It's been almost a month since Comcast announced its plans to acquire Time Warner Cable, and now the media and internet juggernaut is finally moving forward by making its case to the FCC.
Comcast submitted a formal proposal to commission, explaining all the reasons the giant cable company merger makes sense.
Comcast went on to outline its projected goals and stress the benefits of the merger to its existing customers in a blog post.
Faster, together
First up, Comcast maintained the merger will mean faster internet speeds, especially for current TWC customers.
As it stands, the most popular broadband tier for Comcast users is 25 megabits per second, while most TWC subscribers choose a 15 megabits per second plan.
With the merger, TWC should be able to upgrade its broadband infrastructure to the faster DOCSIS 3.1 system. Comcast already uses this system and can offer speeds up to 505 megabits per second.
VOD everywhere
Marching down the list, Comcast stated it hopes to add to TWC's current 29,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and build a network of 1 million hotspots.
It argued the expanded internet will help expand video on demand (VOD) and TV Everywhere experiences. Comcast will extend its X1 second screen experience, VOD and online video options to TWC customers.
Throw in Xfinity On-Demand and TWC users will have 50,000 new programming choices. Users thus far have only had about 15,000 - 20,000 options to choose from on TWC.
Additionally, the Xfinity TV Go apps will provide access to 300,000 on-demand offerings and 50 live streaming channels, Comcast claimed.
But it's not a monopoly!
Of course, the biggest concern surrounding the merger is the possibility of a monopoly rearing its head after TWC and Comcast become one.
It will likely do little to assuage fears, but Comcast noted it and TWC "do not compete against each other in any area, so there is no reduction in consumer choice in any market."
"Customers will still have the same number of video, broadband, or phone options before the deal as after it," Comcast continued. "Comcast will serve less than 30% of the multichannel video market after the transaction closes and we divest about 3 million customers."
What's more, the blog post also promises to extend the FCC's Open Internet rules on network neutrality to TWC customers.
Words are one thing, so we'll see how this all shakes out if the FCC and Just Department approve the merger.
- Comcast and TWC promises faster broadband but what's your internet speed?
Via TechCrunch
