WHAT A COMCAST-TWC MERGER WOULD MEAN FOR THE REST OF THE TV BUSINESS

摘要

Comcast's $45-billion deal last week to acquire Time Warner Cable creates a giant that could rewrite the rules of the television business and raises questions about how other companies in the industry will be affected. Programmers will have to face off against a larger distributor; how that clout will affect subscriber fees is already being debated. One benefit of being a larger distributor is the le- verage to slow rising programming costs, but while Comcast expects to realize cost savings after the companies merge, CEO Brian Roberts said "the vast minority of the $1.5 billion would be programming synergies.