Not surprisingly, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has told the FCC to block the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger.
Franken, one of Hill's biggest critics of big media mergers, said in comments to the FCC Monday that the deal would give the FCC too much market power. Franken says he is "counting on" FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the other commissioners to "protect the public interest and reject the deal."
He told B&C last month he thought the FCC should block the deal and clearly nothing has changed in the interim.
"Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable would position Comcast as a veritable gatekeeper over vast swaths of the nation's telecommunications industry, resulting in higher prices, fewer choices, and worse service for consumers in Minnesota and across the country," Franken said. "Because the proposed acquisition does not advance the public interest—but, rather, is inimical to it— it must be rejected."
