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FCC Clears Comcast Purchase Of AT&T Broadband
Torgo's Pizza writes "The FCC just granted final approval for Comcast to complete its $30.5 billion purchase of AT&T Broadband. Despite consumer worries of increased rates and clear domination of the market, Chairman Michael Powell stated, "The benefits of this transaction are considerable, the potential harms negligible.""
Hmmm.... Did not the FCC block the merger of DirecTV and Dish Network? Or was that some other government organization?
:)
Of course, I don't watch TV so that's a moot point for me anyway...
RickTheWizKid
A man needs TV like a fish needs a bicycle
Comcast is paying way too much, sounds familiar? We all know what happened to the dot coms, don't we? But CEOs can fix anything by "cost control" (read "laying off enough people"). Then they increase your dues, since they are now a monopoly. Then 5 year later, they go bankrupt because after all 30 billion was too much and because high speed wireless beat them to a pulp. But by this time the CEOs are gone and are laughing from their golden parachutes. Anyway, by this time, no one remembers that it was done on Bush's guard. This is called win-win for the CEOs and the politicians.
What he's really saying:
The benefits to Comcast are considerable, the potential harms to the users are not a consideration because their political donations aren't as large as Comcast's, now are they.
It was so much fun going from AT&T @HOME to AT&T, I can't wait to get flipped over to a new network!
I wonder if Comcast can bring the same exciting server name changes and mass outages that came with the last switch. I am all-aflutter with anticipation!
No, really I am.
Chairman Michael Powell stated, "The benefits of this transaction are considerable, the potential harms negligible."
I am pretty sure he got that backwards...
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
Even now comcast cable is more expensive than DSL in my area - plus they forbid using VPN over the 'residential' package. If you want to work from home you basically have to spring for the $100/month business package. I wish the Bell Atlantic would get thier act together with DSL rollout.
Actually, this is not true. The comcast system works with any operating system that runs a decent dhcp client. For example, under linux, running `dhcpcd ` provices all the authentication you need to connect to the service. Authentication is provided based on the MAC address of your modem, not based on any windows-proprietary method.
Certain service areas of Comcast use PPPoE for authentication rather than the commonplace DHCP for authentication. You can get Linux PPPoE software from Roaring Penguin.
"The lesson to be learned is not to take the comments on slashdot too literally." --Vinnie Falco, BearShare
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I think many of us are protesting the wrong crime.
Allowing Comcast to buy AT&T Broadband is not a major crime. This is just replacing one bad monopolist with another -- the two firms weren't explicitly competing against each other so there is no serious concern that the merger will lead to higher prices, lower quality. Ask yourselves: what was preventing AT&T or Comcast from unilaterally offering more expensive, crummy service? It sure wasn't the "threat" of competition from each other. If anything, it was the threat that consumers would get fed up and revolt or the government would actually be forced to respond to consumer outrage. A merger doesn't affect either constraints - if anything, the merger makes the joint firm more vulnerable to such outrage and government scrutiny.
The real crime is the fact that we tolerate and allow these regional monopolies to prosper under government protection.