Is your Mayor in Comcast's back pocket? Brown? Yes.

[peestandingup]

You, like most people, probably don't want reviled Internet providers Comcast and Time Warner Cable to join forces to create a mega-corporation that could kill the Internet as we know it. But you're probably not a mayor of a large American city.

A whopping 52 mayors from cities across the country have all declared their support for the merger. In a signed letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published Thursday, they adopt those companies' twisted logic that a near-monopoly would be a good thing for their citizens.

http://www.dailydot.com/politics/comcast-time-warner-american-mayors/

[spuwho]

The reason they are lining up to support it is because the merged entity have committed to maintain local programming, which includes city council meetings, local high school sports, public service shows like from the libraries or art shows, etc.

Some but not all franchise agreements also require them to provide public school broadband and to hospitals.

I will agree that there is a bit of a "racket" between cable companies and the municipalities they franchise with however, if they are truly providing a public service then they have political merit.

The offset to the promises is that it costs the cable companies a lot of dough to support so much local access in every served community.

[I-10east]

Yet another misleading or totally offbase thread title... Something that's much bigger than Alvin Brown turned into 'it's all Brown's fault' okay whatever....

[thelakelander]

I guess Comcast will need a larger headquarters.  I few shots of Comcast Center (Center City Philadelphia) from last month.

[carpnter]

Yet another misleading or totally offbase thread title... Something that's much bigger than Alvin Brown turned into 'it's all Brown's fault' okay whatever....

Alvin Brown is one of the 52 supporting the merger. 

[I-10east]

Okay, my bad OP. Although locally it pretty much is a moot point anyway. Two hated companies join, even said in the article (the defunct hated company wasn't even in Jax from the get-go). Notice that all of the Florida mayors didn't care, because it didn't effect Florida. Some people will say 'Comcast being 'a monopoly' will make them not care about customers' Well, they still have strong competitors in Dish and Direct TV. Wanna talk about people with a company in their back pocket? Try Gainesville with Cox Cable which squeezed out Comcast. 

[mbwright]

Comcast still does not care about their customers.   No change there.

[Dog Walker]

As much as everybody likes to gripe about Comcast's service I have never had a problem with it and recently had an extraordinary "cable guy" at my home.

Three weeks ago lightning struck a Comcast node in my neighborhood and sent a surge down the cable into my house.  Took out the modem, the router, the switch, the dvd player, the tv, the printer, and the push button gate lock.  Just under my $2500 deductible to  replace everything.

When I tried to put a surge protector on the cable the signal died so I called Comcast to get someone out to check.

Rafael F. , the tech, arrived three minutes early of the appointed time and spent two hours testing and going over my system.  He replaced the cable from the pole to the house and discovered that my system was not grounded which he fixed.  He could not have been more expert and helpful.

If he is typical of their service techs, Comcast is doing a good job.

[jaxjaguar]

I think it's a combo of the price and the service that people have an issue with. Since they're a monopoly in most areas they can charge whatever they want. If you look at google fibers price points or other countries price points for data speeds triple that of Comcasts highest tier the price is on par or significantly less.

[carpnter]

I've had mixed experience with Comcast, several years ago I had to get the city's franchise person involved to help fix an issue that had been dragging out several months.  She got me on contact with the right people.  I've also had a phone rep screw up schedule an appointment for a Sunday instead of a Saturday even going so far as to confirm the Saturday date back to me.
The techs they send out are generally knowledgeable and on time, some have called when they are on their way.  Just don't ask them about cable cards, most have no experience with them.

[southsider1015]

Okay, my bad OP. Although locally it pretty much is a moot point anyway. Two hated companies join, even said in the article (the defunct hated company wasn't even in Jax from the get-go). Notice that all of the Florida mayors didn't care, because it didn't effect Florida. Some people will say 'Comcast being 'a monopoly' will make them not care about customers' Well, they still have strong competitors in Dish and Direct TV. Wanna talk about people with a company in their back pocket? Try Gainesville with Cox Cable which squeezed out Comcast.

Comcast and TWC specifically don't compete with each in any market, including Jacksonville.  Its how they arguing for the merger.  Cox isn't nearly as bad as either.

What's in this for Jacksonville that Brown decided to join?

[I-10east]

^^^I highly doubt that any mayor could have stopped a merger anyway, so retroactively making TWC be in existence again is a moot point. What's in it for Brown and 51 other mayors? I don't know, and I really don't care, as long as nothing illegal came out yet. The inevitable was gonna happen regardless.