We have to decrease competition in order to increase competition! Sit back, relax and get ready for humongous corporations to explain how fewer choices mean more and better choices. (Or so goes one of the arguments in support of the AT&T and DirecTV deal.)
It seems like another telecom merger is happening every day and soon there will be one gargantuan company that is in charge of every single cable, phone and internet connection in the United States. These mergers wouldn't bother me if they involved companies making things like toasters or cars, but these are the guys who control the flow of information. They already wield enormous power and that power is consolidating. Sure, we may have super-duper high speed connections and the convenience of a single (overpriced) bill, but at what cost?
Enjoy the cartoon, and pass it along on your behemoth service provider's high speed infrastructure. As usual, you can find more links to the stories behind this cartoon here.
In the land of bright channels and flickering galore,
There was always a need for more and some more.
But how would they get there, and at what sort of pace?
For a time providers were all over the place.
Then it started to happen, the corporate love-making,
As two became one, competition we're faking.
Cables were bought, and satellites too,
So much better with one than even with two!
It's all for consumers, our service to you.
We really won't rest 'til the mergers are through!
So in the interest of service, this cartoon will do too,
A merger just like, what they want to feed you.
First the characters merge, for efficiency's sake.
Then colors will merge, and your payments we'll take!
L ines must consolidate, so you'll find them all there,
Conveniently placed, 'fore your comfy big chair.
Characters, colors and lines, in one handy spot.
It's called "Triple-Play" now, monopoly it's not!
So enjoy your cartoon of parts that are merged,
We're efficient now, and the competition quite purged!
And all that remains, is that one little matter . . .
. . . of endless rate hikes, so our profits grow fatter.