Defenders of consumer rights and critics of a telecommunications company that would provide cable and internet service to more than a third of the U.S. market say Comcast’s hope to merge with Time Warner would be an “unthinkable” disaster, but in Washington, DC the money and lobbying game favors the deep-pocketed corporation and Comcast knows the field well.

“This is the era we live in — of big money…. [The cable giants] leave no stone unturned when they get into one of these efforts.”
—Michael Copps, former FCC commissioner

As the New York Times reports Friday, the company has spent the last several years—especially surrounding its recent purchase of NBC—currying favor with a large but diverse group of voting blocks and influential policymakers in Washington, DC and across the country. Both by registering armies of lobbyists and by using its philanthropic arm to win the backing of non-profit and special interest groups, the company is well-armed to move its contentious business strategy.

According to the Times:

Though Comcast vehemently denies that its charitable support for various groups is done in exchange for political favors, few think that passes the laugh (or smell) test. Even one lobbyist on the Comcast payroll admitted to the Times that these groups are quite clearly “pawns” being manipulated by the cable giant which has two primary, inter-related goals: expanding its market share and making money.

“If you have a company like Comcast that has been with them for a long time and continues to support them, they will go to bat for them,” the lobbyist told the newspaper, though he asked not to be named.

And as former FCC commissioner Michael Copps, who knows from the inside what corporate pressure looks on deals like this, commented: “This is the era we live in — of big money…. [The cable giants] leave no stone unturned when they get into one of these efforts.”

Meanwhile, consumer advocates and media watchdog groups like Free Press have continued their campaign to block the merger by garnering signatures for a national petition and lobbying the FCC to frown on the deal.

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