COMCAST IS A MONOPOLY ENDANGERING FREEDOMS AND THREATENS INTERNET CENSURE

COMCAST IS A MONOPOLY IN CONTROL OF THE MEANS, OWNS NBC UNIVERSAL & FREE FLOW OF PUBLIC INFORMATION

June 6, 2016   - updated September 20, 2016

Just as those Wall Street Banks too big to fail, Comcast holds too much power they now threaten the Right of Free Speech and Free Press. The extent of their reach and influence is without precedence for a corporation in a free society. Every consumer has felt the prevailing dominance in TV communication and influence upon democratic elections.

TOO BIG TO FAIL, TIME TO BREAK UP COMCAST!

COMCAST has evolved into a monopoly the likes we have not seen in years. The American public is at their mercy as in reality they are the only provider in town. Comcast has grown  as expediently as the revolution of the high Tech Industry over a short period of time, largely undetected by the general public.

From a relatively small Cable-TV company, Comcast is now a giant conglomeration swallowing up first their competitors and then moving on to larger prey. Those composing the 98% in this country have little or no recourse. In reality, Comcast is the only game in town. This, a first sign of domination of a market just as a public utility. It is a service on par with gas, electric and water. With their control over vital services no one is free from their grip.

Congress must have known as they control the FCC and regulations regarding public communications. Our newspaper industry has known as they suffered the brunt of high tech advances, the Internet and the number one provider in Comcast. Millions lost jobs in what was ethical journalism.

The major networks now feed the news they see fit. Comcast acquired from General Electric NBC, MSNBC and Universal. What we are now exposed twenty-four seven is the bias and private agenda of corporate executives or owners. 

COMCAST dominates the programming and the news they see fit for your consumption. This is no longer a democratic forum for all views to be heard.

In short, Comcast went from a company employee hundreds of workers to string from public utility lines or bury cable throughout the suburbs right up to your home and attached like a water meter. Detroit lagged far behind any other suburb or city to obtain service. When cable-TV came to the city the legislature gave some attention to the rising dominance of Comcast and put in place a mandate that at least three providers compete in a given area. But, these fledgling new enterprises were no match. 


Comcast regularly advertises their commitment to excellence with service on your time, not theirs. However what they promise does not always occur and you read and hear individual consumers voice first annoyance, complaints, then frustration and outrage.

Just today a Facebook user posted his annoyance at one of the few customer service branches on the Eastside of Metro-Detroit. This one happens to be in Sterling Heights, Michigan where a friend checked in and found himself caught in a snake-like line that moved as if a boa constrictor. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Xfinity/279699298838470

"I walk in this bitch and it's more packed then the DMV!"

My advice is to only "go there about thirty minutes before they close." Hopefully, with the end of business day at hand they will expedite your issue as employees want to go home.


Today, we have a strong dependency on smart phones, the Internet to which they link, social media where they converse and the first source to obtain news, weather, directions, sports, email, blogs and other independent sources of information, thus the Right of Free Speech and the Press. When Comcast prices itself out of urban or any other market they encroach upon these rights. Wherever freedom of speech is threatened most will view it as totalitarian. This is another sign of monopolistic control not the free market embraced by so many.

A third factor is price control and manipulation. Comcast can lease, rent equipment and offer premium or basic services. No matter how they "bundle" or "trundle" their packages, they control what services you receive and information accessible to you.

No matter how they present or advertise broadband internet, cable television and telephone service is like ordering "Lobster" in a fine restaurant where the entry is whitened out to say Market Price. Comcast's monopolistic position allows them to set prices at their whim. The Cable and Internet industry is no longer part of free market society as most espouse. It is owned, given complete discretion in broadcasting and for the most part controls what news and information you see!

In Michigan it as if they are information managers in subscribed areas and they could care less what 'toxic water" they serve to the public. Where else can you expect such disregard for people but in Gov.Rick Snyder's State?  

In other countries such control would be labeled as Communism. Here, the privatized control of what is most important to a free society is promoted to be free market and a freewheeling form of capitalism. An economic system left to the design and control of a club of billionaires you will never be a part. They are as likely to impart critical information exposing  illegal or unethical business practices as to just handing out free money in election campaigns.

The Founding Fathers as citizen revolutionists held dear the Freedom of Speech and especially that of Freedom of the Press. Today, cable TV and the Internet has evolved to a dominance that has put our "daily newspapers" to the sideline. Our founders would be outraged as they believed a tyranny of the press would repress dissent. This the same printed dissent put down by the power of a colonial Britain.

To counter repression of dissent, the Continental Congress offered financial support to the States and our territories where newspapers did not exist. Here is the true spirit and belief in the Freedoms we embrace. Congress was in fact supporting and encouraging dissent as it threatened the freedom of all people.

The free flow of our print news and air waves is inherent in the nature of American democracy. Comcast and other large cable operators undermine our basic freedoms of speech and press through control of who may access (due to cost) and the content of information by their ownership of news and television networks. They are the TASS of an American society hidden in plain sight.

Our Federal Government and the Congress should recognize the dangers and break-up the size and control of content. Comcast must choose if they are the vehicle of access of information or owners of major networks, television and film industry. They cannot be both.