Paul Bond of The Hollywood Reporter reports that “Partisans Agree: Comcast-TWC Merger Is Terrible Plan” and quotes everyone from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to Breitbart News in support of that.
Franken is concerned that the merger will only further monopolize the cable industry and the result will be higher cable bills for constituents already frustrated by higher cable bills. Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey laments another “American industry threatens to close up ranks by consolidation.” Breitbart News smells more Obama-endorsed crony capitalism involving Comcast, the owners of the Obama-cheerleading NBC and MSNBC news networks.
The left-wing Daily Kos is uncharacteristically worried about competition. If only they felt the same way about health care, schools, and, well, everything else.
The serious business of this merger, though, is all taking place below the DC surface where the real money, power, and political glad-handing takes place. I personally find it hard to believe that Comcast — a multinational absolutely devoted to promoting Obama and his agenda — did not have its FCC ducks in a row before investing the massive time and expense necessary to put together this kind of a deal.
Keep in mind, though, that even if the deal sails through, we are still much better off than we were 30 years ago when entertainment and news were dominated by only 4 television networks and just a few newspapers and wire services. The Internet has changed everything — and not just in news but also entertainment (see: Netflix) This merger is merely an emergency tourniquet of Old Media Guards eager to postpone a marginalization already in full swing.
Sure, with this merger, a lot of awful businessmen and politicians are going to get a lot richer, but the freedom genie is out of the bottle. Comcast, Obama, and TWC can do their thing. Whatever. Now that we have the power to do ours, we need to do just that.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC