Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Confirms Time Warner Cable Merger Is Dead
As we originally posted yesterday, Comcast today confirmed that it has abandoned its bid to acquire rival Time Warner Cable for $45 billion. The deal, which was originally announced in February 2014, was questionable at best, but came under more scrutiny in recent weeks.
The company issued a brief statement this morning indicating that the merger has been terminated. "Today, we move on. Of course, we would have liked to bring our great products to new cities, but we structured this deal so that if the government didn’t agree, we could walk away,” said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
“Comcast NBCUniversal is a unique company with strong momentum. Throughout this entire process, our employees have kept their eye on the ball and we have had fantastic operating results. I want to thank them and the employees of Time Warner Cable for their tireless efforts.”
The Department of Justice’s antitrust division expressed its wishes to reject the merger last week. This week six senators piled on with their opposition to the merger and the FCC introduced a procedural move specifically meant to kill the deal. While the DOJ’s actions were troubling for Comcast, the FCC’s move for a Hearing Designation Order all but sealed Comcast’s fate.
However, now that Comcast doesn’t have to worry about integrating TWC’s business operations into its own, company is instead looking to the future. “I couldn’t be more proud of this company and I am truly excited for what’s next,” Roberts continued.
Perhaps what Comcast should focus on next is taking care of its cringe-worthy customer service and focus a lot of energy and resources on rolling out its 2 Gbps Gigabit Pro broadband service across the U.S.
