Netflix-loving New Yorkers may be in for a rude awakening if Comcast gets the green light to buy Time Warner Cable in a $45.2 billion stock deal.
Comcast, which is currently the nation’s largest Internet service provider, has been falling in Netflix’s data-speed rankings in recent months. And experts say it will only get worse if regulators approve Comcast’s bid to swallow Time Warner, the nation’s second-largest cable provider.
Time Warner Cable currently serves 11.1 million Internet customers. It ranked No. 6 on Netflix’s speed rankings last month.
Comcast, by contrast, fell to No. 14 of 17 Internet service providers for the last two months. In 2012, Comcast ranked No. 3 on Netflix’s list.
The low ranking coincides with increasingly loud complaints by Comcast consumers who say their Netflix viewing has become spotty at best, according to reports.
Internet experts attribute Comcast’s slowdown to a broader strategy by the cable giant to get providers of high-data content, like Netflix, to pay more to get their bulky content to consumers’ homes.
If Comcast buys Time Warner, the alleged strategy could spread to Time Warner’s customers, thus leading to even higher costs for Netflix, and ultimately fans of its “House of Cards” political drama, experts said.
“It’s a game of brinkmanship and Comcast knows exactly what it’s doing,” said Derrek Turner, research director Free Press, a media and internet lobby group. “It’s an existing problem and it’s only going to get worse because of this merger,” he said referring to Comcast’s multi-year battle with Level 3 Communications over online traffic costs.
Neither Netflix nor Comcast returned a request for comment.