Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) were eager for a merger, and it was dubbed as a megamerger by the cable industry. But things look bleak for both companies because the new Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler, who in the past has been an advocate of cable industry is standing in the way. The chairman insists that the merger between two of the biggest cable companies of the country will be unfair to the public. Tom Wheeler is adamant that one company controlling major proportion of the cable industry is unfair to the competitors on the market. It creates a monopoly and the rates charged by the company will be unfair.
Tom Wheeler almost stopped the merged between Sprint and T-Mobile for the same reasons, along with saying that reducing the wireless carriers from 4 to 3 isn’t good for the wireless industry of the country. Tom Wheeler insists that the public opinion is against the merger and things are fine as they are. Merger between Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) will only complicate the industry and the merged company will be largely dominated by the one with most shares. So this would in essence mean that the industry will be ruled by either Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) or Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA).
Tom Wheeler is pro individuality of the companies and advocates more wireless carriers in the country rather than creating a solvent out of a two companies by merging them. Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) realize that the merger is unlikely to fall through, however both of these companies are still hopeful that Tom Wheeler will stop swaying to the public opinion and let the regulations pass as they have in the past.
Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC) and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) realize that they are being tested by the Federal Communications Commission with rules and regulations in order to scare them away from merging. But the merger is on the cards for both the companies, as far as the management of both the companies is concerned. Let’s see if the Federal Communications Commission prevails with its persuasion tactics or Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC)’s and Comcast Inc. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)’s patience wears out Tom Wheeler.
The good thing about all this fiasco is that the cable industry is still in the news. There are desperate attempts to revive it because it is on the verge of extinction. The Federal Communications Commission is doing what it can to bring back the golden era of cable, which in all honesty, is unlikely and impossible. The technological innovation and the evolution of trends have made things harder for cable to survive. The whole experience of television has changed; it has become more personal, more individualized and more convenient (portable). The wireless streaming is taking over television and amidst all this TV cable is dying a slow death.
