Given Comcast's notoriously shady service, we're not exactly in favor of the company being allowed to
ruthlessly torture service any more markets than necessary, but we can see why it might be a little frustrated with the FCC, which has allowed all sorts of giant phone companies to merge in the past few years, yet still recently decided to block cable companies from owning more than 30 percent of the market. Comcast and the FCC have butted heads in the past on similar
regulatory issues, but this one should be particularly interesting, since FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is currently the focus of a
congressional probe into his handling of the agency. We can actually sort of see Comcast's point -- the FCC probably shouldn't allow giant telco mergers while arbitrarily capping cable ownership, but really we'd prefer a lot more competition and a hell of a lot more focus on customer service from all of these companies instead of yet more lawsuits and paperwork.
[Via
TechDirt]
posted Mar 14th 2008 at 6:14PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RC @ Mar 14th 2008 8:36PM
You can call their serivce "shady" all you want, but I've never had a problem with Comcast that couldn't be resolved in one phone call.
Then again, I'm not everyone.
FCC limits ownership of markets to prevent monopolies.... Comcast is somewhat of a monopoly, but people in Comcast markets have a choice on who they want their TV/Phone/Internet services from. Almost everyone can get Dish or DirecTV, OTA is an option, and FiOS or U-Verse are options too. The FCC needs to lighten up now because just because one cable company owns a large number of markets doesn't mean everyone in that market is using their services.
Jim Todd @ Mar 14th 2008 9:28PM
RC, You are almost certainly in the minority. I took me no less than TEN visits, requiring time off work, to get them to get cable cards working in my Tivo HD. They have no interest in succeeding, because EACH of the techs spent at least ten minutes telling me how much better off I'd be with their DVR. I have had huge problems with service, as has everyone in my community, possibly due to the fact that I am in Michigan, and they're making us share a 'head' - with neighborhoods from miles north of me to north of CHICAGO...one tech I spoke with didn't know this, and when he saw it in their system was amazed, saying he was shocked we got any signal... Yes, what we really need is Comcast to have more of a monopoly on cable. The part that always gets me is how after giving us poor service, the phone reps always say "and thank you for CHOOSING Comcast"...heh.
RC @ Mar 15th 2008 9:57AM
I was about to buy a TiVO HD. I went to return the box and set up a serivce install but the lady at the Comcast office told me that CableCARDs are usually very troublesome. Hearing her say that made my change my mind, along with no On Demand (knew that in the first place)....
Now just waiting for the TiVO software to rollout here.
fitprod @ Mar 14th 2008 10:17PM
Well, I see Comcast is making their preemptive strike so they buy TWC when Time Warner decides to unload them.
I guess it was inevitable when Comcast & TWC made their deal out here in California, when they split up Adelphia's assets/subscribers. Comcast willing exited Southern California, while TWC exited Northern California.
This will be fun...
Brian Hudkins @ Mar 14th 2008 11:15PM
It matters very little whether Comcast is in 30% or 100% of the markets, but it matter greatly that in EACH market that there be real choices which is how prices might be controlled and service improved. If a market has FIOS, UVerse, Dish, Direct TV and Comcast all competing, there may be a prayer that we can get value for money.
RC @ Mar 15th 2008 9:54AM
FiOS drove down costs of Comcast here.... When Verizon started building the infrastructure Comcast began to offer a 16MBps package. Comcast has been pretty good here. Their package deals cost less than Verizon's and they offer more in terms of HD channels and On Demand.