Slashdot Mirror


How Comcast Bankrolls Organizations That Support TWC Merger

An anonymous reader writes: When Comcast announced it was pursuing a takeover of Time Warner Cable, many activists and internet users immediately submitted objections to the deal. Support came more slowly, but steadily, from organizations like the International Center for Law and Economics, and from politicians like Governor Phil Bryant (R-MS). Now, a NY Times report reveals that much of this support for the merger came in exchange for money from Comcast. Fortunately, even after spreading money around so liberally, Comcast is still struggling to find a coherent, believable message for regulators, and the deal is far from assured.

From the article: "Letters detailing the benefits of the Comcast deal were submitted to the Federal Communications Commission by staff members from Americans for Tax Reform, the American Enterprise Institute, the Institute for Policy Innovation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Free State Foundation and the Center for Individual Freedom, as well as by a professor at a technology program at the University of Pennsylvania, all of which received support from Comcast or its trade association, tax documents and other disclosures reviewed by The New York Times show. A similar pattern is evident with charities like the Urban League and more than 80 other community groups that supported the media company and that also accepted collectively millions of dollars in donations from the Comcast Foundation over the last five years, documents reviewed by The Times show."

5 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Tail wags dog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What Comcast is doing should be considered fraudulent, but legally speaking, it isn't

    And it is an example of how useless the government of the United States has become --- a government is supposed to be an enforcement body to ensure the stability of a society and the application of justice to smooth out the wrinkles that have formed in the fabric of the society

    But the US government has failed miserably - the cabal factions within turning the entire organization rogue, creating a power vacuum in which private corporations such as Comcast also is more than happy to take advantage of

    Under a proper running government Comcast will never be allowed to do what it does, but the fact is, the government of the United States of America is no longer a functional entity

  2. Re:This should be illegal though by Livius · · Score: 2

    have you seen a dollar bill recently

    Something about trusting in gold. (I assume that's short for Goldman-Sachs.)

  3. Re:Figures by BoberFett · · Score: 2

    You idiot, both sides are taking their cut.

    https://www.opensecrets.org/or...

  4. You are so right! by EzInKy · · Score: 2

    What the government should be doing is providing the infrastructure that enables competition. Ensuring fair and equal access to the commons is what governments are for. What we get here in the US monopoly enforcement.

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
  5. Re:Fraud? Hmm by Holi · · Score: 2

    "the populace won't do anything because some celebrity news just hit the broadcast channels and *ooh look a shiny**." That's close but not really accurate, it just sounds like you feel superior to everyone else. The real problem is in this age of 24 hour news channels I still get more news from my local 6pm News then I do from 24 hours of Fox, CNN, MSNBC, They all harp on the same story non stop never touching one the myriad of other stuff happening in the worlds. We have no journalists willing to hold peoples feet to the fire. It's like the Press, the Politicians and their Corporate masters are all sitting around in some weird mutual reach around. It's not that we don;t want the News, it's that we are never even offered it.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.