Will The Comcast-Time Warner Deal Affect Communications Infrastructure?

Close to Sealing the Deal

Close to Sealing the Deal

Another major merge between the two largest cable companies is creating a setback, especially for our wallets. Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company wants to buy Time Warner for $45 billion dollars. If this communications merge were to happen, Comcast would shovel 70 million subscribers, which is about 30 percent of television viewers in the United States. So, why is this an issue?

The last time a deal like this was announced was in 2011 when AT&T tried to merge with T-Mobile, which affected the communications infrastructure. That deal fell through when the Department of Justice sued to block the deal. The Department of Justice “argued at the time that the AT&T deal would decrease competition, hurt consumers and squash innovation.”

The Comcast proposal creates another threat, placing a strange hold on several growing businesses such as internet services and broadcast television. Essentially this proposed merger “would create a behemoth of a monopoly, crushing networks, broadcasters and any content provider looking for a path.” Continue reading

Twitter is King on the Second Screen

Twitter's logo is located on many second screens.Ellen’s Oscar-selfie, otherwise known as the selfie that broke Twitter, became the most retweeted tweet of all time with over 2 million tweets just hours after posting. TV viewers live-tweeting TV programs has become a phenomenon in recent years with shows creating unique hashtags and twitter accounts. Ellen’s Oscar-selfie is just one example of how the social network is dominating the second screen world.

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How a recent ruling against net neutrality is cramping Netflix’s style

The words net neutrality have been thrown around a lot lately, but you may not have realized this failing fight may actually be affecting you. Net neutrality is the idea to stop internet service providers from deliberately throttling services to certain websites. In laymen’s terms, this could mean a lot of buffering, and possibly suffering, for streaming service giants like Netflix and it’s customers (i.e. you!).

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