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Cable is a niche business. If you can own a niche, that can be a very strong business.

Evidence and economic theory suggests that control of the Internet by the phone and cable companies would lead to blocking of competing technologies.

Without network neutrality, cable and phone companies could stifle innovation.

The satellite business is a very successful business, very profitable business, and serves the broadcast market in addition to the telecoms market.

Cable is a dynamic and highly innovative industry, providing cutting edge services and content that Americans love. The broadband platform the industry has deployed is a critical part of the infrastructure needed to realize our national ambition to be a great nation in the Information Age.

The telecom industry pretends like it's not getting paid.

Cable companies aren't bad because they're parts of unwieldy media conglomerates. They're bad because they're monopolies (even where they are no longer legally exclusive) and because the government policies that made them monopolies rewarded lobbying over customer service.

The reason people talk about cable cutting is they imagine the price burden will get so high that people won't be able to pay it. They're missing something: that the actual price of the electronic package is going down. They've got their Internet, phone, TV, all of it. Now people are using more and more stuff for less.

Charter's merger sales pitch is pretty straightforward: it argues that it has always been too small to bully Internet companies, TV makers, and its own customers, so it has'un-cable' practices they hope to extend.