It's been a year and change since Comcast originally announced it plans to buy up Time Warner and now the two biggest US cable providers have officially called off the merger.
Comcast announced its decision to abandon the $45 billion deal to merge with Time Warner Cable, a merger that would have wed the two companies into one massive television and internet service provider.
"Today, we move on," Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts said in a statement. "Of course, we would have liked to bring our great products to new cities, but we structured this deal so that if the government didn't agree, we could walk away."
Comcast's announcement came shortly after the Federal Communications Commission raised serious concerns that the merger's risks out weighted the many benefits the Cable companies claimed it would bring to the public.
Tom Wheeler, the FCC chairman, explained in a statement that "the proposed merger would have posed an unacceptable risk to competition and innovation especially given the growing importance of high-speed broadband to online video and innovative new services."
The FCC wasn't the only entity that bemoaned merger. Netflix was one major opponent of the Comcast and Time Warner deal that would have given the two companies control over the broadband connection to over 60% US homes.
Image Credit: Steven Depolo
