Prevent "Cable Company F*ckery"

NEW YORK, NY (06/13/2014)(readMedia)-- This week the Public Service Commission (PSC) will hold important hearings on the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger. A recent Consumer Reports survey of 81,848 users, found that Comcast and Time Warner Cable ranked low for customer service and value.

Comcast is also the principal agonist against what is commonly referred to as "Net Neutrality" but more accurately represented by the phrase "cable company f*ckery" (coined by comedian John Oliver). The company is currently pressing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow a two tiered system of high speed internet service in which subscribers would have to pay extra for decent service. If Comcast merges with Time Warner in New York State, it will only bolster its position. The issue is particularly resonant for New Yorkers, 95% of whom have access to broadband, with two-thirds of residential customers choosing cable broadband.

New York State's roughly two million small businesses would also be impacted by the potential FCC ruling, which would add an unfair burden to the backbone of the upstate economy.

"Common Cause/NY is committed to equality on the internet, as well as quality cable, broadband, and telephone service for all New Yorkers. This merger would have a deleterious effect on the already controversial quality of our telecommunications, and set the stage for systematic discrimination. We urge the PSC to reject the merger," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY.

"Comcast's top executives like to call its merger with Time Warner Cable a bonus for customers and competition. Nothing could be further from the truth," said Mary Alice Crim of Free Press. "That's why so many people have protested this deal -- and the sky-high prices, lousy customer service and unacceptable market power that would result from letting too few companies control so much media in the United States. It's time for elected officials at the local, state and federal level to reject the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger outright."

Opponents of the merger will have grassroots activists out in force at the following hearing:

WHEN: MONDAY, JUNE 16

6:00 pm: Informational Forum, 7:30 pm: Public Statement Hearing

WHERE: SUNY Buffalo – North Campus Student Union Theater

106 Student Union Amherst, NY

Fast Facts

The Philadelphia based, Comcast currently has 772,000 pay-TV subscribers in the New York Designated Market Share (DMS): 659K in NYC, 4K in Buffalo, 9K in Albany, 99K in Burlington VT/Plattsburgh NY.

Time Warner Cable has 2.6 million pay-TV subscribers in the NY DMA: 1.2M in NYC, with the remainder spread across: Buffalo, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Burlington/Plattsburgh, Binghamton, Utica, Elmira, Watertown.

Together Comcast and Time Warner Cable comprise a total market share for pay-TV of 8% and 27% respectively.

Shares of wired video (i.e. excluding satellite): Comcast (10%), TWC (33%)

Shares of traditional cable video: (i.e. excluding satellite and telcoTV): Comcast (13%), TWC (42%).

Although specific data is not available on the DMA for broadband High-Speed Internet, Time Warner Cable has offered testimony that it serves over 2.3 million customers.