400K sign consumer-group petition opposing Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger

Consumer-interest groups Common Cause, Consumers Union, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Free Press and Working Families have gathered 400,000 signatures on a petition opposing Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) proposed $45.2 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC). The organizations said the petition will be presented to the FCC and Department of Justice as those organizations review the proposed deal.

"Comcast has unleashed an army of lobbyists in Washington to win approval of this deal but the cable giant can't fool Americans back home who are speaking out in growing numbers against a market takeover of this scale," Free Press representative Craig Aaron said in a press release.

Among other reasons for opposing the deal is the concern of a growing digital divide should the two companies consolidate that many broadband connections, said Working Families' Dan Cantor.

"Our country lags behind the rest of the developed world on Internet service, speed and affordability," Cantor said. "We should narrow the digital divide by investing in infrastructure—but this mega-merger would only threaten to make that gap worse."

Demand Progress representative David Segal agreed, citing the dearth of competitive broadband service providers as a reason why "Americans already suffer some of the slowest and priciest Internet access in the developed world."

The petitions come on top of a letter submitted by 50 public interest groups to the FCC and DoJ demanding that the deal be blocked.

For more:
- see this Consumers Union press release

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