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Comcast-Time Warner Deal May Hinge On Low-Cost Internet Plan
techpolicy (3586897) writes "Comcast Corp.'s proposed $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc. has brought the issue of the digital divide and the federal government's failing policies to decrease it back onto center stage, according to an article by the Center for Public Integrity. Comcast has told the Federal Communications Commission that it will offer its discounted Internet program for low-income customers to residents living in Time Warner Cable's service areas — if the FCC approves the purchase. Comcast offered FCC the same deal in 2011 when it bought NBCUniversal. But the low-cost program, called Internet Essentials, has signed up only 12 percent of the 2.6 million families eligible for the service since it was launched nearly three years ago. While the FCC and other federal agencies have spent billions of dollars trying to provide broadband access and training programs to the poor to close the divide, so far the policies haven't worked much. The percentage difference between Americans earning below $30,000 who have an Internet connection in their home and those earning $75,000 or more who have an in-home connection has narrowed only 4 percentage points from 2009 to 2013. As the Comcast purchase moves through its regulatory approval process, the center reports that it may be time to revisit the policies that will get more poor Americans connected, especially because to function in society today you have to be online."
People say "six of one, a half dozzen of the other", but I'll still take Google fiber of anything relatd to Comcast. And don't fool yourself, all broadband providers track and profile their users, I might as well get decent high-speed out of the deal.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
It's called empty promises. The primary purpose of this merger is not nor will it ever be to take care of the poor. It merely serves to unhook the approval process that would create an internet oligarchy.
Cheap internet for anybody is the last thing that these guys want.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
If Comcast gets to legally extort and shake down sites for profit, the bad is going to worse. I hear they should be classified as a type 2 common carrier. We know Comcast bought off FCC officials back with Meridth Atwell Baker. A lot of people are looking at this Blake Wheeler guy doing whatever Comcast wants even though the public is rallying against him, and going,"Man, the system really isn't in it for the people like they should be. I didn't know corruption was established that they can be this transparent and get away with it." For a while a lot of people would go,"It isn't such a big deal that the politicians can be bought out by wealthy individuals and corporations since corporations need to service us." But they're finding out now that if corporations go unchecked by the government, they can do damages far worse than the old telephone companies which actually had some check against them. But where does this go when our politicians and public servants go to the highest bidder? Do we go the road of Mexico where their politicans are not only bought out by druglords, but they live under the veil of fear? Or what? It is interesting that not even all the money that are buying out politicians even comes from the USA. Foreign wealthy entities should not have the ability to have their say in American Politics. When your government says it is sold to the highest bidder, corruption can bring down any empire.
I love the USA. I love our education system. I love the people you get to meet and make friends with. I just wish we didn't have legalized bribery of politicians.
God spoke to me
You are in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and the CEO of Comcast. You have a gun with two bullets. What do you do?
You shoot the CEO twice.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
From the summary: "to function in society today you have to be online." But why exactly do you have to be online at home to function? Why can't you, say, do all your Internet use at the local public library?
How about Comcast has to offer the low cost internet plan to any of their customers that wants it.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Time Warner Cable already offers 2MBps service for $14.99 across its footprint.
It isn't hard to find, it's right next to all the other speed options on their web site.
Customers can buy their own modem from Best Buy or wherever or they can lease a TWC modem for $6 a month.
I have a feeling that most customers who need a $9.99 or $14.99 internet plan probably aren't going to front $300 for Google Fiber to be installed, or even own the place they would be paying for it to be installed in.
Make purchase of Comcast internet a mandatory thing for all americans.
Now the poor have internet, and are only somewhat more poor!
Hey, it worked for the insurance industry and healthcare policies.
Although to be fair the analogy is not really complete unless you also make all americans purchase HBA/Showtime/MLB packages.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So, basically, instead of making Comcast, y'know IMPROVE THEIR FUCKING NETWORK AND PEERING, we're going to go for a "cheap internet plan".
Oh boy. A 1mbit/1mbit plan for $20 a month! WOO!
Oh, in the fine print. Going over the 5MByte cap more than twice in a 6 month period gets you upgraded to the more expensive basic plan!
Oh, and at any point did anyone discuss the problem with Comcast's horizontal monopoly being extended to a few million more people? Yes, even if they spin those people off, it's still majority owned by Comcast. All their competitor is doing is getting a revenue share to shut them the fuck up.
No.
No.
NO!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
For this actually work, comcast hast offer these rates to third parties using their lines. That is, comcast must offer a discounted rate to third party providers that are offering content to low income or poorly served areas.
If it only goes through comcast directly then comcast has the ability to control costs by limiting service.
And you know that would be fine only they seem to be offering congress this deal to pay for their monopoly rights. Well, I don't want them to be a monopoly and I'd just as soon tell them to screw themselves. However, if they are going to get their monopoly rights then at the very least we should get them to pay for it with what they SAY they're going to pay.
If congress doesn't force this as an open provider policy then they've been suckered.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
From what I've seen, people on a tight budget get a smart phone with a data plan and use that to get online, not a landline cable or DSL connection. That way they hit two birds with one device: phone service and internet.
Sure it's not as "good" as a landline internet connection with a good computer. But it is far cheaper -- at least at first.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
If anyone cares to take the time write up a comment that may assist the FCC in evaluating or deal or possible concessions to be demanded of Comcast, the link to file those comments is here:
http://www.fcc.gov/mergers
Two types of comments can be productive. It can be helpful to file a well-written comment that includes.numbers, citations showing exactly how Comcast's position has been detrimental. It can also be very helpful to file a comment with a suggestion for a compromise that mitigates bad effects from allowing the deal to go through. For example, a comment posted three weeks ago suggesting that they be required to keep TWC's discount program could have been helpful. What doesn't do any good are "fuck Comcast" or "fuck the FCC" comments. Those only make it look like those opposing the acquisition don't have any articulable reason for doing so.
Yes, it's a bit like a homework assignment, to be effective you need to either cite your sources or present a new idea that the FCC hasn't already thought of. That involves more work than writing "fuck Comcast", but such is life in the real world, where grown-ups are making grown-up decisions.
It depends on the specific group, but they generally have a council that decides on the acceptance of new technology and any restrictions on use based on two criteria: Self-sufficiency and the impact on communal lifestyle. They may approve internet use for business purposes if they deem it essential, but they'll also set strict rules to prevent it creeping into non-business use, like requiring the computer be located in an office area and not permitting them in residences.
One of Comcast's arguments for the merger is that current Comcast and Time Warner customers won't be affected because the two companies compete in very few markets. Consequently, customers will not suffer from reduced competition if the two companies should merge.
But by forcing the Netflix deal, Comcast has turned every Internet site out there into a (potential) customer. Netflix has to pay Comcast = Netflix is a customer. In the market for access deals with web sites, Comcast and Time Warner are competitors (Netflix does not need to make deals with both of them, and can leverage the better service on one ISP to pressure the other into making a cheaper deal). Therefore, a Comcast and Time Warner merger reduces competition.