Comcast and Time Warner Cable are facing more than just federal inspection of the merger between the pair. Reports are surfacing that Florida, Indiana, and other as yet un-named states are looking at the transaction in conjunction with the federal government effort by the US Department of Justice.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, the Florida state attorney general’s office remarked that “we are part of a multistate group reviewing the proposed transaction along with the U.S. DOJ (Justice Department) Antitrust Division.” Florida declined to mention the other states involved in the effort.
Indiana’s effort is intended to evaluate “the potential impact” to that state. Both the multistate effort, and Indiana’s (if separate from the larger group) focus more on the impact on broadband access, speeds, and cost more than the broadcast media aspects of the deal.
Comcast believes that the merger doesn’t effect competitive efforts as the pair do not compete in any markets. Despite the claims, the merged company would hold about one third of the US broadband market.
Despite 87 percent of the federal officials responsible for evaluating the merger having taken Comcast lobbyist money, there are still some vocal governental opponents of the merger. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) believes that the merger “will be bad for consumers of cable TV and the Internet. Consumers will end up paying more. There’ll be less competition. There’ll be less innovation and even worse service.”
