FCC Commissioner Copps Speaks Out Against Comcast/Time Warner Merger

Michael Copps is one of three sitting FCC Commissioners.

It’s now a two-front people’s crusade to prevent gatekeepers from wresting control of our nation’s communications ecosystem. One front is preserving and protecting the Federal Communications Commission’s historic passage of real net neutrality rules two months ago. The other is stopping the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger in its tracks.

Victory on both these fronts is essential if we are to have media that serve the needs of our diverse democracy. The proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) is the same fight about gatekeeper control, consolidated media power, and the future of the Internet. This $45 billion transaction is about a lot more than cable programming. It’s about control over bringing broadband and the Internet to our homes and businesses.

And it goes beyond controlling the distribution of broadband; it goes also to the content and programming that will (or will not) be available to us. That is why I voted as a Commissioner against the Comcast takeover of NBC Universal a few years ago. (Unfortunately I was the only vote against it.)

Now Comcast is back again with $45 billion more to take over TWC and its extensive networks. We can prevail on both these fronts and thereby win the battle -- if we continue to push and rally and tell those in power they will be held accountable if they fail to make certain that our communications ecosystem is made safe for democracy. Because democracy depends so profoundly upon our ability to communicate freely, openly, and uninhibitedly.

See also Susan Crawford's Op-Ed on the Comcast/ Time Warner merger.

Thanks to Benton Foundation Headlines.