Documents Show Comcast Ghostwrote Pro-TWC Merger Letters of Support for Hawaii Governor

[marmar]

(In These Times) On August 22, Neil Abercrombie, then Hawaii’s governor, sent a letter to Washington, D.C., urging the Federal Communications Commission to approve Comcast’s controversial proposal to merge with Time Warner Cable. In explaining the importance of what Comcast could bring to Hawaii’s future, the governor’s letter invoked the country’s recent recession and the state’s high number of families without Internet access.

“I have been impressed with Comcast and what it can offer the State, especially its Internet Essentials program, which offers discount Internet service to low income families,” the Democratic Governor’s letter asserted. “Your approval of this transaction should bring this needed service from the mainland to our shores.”

Yet the state of Hawaii did not give credit to one primary author of the letter: Comcast itself.

The first draft of the missive was sent from the Executive Director of Government Affairs at Comcast Cable. After receiving the original draft, the governor’s office—with help from a state regulatory agency—made mostly cosmetic changes to the Comcast PR document, added some language about a specific transaction involving Comcast’s proposed merger in the state, and sent it to Washington stamped with the state of Hawaii’s official seal. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17602/comcast_merger_hawaii

[msongs]

1. atime warner in hawaii is a gouge on its customers nt

[Omaha Steve]

2. Kick