If Netflix has a nemesis, it’s the cable companies. Cable companies hate that Netflix simultaneously forces them to, ugh, invest in infrastructure to offer the promised services to their customers while simultaneously wiping out their miserably outdated model of television distribution. So needless to say, Netflix is not really a big fan of Comcast and Time Warner getting together, and is taking its complaints straight to the government.
As reported by Wired, Netflix is asking the government to shoot down this merger, in fact filing a Petition to Deny with the FCC, which you can read here. The thrust of the document, though, is pretty simple: Big cable companies want to control how consumers use the Internet, and they want to prevent companies like Netflix from existing as much as humanly possible.
Netflix isn’t the only one asking for the merger to be torpedoed, either: DISH Network has also filed a petition to deny, in addition to the usual constellation of consumer advocacy groups and the handful of people Comcast and Time Warner have alienated despite their useful products and stellar customer service.
Will it matter to the merger? Probably not, but then again, as we noted, it’s not terribly likely it’ll be approved in the first place. Comcast doesn’t have a lot of fans at either the FCC or the Department of Justice, both of which have to give it the nod before it can go through. But it does add fuel to the fire… and puts Comcast’s feet to it.