Christopher Casey of the Consumer's Union leads a de-brief after activists attended a hearing at the C.P.U.C. to oppose Comcast's merger with TimeWarner.
This morning, I attended the California Public Utilities Commission hearing in San Francisco to oppose Comcast’s merger with TimeWarner. If the merger is approved, Comcast would control every major cable and broadband market in California—serving up to 84 percent of all households.
Daily Kos and other independent websites could not exist without a diverse and decentralized media, and it’s a threat that we take seriously. Which is why we joined the Consumer’s Union, Courage Campaign, Media Alliance and others today to oppose the merger–and have collected over 22,000 signatures from Daily Kos members in California.
The C.P.U.C. has a long history of being cozy with the industries it regulates, with its former President possibly facing criminal charges—and its public hearing process is less open than other bodies I have spoken to in my career.
That’s why today’s hearing was so important to get our voices heard.
An Administrative Law Judge has tentatively approved the merger with 25 conditions, but the Commissioners have final say—and are scheduled to vote at its March 26th meeting.
Even under such generous terms, Comcast has rejected all 25 conditions. Advocates are concerned that the C.P.U.C. would not be able to enforce the conditions anyway, and approving the merger would effectively give Comcast carte blanche to control California.
Sixty-five people attended today’s meeting to speak at public comment.
We heard many eloquent stories of poor customer service, Internet outages, and a lack of real choice in the marketplace. As one speaker from well-to-do Marin County explained: “Comcast is the only provider for my cable, and I live next door to George Lucas.”
If the merger is approved, California consumers will have even fewer choices and Comcast will effectively have a monopoly in the state. Comcast is clearly afraid that they could lose this merger, as they had several speakers from nonprofit groups who receive their funding to speak in favor.
According to advocates, there are probably 2 votes on the C.P.U.C. against the merger—and 2 or 3 in favor with the conditions. The vote will come down to the wire.
Please attend the next C.P.U.C. meeting on Thursday, March 26th at 9:00 a.m. to speak out against this merger, at 505 Van Ness Avenue (@ McAllister) in San Francisco.