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The Almighty Buck Businesses Government

How Comcast Bankrolls Organizations That Support TWC Merger 59

Posted by Soulskill from the money-talks-when-nobody-else-will dept.
An anonymous reader writes: When Comcast announced it was pursuing a takeover of Time Warner Cable, many activists and internet users immediately submitted objections to the deal. Support came more slowly, but steadily, from organizations like the International Center for Law and Economics, and from politicians like Governor Phil Bryant (R-MS). Now, a NY Times report reveals that much of this support for the merger came in exchange for money from Comcast. Fortunately, even after spreading money around so liberally, Comcast is still struggling to find a coherent, believable message for regulators, and the deal is far from assured.

From the article: "Letters detailing the benefits of the Comcast deal were submitted to the Federal Communications Commission by staff members from Americans for Tax Reform, the American Enterprise Institute, the Institute for Policy Innovation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Free State Foundation and the Center for Individual Freedom, as well as by a professor at a technology program at the University of Pennsylvania, all of which received support from Comcast or its trade association, tax documents and other disclosures reviewed by The New York Times show. A similar pattern is evident with charities like the Urban League and more than 80 other community groups that supported the media company and that also accepted collectively millions of dollars in donations from the Comcast Foundation over the last five years, documents reviewed by The Times show."
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How Comcast Bankrolls Organizations That Support TWC Merger More

How Comcast Bankrolls Organizations That Support TWC Merger

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  • Tail wags dog (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06, 2015 @09:06PM (#49419285)

    What Comcast is doing should be considered fraudulent, but legally speaking, it isn't

    And it is an example of how useless the government of the United States has become --- a government is supposed to be an enforcement body to ensure the stability of a society and the application of justice to smooth out the wrinkles that have formed in the fabric of the society

    But the US government has failed miserably - the cabal factions within turning the entire organization rogue, creating a power vacuum in which private corporations such as Comcast also is more than happy to take advantage of

    Under a proper running government Comcast will never be allowed to do what it does, but the fact is, the government of the United States of America is no longer a functional entity

    • What the government should be doing is providing the infrastructure that enables competition. Ensuring fair and equal access to the commons is what governments are for. What we get here in the US monopoly enforcement.

    • Bribery and coercion are better legal avenues, but of course the DoJ was bought and paid for decades ago so that won't happen. IANAL but I know there is legal precedent for strong arm tactics like this. Comcast is not the first company to think "Hey, if I use a middle man they will never know it was us!"

      Yeah, you say it perfectly in your third paragraph. The US Government has failed miserably - at just about everything except for protecting the extremely wealthy and ensuring that that class keeps getting

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Holi ( 250190 )
        "the populace won't do anything because some celebrity news just hit the broadcast channels and *ooh look a shiny**." That's close but not really accurate, it just sounds like you feel superior to everyone else. The real problem is in this age of 24 hour news channels I still get more news from my local 6pm News then I do from 24 hours of Fox, CNN, MSNBC, They all harp on the same story non stop never touching one the myriad of other stuff happening in the worlds. We have no journalists willing to hold pe

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by s.petry ( 762400 )

          Finding interest in Politics/History/Philosophy does not make anyone "better" than someone else, nice accusation from ignorance. It does however indicate that I have a wealth of knowledge on those subjects, and perhaps that makes you feel inferior.

          No, "News" is not the problem. The problem is that bread and circuses have been known to prevent revolts, even when they are needed to correct entrenched corruption. History is pretty clear on this point, perhaps you can study up on Roman history if you feel in

    • No. That's completely wrong.

      This is part of how the system works. I don't like Comcast or what they're planning to do with the merger, but they are well within their rights to promote their interests. That they can do so while you promote your own competing interest means the system is working.

      Put another way, that Comcast is allowed to do what it does means the government is running properly.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Holi ( 250190 )
        Except when their point of view involves using money as speech. If you need to have a 130 people running around Washington throwing money around chances are what ever you want is only good for you, and more then likely bad for everyone else.
        • Why should that be the case? There are lobbyists throwing money around Washington to promote just about every possible point of view, including yours.

  • Investigate any elected officials Comcast has paid to gather support and prosecute any who have accepted bribes.

    Hang on, we're talking about USA, home of the corrupt politician. Forgot I said anything.

  • I don't know if this is supposed to be shocking because it's new behavior, but it's not (new behavior). I saw the very same selfish gimme-my-cut-of-the-bigger-pie behavior from nonprofit community groups in particular when the California Public Utilities Commission held public hearings to gather input about the proposed merger of AT&T and SBC (formerly Pacific Telesis Group, formerly Pacific Bell, formerly AT&T, ad nauseum).

    There were representatives from quite a few local community nonprofit group

  • in all of this is that it is not actually a "Comcast" or other juristic entity but the people lining up behind a certain idea and then marching in lock-step.
    So - are they all hypnotized or is it some hard-wired crowd behavior?

    Nobody will get into a "power" position without conforming to some standard behavior present in a particular group.
    I guess, a lot of it is fear-driven, by being afraid loosing a familiar surrounding or whatever one identifies as being advantageous.

    The other thing is the spectators arou

  • But... (Score:2)

    by klui ( 457783 )

    "but... but...

    2 Gbps for everyone."

  • ... I say "bribes". You have to admit that much of what is, today, considered "support" or a "donation" is really a thinly-disguised bribe.
  • The biggest problem is that some congressmen have Comcast at home. There's no escaping that lovely firsthand experience.
    (yes I know Comcast offered elite, custom US support plans and free internet to some congressmen)

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