MSNBC’s Future In Doubt After Failed Comcast Merger

[rangerrebew]

MSNBC’s Future In Doubt After Failed Comcast Merger
 
What's next for the least watched network on television?



BY:  Andrew Stiles

April 24, 2015 1:06 pm
 

Comcast made a valiant effort to purchase Democratic support for its proposed $45 billion merger with Time Warner. Alas, the cable giant failed, but not before the firm dropped millions upon millions of dollars on fees to lawyers, lobbyists, and investment bankers.

The biggest winners of the failed deal, obviously, are cable customers, who will merely have to continue suffering under their current Comcast or Time Warner plans, as opposed to a hybrid behemoth that would have been even more monopolistic, if that’s possible.

The biggest loser, obviously, is Comcast affiliate network MSNBC—because of the failed merger and in general. Ratings are at an all time low, and they’ve been cancelling shows left and right, in some cases even when the hosts haven’t said anything outrageously offensive. The network’s future was in doubt long before the merger fell apart. What drastic changes might befall the network as it seeks to expand its audience beyond retired sociology professors and conservative war rooms? A few suggestions:

http://freebeacon.com/blog/msnbcs-future-in-doubt-after-failed-comcast-merger/

[truth_seeker]

The fate of MSNBC is a tiny fraction of the big Comcast/NBC picture.

The more that industry consolidates, the more power they have to protect their monopolistic cable TV packages and pricing, for instance.

Competition has forced Verizon Rios to offer cheaper Cable TV packages with fewer channels.

That is a response to "cut the cable" options which competition has given rise to.

[Oceander]

This was one merger that would definitely have been anti-competitive.

[PzLdr]

If MSNBC goes off the air, since no one listens to it, does it make a noise?

[truth_seeker]

If MSNBC goes off the air, since no one listens to it, does it make a noise?

As I said previously MSNBC is but a tiny fraction of Comcast, which owns NBC Universal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast

"Comcast Corporation, formerly registered as Comcast Holdings,[note 1] is a U.S.-based international mass media company and is the largest broadcasting and cable company in the world by revenue.[2] It is the largest cable company and home Internet service provider in the United States,[9] and the nation's third largest home telephone service provider. Comcast services U.S. residential and commercial customers in 40 states and the District of Columbia."