Al Franken in The New York Times 2010s

On Corporations: Block merger of biggest & 2nd biggest cable providers

After a failed attempt to block the Comcast-NBC-Universal merger, Franken has emerged as the leading congressional opponent of Comcast's $45 billion bid to take over Time-Warner Cable, a merger that would unite the nation's two biggest cable companies. He was the only lawmaker to explicitly say he wanted the merger blocked.

"We've got the biggest cable provider and biggest Internet provider, in Comcast, buying the 2nd-biggest cable provider and 3rd-largest Internet provider, and I'm very worried that will create a company that's too big," Franken said. "They're going to use their position to leverage higher cable prices and to dictate a lot of things that will make for fewer choices, and their service will be even worse."