WASHINGTON DC — The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) submitted formal opposition today to the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to deny the transaction. In 2010, both WGAW and FMC raised concerns about the vertical integration between Comcast and NBC Universal. Both organizations urged the FCC to adopt strong conditions to protect content creators, consumers and competition. But, in the three years following the merger, Comcast has used its market power to harm content competitors on both traditional and online content platforms.

The proposed acquisition of TWC, even with nominal divestitures to Charter and Spinco, will magnify the harms that have occurred in the last three years and will hinder the development of a diverse and competitive media market. The Guild and the Coalition assert that because the deal would grant an unprecedented amount of power to a single entity, harm consumers and create a serious threat to competition in the video and broadband marketplaces, it does not meet the FCC’s criteria for serving the public interest.

“We have reached a critical juncture in the history of the media, broadband and telecommunications industries,” said WGAW President Chris Keyser. “The FCC must put a stop to this spate of merger madness that threatens every principle of free market economics we deem important and jeopardizes the tremendous potential that the digital age has to offer all of us.”

“This ill-conceived merger is a perfect example of a massive company attempting to ‘control the verticals’ by cementing its dominance in the marketplace while limiting options for creators,” said FMC VP for Policy and Education Casey Rae. “The FCC must reject this brazen power play and the twisted economics it would engender. Creators and the public demand a communications landscape based on access and innovation, not digital hegemony.”

The petition of WGAW and FMC relies on analysis conducted by economist and Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dr. William S. Comanor, which finds that the proposed transaction will result in a highly concentrated market among video programming buyers that are suitable competitors to Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Under merger guidelines used by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, such concentration presumes an increase in market power, and supports the request from the Guild and FMC to deny the merger.

Post-merger, Comcast will have enhanced market power to negotiate affiliate and retransmission fees below competitive market rates (an expression of Comcast’s monopsony power), which will harm investment in programming, reduce video competition and limit consumer choice.

In addition, Comcast has already demonstrated a poor track record of abiding by conditions set by the FCC’s NBCU Order and should not be given the opportunity to engage in further violations on an even larger scale.

The specter of a Comcast-TWC merger has already triggered attempts at additional consolidation in the video distribution market and in the upstream content market. The proposed merger of AT&T and DirecTV and the recent failed attempt of 21st Century Fox to acquire Time Warner demonstrate competitors’ responses to the prospect of an outsized Comcast. But most troubling, from the perspective of WGAW and FMC, will be Comcast’s control over both the cable and broadband distribution markets, because the Internet has created important space for new content competition. Comcast, as the dominant Internet service provider, will have the power to control the development of this market. This merger and any future consolidation will only further diminish competition, reduce the number of diverse information sources available, limit consumer choice and result in higher prices. The best course of action to protect the public interest is to deny the merger application.

To read the full filing, click here.

To read Dr. Comanor’s testimony, click here.

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) is a labor union representing writers of motion pictures, television, radio, and Internet programming, including news and documentaries. Founded in 1933, the Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members. It is involved in a wide range of programs that advance the interests of writers, and is active in public policy and legislative matters on the local, national, and international levels. For more information on the WGAW, please visit: www.wga.org.