U.S. Antitrust Lawyers Said Leaning Against Comcast Merger

[flowers]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-17/u-s-antitrust-lawyers-said-to-be-leaning-against-comcast-merger

Staff attorneys at the Justice Department’s antitrust division are nearing a recommendation to block Comcast Corp.’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

Attorneys who are investigating Comcast’s $45.2 billion proposal to create a nationwide cable giant are leaning against the merger out of concerns that consumers would be harmed and could submit their review as soon as next week, said the people. The final decision about the deal will be made by the division’s senior officials.

Comcast shares fell 2.4 percent to $58.26 at 3 p.m. in New York, while Time Warner Cable fell 4.9 percent to $150.41. The spread between the current prices and the offer price widened to $17.23 from $13.35 yesterday, indicating investors are more pessimistic about the deal winning regulatory approval.

[Oceander]

On the face of it that's not a per-se unreasonable view to take.  There are very few national cable providers as it is; removing one makes it more likely that the national market is in practice carved up into areas where there is little real competition.