Stop the Comcast takeover.

FAQs

I cut the cord a long time ago and only subscribe to streaming services. How will this impact me?

Online video and innovation will suffer most.

Comcast doesn’t want you getting your Scandal fix from Netflix or Amazon Prime so it’ll do everything it can to keep you as a subscriber even if you watch all your TV online. That’s what happens when your Internet company is also your cable company.

Comcast and Time Warner Cable don’t compete anyway, so how does this deal impact consumers?

This is all about competition and market power.

The merger will bring us one giant company that controls marquee television and movie content, as well as the primary vehicles — a major television broadcast network, a major cable system operator and a major broadband Internet access provider — for distributing that content.

Doesn’t Comcast have to abide by the FCC’s old Net Neutrality rules?

Comcast’s commitment to Net Neutrality expires in 2018.

Comcast has to obey the FCC’s Open Internet Order, but only as a condition of their previous merger with NBC. These protections come with a clear expiration date in 2018.

And it’s important to remember that the only reason Comcast is under these conditions is because it was caught illegally blocking lawful file-sharing applications. This is the same company that degraded Netflix service for its own customers as a bargaining chip. And Comcast executives have been quite clear about their desire to divide the Internet into fast and slow lanes.

Comcast has long exploited loopholes in FCC rules to favor its own services and harm competitors. And the FCC’s old Open Internet Order doesn’t apply to interconnection, the point at which Internet content companies hand off traffic to Comcast for deliver on its network.

In the end, the company’s empty promises aren’t any consolation given how the merger will erode our online rights over the long term.

Would combining these companies be beneficial for customers?

Doubtful. Comcast and Time Warner Cable are both routinely at the very bottom of customer-satisfaction lists. They are ranked as the worst companies in America.

If these companies can’t serve their existing communities well, how will expanding help? If anything Comcast will have even less incentive to provide good, reliable service because it knows its subscribers have nowhere else to turn.

And Comcast already has too much control over content. Because a bigger, badder Comcast would control both content and distribution on a grander scale, it would have both the incentive and the power to limit access to competing content on the distribution platforms it owns. It could also try to outright deny its competitors access to its content.

I don’t subscribe to Comcast or Time Warner Cable... does this deal affect me?

This new giant company would have so much power over programming and such a chokehold on innovation that no new channels or services are going to get off the ground without permission from Comcast.

And whether you’re a cable subscriber or not, you’ll end up paying more because the costs of doing business with Comcast will be passed on to you.

But this deal isn’t just about dollars. It’s about democracy.

Comcast already wields a great deal of power in Washington: The company spent more than $18 million on lobbying in 2013 alone. The merger would give Comcast an even better shot of ensuring that future communications policies favor its bottom line.