Lots of people hate the idea of letting Comcast and Time Warner Cable merge but don’t expect our esteemed elected officials to care. Politico documents how Comcast really does have all its bases covered in the Capitol when it comes to making campaign contributions to influential members of Congress. In fact, Politico’s examination of public records reveals that Comcast has donated money to “almost every member of Congress who has a hand in regulating it,” including “all but three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee” and “32 of the 39 members of the House Judiciary Committee.” In all, Politico says Comcast has already spent $2 million for this year’s campaign cycle after spending roughly $3.5 million in 2011 and 2012.
Direct campaign contributions aren’t the only weapon in Comcast’s arsenal either. We learned earlier this month that Comcast’s lobbying Death Star spent $19 million last year alone, which means it spent even more than Verizon or AT&T. And that figure will likely increase significantly this year because Comcast is looking to make its most important acquisition in years by gobbling up Time Warner Cable in a deal that will give it a base of around 30 million customers.
What all this means is that Comcast stands a very good chance of getting its merger with Time Warner Cable passed with very little resistance from our elected officials even though its reputation is somewhere in the realm of Skeletor’s.
