The Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger is that rare proposal that’s such a bad idea that it actually brings people of all different political beliefs together. If you look at the website for Stop Mega Comcast, for instance, you’ll see both liberal groups such as Common Cause and conservative outfits such as Glen Beck’s The Blaze are both lined up in mutual opposition to the proposed deal.
Opponents of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger are prepping for the next round of verbal brawling on Tuesday, the FCC’s deadline for more comments regarding the pros and cons of the $45 billion deal. Separately, the FCC on Monday implemented another delay of the time clock governing the schedule of its review. The commission said that FCC recently discovered some 31,000 Comcast-TW Cable documents that would not be delivered to the commission until Dec. 30 because of a “vendor delay.” Earlier, 7,000 documents arrived Dec. 9-10 after being withheld because Comcast-TW Cable believed they were protected by attorney-client privilege. Given the data dump, the FCC opted to stop the 180-day time clock, a guiding principle designed to prevent the deal review process from dragging on infinitely, to give staff time to review the documents. With the new Jan. 12 restart date, the FCC is expected to hold its vote on the proposed merger by the end of March.
