Here’s a pitch for a sequel to Groundhog Day: Set it in Congress, and replace Phil — the jaded weatherman played by Bill Murray — with House Republicans trying to undermine Net Neutrality day after day after day.
The House of Representatives is up to no good this week, with its Republican leadership going after just about everything positive FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has done or plans to do.
If you’re a pay-TV subscriber you’re probably shelling out hundreds of dollars a year for that little box your cable company forces you to rent. This is just one of the many ways in which cable companies have a lock on what we see — and don’t see — on our TV screens.
Charter just claimed that taking over Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks will — wait for it — increase competition. You know, the same way chain-smoking improves lung health.
Few companies inspire the degree of loathing Comcast elicits. But if Charter’s bid to take over Time Warner Cable is approved we’ll have not one but two Comcasts to contend with — because that’s just how enormous and dominant a post-merger Charter would be.
As soon as the FCC adopted its landmark Net Neutrality rules back in February, the big Internet service providers and their assorted lobbying groups — not to mention their friends in Congress — made it their mission to kill those protections.
It’s Giving Tuesday — and your inbox is likely stuffed to the gills with pleas from all of the great organizations you support.
I’m here to urge you to add Free Press to your list.
