Crisis averted: biggest cable buyout in history probably isn't happening ~ lotfi

jeudi 23 avril 2015

Crisis averted: biggest cable buyout in history probably isn't happening

Comcast has spent the last year-plus swearing that its buyout of Time Warner would be a good thing, but in all that time nobody really bought it.

That includes the regulators at the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department who've been digging into the deal's details over the last year, and with their disapproval Comcast is going to cancel it all, reports Bloomberg.

Comcast could announce as much as soon as Friday, the site's sources said.

Officials would have to actually bring the companies to court if they wanted to force the issue, but apparently the threat of such a long process is usually enough to deter companies from pursuing the point.

That's what occurred when AT&T tried to buy T-Mobile in 2011, and it looks like it's happening again.

Thank goodness, too. Time Warner and Comcast are already two of the most despised companies in the US, and they each hold numerous regional monopolies. Letting them join forces would have been literally insane.

Hopefully Comcast officially announces that this disaster has been averted - although the company will probably use slightly more neutral language - soon.