Free Press has more than 750,000 members — more than 50,000 of whom live in New York State — which is why I’m traveling to Albany this Wednesday to offer public comments at a hearing on the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.

If approved, this deal would create a media behemoth with unmatched power to raise prices, squash competition and reshape the future of the Internet — for the worse.

Comcast is the nation’s No. 1 cable and Internet provider and Time Warner Cable is the No. 2 cable provider. They regularly come in dead last in customer-service surveys. In fact, Comcast was recently named the worst company in America — for the second time — in a Consumerist poll.

A larger Comcast would lead to even less consumer choice, even less diversity and much higher cable bills (Comcast’s fees for basic cable in some cities rose 68 percent from 2009–2013).

Here’s what would happen if this merger goes through:

• Comcast would be the largest pay-TV provider for two-thirds of the U.S. population.
• Comcast would control nearly 50 percent of the truly high-speed Internet market.
• Comcast would be the only broadband provider that can deliver both truly high-speed Internet and pay-TV services to nearly four out of every 10 U.S. homes.
• Comcast would have more than 3 million subscribers in New York State alone.

Current Time Warner Cable customers will almost certainly see their bills increase if they’re shifted to Comcast. Time Warner Cable offers a plan that provides Internet access for $14.99 with no preconditions, contract or qualifications. Comcast offers no comparable plan.

Comcast often touts its Internet Essentials program, which is intended to serve low-income communities. But many problems with this program keep people offline.

For example, to qualify you must have children in school. And get this: You’re not eligible if you’re a current Comcast customer! If you are, you need to disconnect your Internet for a couple of months — which only punishes people who need to reduce the cost of their Internet access. And it’s difficult to apply for the program: Only a small fraction of those who are eligible have been able to sign up since the program launched.

Comcast created this program just before it bought NBCUniversal in 2011 and used it as a carrot to convince regulators to sign off on that merger. We must not be fooled: Comcast has no intention of providing low-cost Internet access to the people who need it most.

The merger also has more global consequences: A larger Comcast could use its market power to dictate the terms of broadband openness, cost and access at a time when the U.S. lags well behind other developed nations on each of these measures. And you’re not off the hook if you’re not currently a Comcast or Time Warner Cable customer: Comcast would be so huge that it would set the agenda for the entire industry.

This merger has serious implications for all of us who rely on the Internet for our businesses, our education, and information on our communities. Comcast already owns NBCUniversal and its many media properties. Because a bigger and badder Comcast would control both content and distribution on a grander scale, it would have both the incentive and the power to limit access to competing content on the distribution platforms it owns.

Small businesses that depend on the Internet to compete with more established companies and attract and retain customers would be at risk. Students who use the Internet to do homework and research would be at risk. Organizations providing vital services online would be at risk. Independent media would be at risk. And the list goes on.

Comcast claims that this merger would help it innovate and provide better services to its customers.

But at Free Press, we know that is far from reality.

If Comcast wanted to provide better service, it could use the billions it’s spending on this deal to bring ultra-fast fiber broadband to millions of existing and future customers.

But the company would rather buy up the competition than serve the public.

In the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time talking with people around the country who want a more just communications system. And in preparation for this hearing, I’ve spoken to a lot of New Yorkers who are wary of a larger Comcast.

Here’s what they want regulators reviewing the deal to hear:

• “I not only worked for Time Warner when it first came into existence and was a great company, but I have been a Time Warner customer for almost three decades. To say they have deteriorated as a company would be an understatement. Now you want to allow them to merge with one of the worst-rated companies in America for customer satisfaction. I can’t imagine it getting worse but I think it’s about to ... not to mention the price of things going up for worse service and delivery of quality care. PLEASE don’t allow this travesty to take place.” — Susan, New York, N.Y.
• “Stop the erosion of freedom of choice. The media is the property of the people. Consolidating media outlets into the hands of a few distorts the choices of information available to the public and enforces a form of control and oppression that is a threat to a free-thinking, well-informed and healthy democracy.” — Mark, Woodhaven, N.Y.
• “I am a senior on a fixed income. I have only just managed, after months of haggling, to negotiate a more affordable rate with Time Warner Cable for broadband Internet, cable TV and digital phone. Where I live, there is no alternative to Time Warner Cable. If this merger goes through, there will be no alternative to Comcast. I will have to start haggling all over again and my Internet and phone service — my lifeline in case of emergency — will be at risk. Don’t give giant communications monopolies even more control over our lives! Don’t take away all of our choices and force those of us on fixed incomes to pay monopoly prices or do without these vital services!” — Susan, New York, N.Y.
• “As a small-business owner I deplore the fact that I have no choice for a cable provider. Please nix this deal.” — Anne, Binghamton, N.Y.
•  “It's really horrifying that this merger could happen and inevitably result in the Internet becoming a luxury item, only affordable by the top 1 percent of Americans. To become a world-class country again, we need to secure economical Internet availability as a right, not a privilege.” — Joyce, Carmel, N.Y.
• “More competition is needed, not less. Allowing this merger would be a huge and dangerous mistake. Please do not approve it!” — Mary, Brewster, N.Y.

These Free Press members join the more than 400,000 people across the country who have spoken out against this merger.

This deal is bad for business, it’s bad for consumers and it gives one company too much control of our communications infrastructure. It threatens not only our ability to communicate with each other but our freedom of speech.

On behalf of Free Press’ more than 50,000 members in the state of New York, I am urging the New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) to vote against the transfer of Time Warner Cable services and customers to Comcast.

Where New Yorkers lead, the rest of the country often follows. The NYPSC’s vote will send strong signals to the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department as they prepare their formal reviews of this deal.