We are all so sick of hearing these mega mergers and acquisitions and the few that believe in them are folks that have a vested interest. They will do a very good job selling this to you but you will regret it in latter years.
Lets try to put some perspective on this.
Why should content be owned by content delivery company’s in the first place. How do they maintain non preference for what is delivered to consumers who have little if no choice by now. Of course the cat was out of the bag with DirectTV and MediaCorp. A deal that should be broken-up but sets some president on this deal. Is this not the way we busted a monopoly on the power company’s ? They had regulated pricing but this is not.
Do we really have Net Neutrality laws that would they stop Comcast from putting a choke on ABC, CNN, CBS digital media content outside of the internet. How about preferred channel line-up. What happens if they do not want to carry others content in cable TV or want to charge them to distribute it. Comcast has been notorious for this now charging content provider for distribution and customers for mandatory subscription of what was paid to be distributed. What do you think the future holds with this merger?
How about a media content neutrality law ?
It always comes to be that the consumer will come to loose in a media deal such as this. Don’t get it. How much was your Comcast bill 5 years ago. You are getting less and its costing you more. It has just been hidden by way of re-arranging the channel line-up each time. Now look back 10 years. It is you that has paid for this merger and will continue to pay even more in the future.
Truth is GE really does not know what it is doing in media content in the first place but they have been looking for a partner who at least thinks they do. Trying to turn a bad acquisition into a good one with more acquisition. Just like the banks have been doing along with the airlines, insurance and energy company’s just to name a few.
Once again we are allowing large company’s that if they should fail, will have major consequences for consumers as so few places to go.
These deals are less about building a better product than the money that can be generated by large control and this money will not go back to the shareholders, only line the pockets of a few insiders who make the deals.
So unless I want to watch the few digital local channels on direct air-wave broadcast that practically has no content left from previous mergers, I will be watching content from one of 4 media giants and in the case of some may be listening to the same when it comes to radio or reading some of the newspapers.
There is no such thing as a good merger. Tell’m to build a better product if they want more market share!
If we take a broader perspective as this is likely to go though with little resistance except for a few face saving statements by the FCC.
It keeps coming back to the internet.
Let’m have all these super media companies. No bail-out money when they fail. They have already put many out of work with merger after meger in the first place. And soon when the Internet takes them on, They really have no monopoly except on content. We should soon see Internet only content being delivered soon as there is a bunch out there now and I can hear them scream for some kind of protection when the new directors and producers of this millennium come to bear fruit on the internet without major mega company distribution control!