See my comment above: the number isn't just a gross simplification, it's journalistic malpractice.
And the issue isn't whether the companies are struggling. Nobody feels bad for Comcast's CEO's kids. The issue is the incentives to build telecom infrastructure relative to other opportunities in the economy for the billions of dollars needed.
There's no free lunch. If the writing is on the wall for wireline profitability, companies like Comcast will take their capital and buy companies like NBC instead of investing in their network. If you make it illegal for them to do so, their shareholders will force them to do stock buybacks with their capital, then take that money and invest in whoever does buy NBC.
> If the writing is on the wall for wireline profitability, companies like Comcast will take their capital and buy companies like NBC instead of investing in their network.
Cable companies, like Comcast, did that with broadcast companies, like NBC, without net neutrality, so, not seeing the nexus to the immediate issue here.
It's not binary, right? That Comcast did that once is evidence that their playbook includes that tactic. The less lucrative it is to build out their network, the more they'll run the "buy content providers" play.
OTOH, neutrality limits the degree to which content providers are beholden to access providers, so it makes that play more expensive (and increases the relative value of content providers to other potential purchasers.) So, arguably, it makes that play less likely, not more.
If you make it illegal for them to do so, their shareholders will force them to do stock buybacks with their capital, then take that money and invest in whoever does buy NBC.
And the issue isn't whether the companies are struggling. Nobody feels bad for Comcast's CEO's kids. The issue is the incentives to build telecom infrastructure relative to other opportunities in the economy for the billions of dollars needed.
There's no free lunch. If the writing is on the wall for wireline profitability, companies like Comcast will take their capital and buy companies like NBC instead of investing in their network. If you make it illegal for them to do so, their shareholders will force them to do stock buybacks with their capital, then take that money and invest in whoever does buy NBC.