, THERE NEEDS TO BE SERIOUS CHANGE AND FAST!!
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 4:13pm

wut wut
"Meanwhile, more than 50 black, Hispanic, and Asian members of Congress have expressed concerns about the impact of this deal and others, warning in a letter to the FCC that recent media "mega-mergers" show that "even the most reasonable conditions and diversity pledges" have proved difficult to enforce."

Wait... I bet they are just pissed they have not been bought off enough. It will be fixed soon enough. Hear that Comcast? You need to pad and grease more palms you stingy bastards!
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 4:27pm

Going golden...
I'm a little confused,

So let me get this strait...

Is there a market for modding the goods of major toy manufacturers 'physically' similar to the way you'd mod games 'digitally' such as Team fortress?

That is freakin' cool!

If I ever have grand children, I'm going to sound older than dirt when I explain my childhood:

"What gramps? You couldn't even mod your GI-Joe?"

"No sunny, I had to do it with a magnifying glass, a bike tire, and a fire cracker!"
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 4:33pm
  
  Re: Going golden...
  Crap, I think I replied to the wrong article...doh!
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 4:45pm
  
  Re: Going golden...
  Er, I think you landed in the wrong story.
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- Watchit (profile), 24 Mar 2015 @ 11:00pm
  
  Re: Going golden...
  yeah, you just missed it. The article you're looking for is one story up.
  
  But yeah there's lots of "mods" for toys. One example would be nerf guns, though that's more other types of mods rather than 3d printing. One toy sector I can see 3d Printing be really big is in scale model toys, like Gundams, trains, and ships.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2015 @ 4:06am

One of the problems is that the cost of buying out (and owning) a Congressman or federal bureaucrat has gone up substantially in recent years, as more and more competing interests are throwing money their way. Newspaper columnists and media pundits, however, are still reportedly available quite cheap.

Comcast has no doubt learned that budgeting the same amount of lobbying money that it took to buy out Congress in 2011 for the NBC merger approval will simply not cut it in 2015. The solution is simple: start by writing bigger checks -- to everyone. Then move on to the FCC commissioner's friends and families -- patronize their businesses, offer them jobs, marry their daughters if needed ... whatever it takes!

Get that revolving door well-oiled and humming! Be the next Goldman Sachs!
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Pragmatic, 26 Mar 2015 @ 3:25am

This deal should NOT be approved; no company ought to be permitted to have that kind of power and influence.
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hopponit (profile), 26 Mar 2015 @ 12:38pm

merger
"While politicians are happy to take Comcast's money, it appears that few actually want to be publicly associated with a company with the lowest consumer approval rating in any industry." Doesn't that approval rating describe Congress as well?
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