Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, the Democrat and Republican, respectively, representing Comcast's home state of Pennsylvania, have written the FCC asking it to approve the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal, and do so ASAP.
Frequently legislators are couched in their support, saying a deal has benefits and urging the FCC to move swiftly on a decision, one way or the other. But the pair made it clear they wanted the FCC to sign off on this deal, and soon.
"We believe the merger between Comcast and Time Warner will produce extensive benefits to the public in terms of jobs and services for low-income households," they wrote. "Also, Comcast has informed us that the merger will provide improved Internet access with no corresponding decrease in competition. The public should not have to wait for these benefits. Accordingly, we urge you to approve the merger as soon as possible."
The legislators said they had seen firsthand Comcast's good corporate citizenship, including assisting nonprofits and investing in worker training.
Comcast also got a shout-out for its Internet Essentials low-cost broadband subsidy for low-income kids.
The FCC has recently restarted its informal clock on vetting the deal, but legal action continues over its decision, since stayed by a court, to allow third parties to see program contracts related to that and the AT&T/DirecTV deal, which the FCC has signaled could delay a decision.
