This week , the earth was prompt of just how awe-inspiring Comcast can be , thanks tothe recording of one appalling client armed service call . But that flare - up was also a reminder of how many the great unwashed could get themselves trapped in similar billet , with few direction out , if Comcast ’s amalgamation with Time Warner Cable goes through . Fortunately , all it takes is one country to lay off it .
The amalgamation could pass , andthat ’s a scary the true . However , there ’s also a chance that the body politic of New York could throw a twist in the gears , a twist great enough to convey the merger to a fag halt for honorable . The better tidings ? That process has already started . Back in May , Governor Andrew Cuomoannouncedthat the New York Public Service Commission would “ use its new regulatory power to conduct a thoroughgoing and detailed investigation ” into the merger . The so - called “ new regulative power ” refers to a change in the state ’s law regarding telecommunication mergers , one which switches the load of trial impression . Now , instead of the PSC having to demonstrate that the merger is n’t in the public interest , Comcast has to testify that it is .
This is grand news if you ’re a buff of exemption and justice . While Comcastswears the merger will profit consumers , prove as much to a State Department commissionthat exists solelyto ensure citizens get good service without getting rip off is going to be tough . As such , the PSC has hold back hearings across the state over the past distich of months and heard from implicated citizens and telecom expert likewise in Albany , Buffalo , and New York City . In an email to Gizmodo , the committal reiterated that the purpose of the investigation “ is to determine whether the purpose dealing is in the best interest of Time Warner [ Cable ] ’s New York customers and the State as a whole . ” The process could conclude as ahead of time as August , or it could extend into the fall .
Investigations are great and all , but the real question is whether one state ’s investigating could in reality jump a countrywide merger . And the answer is an encouraging “ maybe . ”
Phil Dampier , father of broadband industry watchdog radical Stop the Cap ! , explained the potential outcomes to us . “ If the PSC determine this is a sorry deal for New York , it can reject it out of hand by deny the transfer the franchises currently held by Time Warner Cable to Comcast or the hold party it is proposing , ” he said . Because TWC is the dominant broadband provider in the DoS , this would pretty much screw Comcast out ofabout 2.6 million likely post - merger client . “ Without NYC and the huge medium market that offers Comcast , investment banker that help finance these business deal may finger it is no longer worth the damage and investors may also push to kill the wad . ” Other expertshave said as much in the past tense .
Other outcomes are certainly potential . Lieutenant governor candidate Tim Wuhas said many timesthat he would block the merger if elected . Wu , who also take place to be the guy that strike the condition “ nett disinterest , ” has stopped shortly of saying exactly how he would do that . Meanwhile , other nation could could add up to similar conclusion , but none of them wields the population leverage of New York . That in creative thinker , it seems less potential that other state where TWC is the predominant supplier — namely Ohio and North Carolina — would ever have such a dramatic effect on the larger process .
Again , we ’ll have to wait a few more calendar week to see how thing play out in New York State Department . So far , thing do n’t look dear for Comcast , though . Dampier pointed us tothe public input on the merger , where about 2,300 multitude have stepped up to vocalisation opposing or neutral opinions about the merger . zero point say they suffer it .
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