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Opponents of the pending merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) joined together in a coalition they鈥檙e calling the 鈥淪top Mega Comcast Coalition." Announced last February, the $45 billion merger of the two largest cable companies in the US is currently under review by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department.

According to the聽, the merger would give Comcast 鈥渦nprecedented market power鈥� in the cable and broadband market. This market power would stifle competition and result in fewer programming choices for consumers, it says. Coalition members include consumer advocacy groups such as the Parents Television Council, telecommunications lobbying groups such as the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance, and alternative pay-TV provider DISH Network.

Comcast contends that the merger will benefit customers. It plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade TWC's networks, according to a statement by Comcast corporate communications vice president Sena Fitzmaurice. Improved networks would provide faster Internet speeds to the 11 million who would be added to Comcast鈥檚 current 22 million video subscribers if the merger is approved.

In response to competition concerns, Comcast points out that it with TWC in any service areas. Thus, there would not be a reduction of consumer broadband service choice.

While the cable companies may not compete with their cable lines, they do compete via TV programming contracts, says Dan Isett,聽director of communications and policy for the聽. For example, he points to Comcast's practice of cable companies bundling televisions networks, forcing customers to subsidize content they don鈥檛 want just to get access to cable TV. The merger 鈥渕akes an already existing problem exponentially worse,鈥� says Mr. Isett, since it broadens Comcast's reach and strengthens its market power.聽

The coalition鈥檚 launch coincided with the FCC resuming its informal 180-day review of the merger. The countdown had been paused in late October, not uncommon for mergers as large as this, leaving a little more than three months to complete the review. The FCC needed to determine how to 聽鈥� for example,聽contracts and negotiations from TV programming companies such as CBS and Time Warner, which is not a part of Time Warner Cable.

Stop Mega Comcast Coalition worries that the issues have been framed in terms of regulation and corporate efficiencies, not the public interest. 鈥淥ur role," says Isett, "is to try to bring a parent/family perspective, an outside-the-Beltway perspective.鈥�

For those who would like to share their own perspective, the for submitting comments about the Comcast-TWC merger.