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Bid for Adelphia Assets by Time Warner and Comcast Will Harm Consumers and Competition, Unions Tell
Washington, D.C. -- The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have called on the Federal Communications Commission to deny the bid of Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc. to take over the assets of Adelphia Communications Corp.
Consumers and the public interest would be the clear losers if this transaction is permitted to go forward, the unions stressed. It would restrict competition for the distribution of programming, allow two companies to block other competitors' access to programming and result in higher rates for consumers.
The move by Comcast and Time Warner would result in massive consolidation in the cable industry, with those two companies gaining monopoly control and dominating individual metropolitan media markets "where before competing companies had adjacent franchises," the unions said in a filing to the FCC.
By taking over the assets of Adelphia, the nation's fifth largest cable operator with 5.2 million subscribers, Comcast and Time Warner would assure themselves access to 43.4 million households -- 59 percent of the nation's cable subscribers.
These two companies have proposed "swaps" of cable systems that would only increase their monopoly control in particular markets, guaranteeing Comcast and Time Warner "the market power to favor their affiliated programming on their cable systems, to block competitors' access to popular programming, to raise cable and advertising rates above competitive levels and to degrade service quality and community standards," the unions said.
Comcast and Time Warner contend that these swaps represent a public interest benefit, but the FCC has determined that regional clustering of cable franchise systems – which would result from these swaps – represents a significant barrier to competitive entry.
Consumers in several major markets – including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York -- already have felt the impact of this clustering and have been shut out of regional programming, particularly sports programming, when Comcast or Time Warner have refused to air programming owned by other networks, or refuse to negotiate with other cable or satellite service providers.
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CWA and IBEW represent 1.45 million workers in telecommunications, cable, wireless, broadcasting, construction and maintenance, government, utility, publishing, manufacturing, airlines, higher education, and other public and private sector work. CWA and IBEW represent several thousand Comcast and Adelphia employees.
Consumers and the public interest would be the clear losers if this transaction is permitted to go forward, the unions stressed. It would restrict competition for the distribution of programming, allow two companies to block other competitors' access to programming and result in higher rates for consumers.
The move by Comcast and Time Warner would result in massive consolidation in the cable industry, with those two companies gaining monopoly control and dominating individual metropolitan media markets "where before competing companies had adjacent franchises," the unions said in a filing to the FCC.
By taking over the assets of Adelphia, the nation's fifth largest cable operator with 5.2 million subscribers, Comcast and Time Warner would assure themselves access to 43.4 million households -- 59 percent of the nation's cable subscribers.
These two companies have proposed "swaps" of cable systems that would only increase their monopoly control in particular markets, guaranteeing Comcast and Time Warner "the market power to favor their affiliated programming on their cable systems, to block competitors' access to popular programming, to raise cable and advertising rates above competitive levels and to degrade service quality and community standards," the unions said.
Comcast and Time Warner contend that these swaps represent a public interest benefit, but the FCC has determined that regional clustering of cable franchise systems – which would result from these swaps – represents a significant barrier to competitive entry.
Consumers in several major markets – including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York -- already have felt the impact of this clustering and have been shut out of regional programming, particularly sports programming, when Comcast or Time Warner have refused to air programming owned by other networks, or refuse to negotiate with other cable or satellite service providers.
###
CWA and IBEW represent 1.45 million workers in telecommunications, cable, wireless, broadcasting, construction and maintenance, government, utility, publishing, manufacturing, airlines, higher education, and other public and private sector work. CWA and IBEW represent several thousand Comcast and Adelphia employees.