US cable giant Comcast has abandoned
its planned $45bn (£30bn) purchase of Time Warner Cable after failing
to convince regulators the deal would not harm competition.
"Today, we move on," said Comcast chairman Brian L Roberts.
"We structured this deal so that if the government didn't agree, we could walk away."
In March last year, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) launched an antitrust probe into the deal.
Recent reports in the US suggested the DoJ would decide against the deal.
The
deal was also being scrutinised by the Federal Communications
Commission, and had been criticised by some politicians and various
consumer and industry groups.
But with a decrease in subscribers
and video customers, cable companies are likely to keep merging, as
costs rise for shows, sports programmes and film rights.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable are the two biggest cable companies, as well as two of the largest broadband providers, in the US.
Comcast had argued that they served different markets and a merger would not reduce competition for consumers.
Comcast operates mainly around Washington DC, Chicago, Boston and its home town of Philadelphia.
Time Warner Cable's subscribers are mainly grouped around its New York headquarters, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Dallas.
No comments:
Post a Comment