The FCC is getting ready to rule on the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner. Initial reports seem to indicate it will pass. If it does it has the potential to change the Internet as we know it. It is a rotten deal for consumers, for fledgling companies, and for those who want to keep corporate hands off of the Internet. I previously wrote about this fight here. I urge everyone to contact their member of congress and let them know you are against the upcoming merger of Comcast and Time Warner and for a free Internet (Net Neutrality).
Essentially Comcast and Time Warner, the two biggest cable companies in the nation, want to create a new fast lane for their customers such as Netflix. This will allow them to charge a higher price for their services which will likely be passed on to the consumers of Netflix. You can insert any company that provides content over the Internet in the previous sentence. Of course, this could be the beginning of a whole new structure of data lanes, not just a fast and slow lane. Cable companies could raise prices charged to content providers based on their ability to pay. This in turn will mean higher costs for the consumers.
In addition, this will kill new operators hoping to join the ranks of content providers. They may not have the initial capitol to afford the faster speed, thus their business will be doomed from the start. Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and Skype are all companies who benefited from Net Neutrality. In the future, if the new pay for data model is accepted, companies like these will not exist. When Netflix was in negotiations for a new cable deal, their Internet speeds were reduced by as much as 65% by the cable operators. This type of behavior is akin to kidnapping.
Moreover, Comcast and Time Warner are the biggest cable operators in the country. If we believe monopolies are bad for the economy and consumers, how can you let the two giants of cable join together? Furthermore, Comcast and Time Warner are at the very bottom of polls measuring customer service. Here is a video which, while funny, also carries a grain of truth.
So if this merger is such a bad idea, why does it appear that it will be approved? Enter politics and money. Since 2002, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner have given over 62 million dollars in campaign donations. The nine largest Internet corporations including Google, Facebook, eBay, Amazon and Oracle, have given a total of $22 million (source: New York Times). Democratic Senator Tom Harkin and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch have been two of the biggest supporters of cable companies. Not surprisingly, they are the two politicians receiving the most money in campaign contributions from cable companies.
President Obama who campaigned on Net Neutrality had been rather silent on the issue. However, recently he gave a more forceful opinion on the subject. On Monday, Obama asked the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify the Internet as a public utility, like electricity, so that ISPs can’t prioritize certain types of web traffic over others (source: Huffington Post).
One of the issues around net neutrality is whether you are creating different rates or charges for different content providers. That’s the big controversy here. So you have big, wealthy media companies who might be willing to pay more and also charge more for spectrum, more bandwidth on the Internet so they can stream movies faster. I personally, the position of my administration, as well as a lot of the companies here, is that you don’t want to start getting a differentiation in how accessible the Internet is to different users. You want to leave it open so the next Google and the next Facebook can succeed.
Republicans face a sort of quandary on Net Neutrality. In the past the Republicans have received the bulk of campaign contributions from Tech giants like Comcast and Time Warner. However, the want to make in roads into the Silicon Valley companies that tend to be more liberal and are for some regulation of the Internet to keep it open and free. If they cater too much to the Tech companies, they could lose sway with the Internet service providers. Thus the decision for Republicans is not about what is good for American’s, it is about what is good for the Republican party.
This is one of those debates that make you go WTF? Everyone says they are for a free and open Internet, but Internet service providers have a different view than Internet content providers on what that looks like. It seems that Net Neutrality is the choice that better serves the public. But when you get a president who until recently has been silent on the issue and tons of money given to politicians by one side of the debate, you end up with a vacuum that will be filled by the special interests of the wealthy. The FCC and common sense be damned. Don’t let rich cable companies decide what your Internet looks like. Contact your congressional representatives and let them know you are for Net Neutrality.