7 Ways the Feds Can Make a Comcast-Time Warner Merger Less Terrible

It’s like telling someone it’s OK to step on a rattlesnake but to be careful not to get bitten.

This week, the Washington Post endorsed Comcast’s takeover of Time Warner Cable, the largest taking over the second-largest. The Post said the deal was OK, but regulators should keep a "watchful eye" on it and be prepared to act "if big industry players begin to violate basic principles of market fairness."

That’s like telling someone it’s OK to step on a rattlesnake but to be careful not to get bitten. It’s also a little late. Those principles are long dead, killed in large part by a compliant Congress and weak regulators. If the deal must go through, the FCC should impose the seven rules I outline below. But first, some background on Comcast’s special place in what is looking increasingly like our new Gilded Age.

By Art Brodsky

Full Story: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/7-limits-the-fcc-should-impose-on-a-comcast-time-warner-merger/